BRS Chutes in Four New Aircraft, Jet Chute Coming Soon
With four new aircraft introduced at the show this week sporting parachutes from Ballistic Recovery Systems, CEO Larry Williams was beaming at his AirVenture press conference on Thursday morning. “We’ve never had this many aircraft announcements all at once before,” he said, and hinted that a fifth might be revealed before the show is over. The new BRS-equipped aircraft are Lancair’s turbine-powered Evolution, Epic Aircraft’s Victory jet single, the Cirrus LSA and the Diamond DA-50 SuperStar. Williams also reported that flight tests of the company’s jet chute are complete, though the overall system is still in development. He expects to be ready to start the certification process by the end of this year. The jet chute’s interface with aircraft systems is challenging, he said. “The system will have the capability to slow down the aircraft, and lower the gear. It adds complexity.” The T-tail on the DA50 also is a challenge for extraction, he said.
With four new aircraft introduced at the show this week sporting parachutes from Ballistic Recovery Systems, CEO Larry Williams was beaming at his AirVenture press conference on Thursday morning. "We've never had this many aircraft announcements all at once before," he said, and hinted that a fifth might be revealed before the show is over. The new BRS-equipped aircraft are Lancair's turbine-powered Evolution, Epic Aircraft's Victory jet single, the Cirrus LSA and the Diamond DA-50 SuperStar. Williams also reported that flight tests of the company's jet chute are complete, though the overall system is still in development. He expects to be ready to start the certification process by the end of this year. The jet chute's interface with aircraft systems is challenging, he said. "The system will have the capability to slow down the aircraft, and lower the gear. It adds complexity." The T-tail on the DA50 also is a challenge for extraction, he said.
Williams said he is working with the FAA and the light sport aircraft community to ensure that weight restrictions on this category are not preventing manufacturers from offering a recovery system. "We want to be sure the weight restriction is not precluding the addition of safety features," he said. Williams also said a new manufacturing facility is in the works for the BRS base in Minnesota and will be up and running by next summer.
