BRS parachute saves father and daughter when engine fails over open ocean, Light Sport Aircraft Pilot News newsmagazine.

 


Light Sport Aircraft Pilot is a directory of aircraft that generally fit into what are described as ultralight aircraft, advanced ultralight aircraft, light sport aircraft, experimental light sport aircraft, experimental aircraft, amateur built aircraft, ELSA or homebuilt aircraft in the United States and Canada. These include weight shift aircraft, more commonly known as trikes, powered parachutes, and powered para-gliders.

Light Sport Aircraft Pilot

Ultralight News.ca  

Ultralight News.com

Lightsportaircraft.ca

 

BRS parachute saves father and daughter when engine fails over open ocean.

It is amazing to me that the ultralight industry is not recognized more for the innovative ideas that come from it. Take for instance the Rotax 912 series of engines, if it hadn't been for the ultralight industry and Rotax's involvement with the two stroke, would we even have a 912 series, and without the 912 what about the light sport category!

At Sun N Fun 2012 Dr. Richard McGlaughlin told the incredible story of how he and his daughter were saved, from certain injury or possibly death by another idea that came out of the ultralight industry.

Dr. McGlaughlin operates a volunteer clinic in Haiti, he regularly flies back and forth from the U.S., sometimes carrying much needed supplies, other times with his wife or a family member.

 

While on one of these flights to Haiti with his daughter Elaine, flying along at 9500 feet he had a sudden drop in oil pressure and then shortly after that his engine seized up. He declared an emergency to Miami Air Traffic control and set the plane up for best glide at 90 knots and pointed the craft towards the nearest island. At about 2300 feet he Dr. Richard McGlaughlin and daughter saved by BRS parachute.calculated that he was going to be about 2 miles short of reaching land.

He had often thought of just what he might do if this were to happen. His research had shown him the 90% of pilots survive a "ditching"and that 90% of those survive the experience. The thought of hitting the water at over 60 miles per hour, with a good possibility of the airplane flipping over trapping him and his daughter under water was something he did not want to face, especially if there was another option, and he had another option!

His craft a Cirrus SR22 was equipped with an aircraft parachute recovery system, rather than risk ditching he decided to deploy his BRS, Ballistic Recovery Parachute system, so at 2,000 feet he and is daughter tightened their seat belts and he pulled the deployment handle.

He recounted the moments immediately after the deployment, the ominous sound of the parachute risers tearing out of their channels along the sides of the plane, the sudden pitching down of the plane as the parachute suddenly brought the plane "from 90 to nothing in about 2 seconds," then the chute fully deploys and you settle "under the parachute coming down flat, at about 17 knots slightly turning." "You hit the water pretty hard" "but we were okay." He and his daughter then climbed out of the plane, deployed their raft and waited for the coast guard to come and rescue them.

Boris Popov designer of the BRS system was on hand as well, Boris a hang glider and ultralight pilot designed the system after he had a wing failure on a craft and vowed that he was going to design something to help save the lives of pilots in the same situation. To date the BRS system has saved nearly 300 lives. Boris noted that 1 out of every 125 systems his company has sold have been deployed!



Dr. Richard McGlaughlin


For more information on the BRS ballistic recovery system contact:

BRS Aerospace
380 Airport Rd. South Saint Paul MN 55075-3551
651-457-7491
www.brsaerospace.com

 

BRS parachute saves father and daughter when engine fails over open ocean, Light Sport Aircraft Pilot News newsmagazine.

U.S. Coast Guard Photo.

 

 

Index for this section   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10      HOME

Light Sport Aircraft Pilot

Ultralight News.ca  

Ultralight News.com

Lightsportaircraft.ca

 

 

Light Sport Aircraft Pilot News Web Magazine.  You may link to these pages or print them out for your own personal use.
No part of this publication may be copied or distributed, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any human or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic,  mechanical, manual, or otherwise, without the written permission of Light Sport Aircraft Pilot News.
By copying or paraphrasing the intellectual property on this site, you're automatically signing a binding contract and agreeing to be billed $10,000 payable immediately. Copyright Light Sport Aircraft Pilot News. Email