Death Cheated Again

The whole-airplane parachute company, Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., has now saved 179 pilot and passenger lives. The latest dramatic save happened when New Yorker Ilan Reich deployed the BRS System last Thursday, June 30th, while he was flying his Cirrus SR22 at 3,000 feet near Haverstraw, NY.

"The system worked as advertised and I'm alive today because it did," said Reich.
 
Reich, 50, an active pilot with more than 1,600 flight hours, was about 10 miles from the Westchester County, NY airport when he was overcome with a medical condition. According to Reich, he had few other options than to pull back the plane's nose, and release the airplane's onboard emergency BRS parachute system.

"My decision to pull the chute was instantaneous. I wasn't experiencing any mechanical issues with the plane, I was traumatized and feeling severe cramping in my legs," said Reich. "The scary part for me was to look below and see a power plant and some fuel tanks. I was able to use my rudder and some of the plane's power supply to help drift my landing spot directly over some water."

Reich said his plane hit the water like "a huge belly flop, waves must have splashed more than a foot and a half higher than the windshield in the air. It didn't take long for the cabin to start taking on some water. I quickly knocked out the glass on the pilot's door, grabbed a life jacket from the backseat and within a couple of minutes I was standing on the wing of my sinking airplane. I waited for the life jacket to inflate, then I swam 300 feet to shore."

Reich's airplane landed in Bowline Pond, an inlet of the Hudson River with depths of 30 feet. Emergency workers converged on the pond, including area fire and police departments, rescue boats from Rockland County Sheriff's department, the New York State Police and the Westchester County Police.

Reich was taken to nearby Nyack Hospital. He was discharged less than 24 hours after the initial incident. Doctors have told Reich he should make a full recovery.

"I'm lucky to be alive, no doubt about that. I always said I wouldn't fly an airplane that didn't have a parachute system, and don't know why anybody would," Reich added.

"We are in the business of saving lives and we are comforted to learn that our system helped to save Mr. Reich's life. It's gratifying to know our technology is second to none," said Larry E. Williams, CEO and president/COO of BRS. Inc.

BRS set a company record by saving 18 lives in 2004. The South St. Paul, Minnesota-based company will celebrate its 25th anniversary this month. BRS has delivered nearly 20,000 parachute systems to aircraft owners around the world including over 1500 systems on certified aircraft like the Cirrus Design aircraft manufactured in Duluth, Minnesota.

FMI: http://brsparachutes.com