Ballistic Recovery Parachutes in Light Aircraft

More and more modern aircraft come equip with built in parachutes, capable of saving the entire aircraft in the event of a catastrophic event. Additionally, many older aircraft are being retro-fitted with these devices.

What are they?

Ballistic parachutes are parachutes packed within the airframe of the aircraft, that when triggered use an explosion to initiate a rapid deployment of a parachute that will parachute the aircraft safely to the ground.

They are often referred to as BRS (Ballistic Recovery System), or the most commonly mentioned (in my experience) is the CAPS system used on certain Cirrus aircraft models – namely the SR20 being the first production aircraft to come equipt with the system.

Here are two videos showing the system saving lives.