Huge Parachute Saves Crashing Planes

theodp writes "When his small plane banked uncontrollably and began spiraling toward earth, Canadian rancher Albert Kolk and his three passengers were saved by a single parachute. Big-as-a-house parachutes made by Ballistic Recovery Systems are stored behind the rear seats in small planes and fired with a rocket through the rear windshield; they're attached with high-strength lines to the plane's wings, nose and tail. Deployment videos here."

Comments

Counterpoint.

[FireballX301]

Look at Genesis. Parachute failed to deploy, and the thing smashed into the ground. And that was a relatively small capsule. Also, think of the parachutes needed to save even slightly larger aircraft. If a parachute of that size was needed for small private aircraft, there probably is no practical way to use them on large commercial liners.

I don't see this being more practical in small planes than simply having individual passenger parachutes in small planes, and letting them bail.