Innovations In Aircraft Safety

摘要

The idea of parachutes as a last resort for light-aircraft safety had been around for quite a while; however, it never reached the stage where it could be truly commercialized. Larry Williams, CEO and President of Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS), said the initial concept for the BRS parachute system came about when company founder Boris Popov had a near-death experience when his wing glider collapsed. The development of ballistic rocket technology was a key to making the safety system a viable reality. "The advantage of the ballistic rocket is that you can deploy the system extremely fast. From the time that you pull the handle to the time the rocket deploys the parachute is about 1.6 s," said Williams.