Designed For Larger, Heavier Aircraft

Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. -- manufacturer of whole-aircraft parachute recovery systems for general aviation and recreational aircraft -- told ANN Wednesday announced today a series of successful development tests of the Next Generation Parachute System (NGPS). The newly designed, larger airframe parachutes are designed to handle much heavier loads, increasing the number of civilian and military aircraft which could benefit from whole-aircraft parachute recovery systems.

"The test results of our new NGPS could not have been better," BRS CEO Larry Williams said.  "This new system represents a huge leap forward in our ability make a wider range of airplanes even safer."

Tests of the new system were recently performed in the southwestern United States using a large, former military aircraft to drop the new, larger canopies with substantially heavier payloads.

Canopy strength tests will continue over the next several months before the parachutes will be available for integration and entire system testing. Additional tests and further development will be required before the NGPS system is commercialized.

"BRS is also investing in technology to increase the speed at which this development takes place" said Frank Hoffmann, BRS VP of engineering.

That's an important consideration, especially as BRS looks to supplying ballistic parachutes for larger, faster aircraft such as Diamond Aircraft's upcoming D-Jet (below).

BRS says its Next Generation Parachute System also marks another significant milestone in the company's efforts toward enhanced quality and cost controls. The NGPS test canopies were among the company's first projects to be produced in-house at the new integrated manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico.

"We think that we have integrated our US-based engineering process, our sewing facility and our final assembly in South St. Paul (MN) into an international organization capable of sustained manufacturing of next generation, high quality, high volume-low cost parachutes," said Williams. "Having our own sewing operations also allows BRS to rapidly scale up manufacturing efforts to match anticipated increases in demand."

Ballistic Recovery Systems has delivered more than 25,000 parachutes since beginning operations in 1981. More than 3,000 of the Company's systems are flying on certified aircraft with that number growing rapidly. BRS is credited with saving the lives of 199 pilots and passengers.

FMI: www.brsparachutes.com