This is my post from another thread, "How Did Everyone Do Today?" I was getting off topic, so I've added the post here, in case anyone wants to continue the discussion: Check out the Cirrus SR22 and SR20. It's the one with a parachute. Those aircraft and the Lancair Columbia are probably the state of the art,...at least for "reasonably affordable" go-fast, production aircraft. Really nice stuff! And re: the parachutes. Actually, pilots who fly aerobatic aircraft are required to wear a parachute when they are performing any unusual attitude maneuvers. Finally, for pure getting from Point A to Point B, a Cessna 150 can be had for $16K to $25K in really good shape. Sure, it's slow and can carry only two people, but it sure beats driving... I'd take a slow 120 mph aircraft flying a straight line to my destination over a car.....on *most* days. As they say, on some days "It's better to be on the ground wishing you were flying than to be flying, wishing you were on the ground." I used to own and fly a Mooney aircraft up until about two years ago. For any travel to nearby states (Rocky Mountain region), it was much faster than the airlines. Anything beyond, well, airlines saved you time. Of course, there's nothing like pulling up to your plane with your car, unloading the baggage, and taxiing up to a waiting vehicle at your destination.
I am an aeronautical engineer (flight dynamicist) and I researched this idea probably 20 years ago. As I recall it was actually tried out before world war II but I could be wrong about that. Its been a very long time since I looked into it. I have since seen them installed on ultralights. When you say parachute, you mean a device that you deploy to slow the plane's decent in the even of engine failure as opposed to a drag chute. I helped design a 50 foot chute for the c123h that was was a combination of both. It deployed in the air but was used to shorten landing length. Its a very interesting idea. I've been retired for 20 years and am out of touch. regards
It's the same company that makes the parachutes for ultralights, BRS (http://brsparachutes.com/). Here's a pretty good picture sequence of the chute deploying on the Cirrus test aircraft: http://www.cirrusdesign.com/images/caps-a.jpg I'm not sure exactly, but I believe that they've already recorded two or three actual in flight "saves" on Cirrus aircraft so far. I just saw something about some work on an even larger scale. Here's a quote from this week's news at http://www.avweb.com "Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS) says the work it's doing on emergency parachutes for light jets could one day put a canopy over some airliners. The biggest technological challenge in developing parachutes for jets is the comparatively high speeds at which they can operate."