Third of a sequence of three pics - the stabilised aircraft
floats safely to the ground April 10, 2005 Leonardo Da Vinci was
the first person to conceive the parachute, documenting his idea
500 years ago but it was not until we had airplanes that the
idea really offered some compelling functionality. Practical
parachutes for aircrew came into usage during World War 1 and
were subsequently extended to the cushioned descent of large
supply payloads where an aircraft cannot land. But it took
another seven decades before the parachute was commercially
available for an aircraft via Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS),
the whole-airplane parachute company. Initially for ultralights
and small aircraft, the parachutes have been growing in strength
and capability ever since and late last year BRS released a
parachute to cover the Cessna 182 line of aircraft. This week,
the company’s pioneering aviation work was recognised when it
received a prestigious Laureate Award from Aviation Week & Space
Technology magazine. Each s