Cirrus Airframe Parachute System
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| Public | |
| Traded as | OTC Pink: |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Founder | Boris Popov |
| Headquarters | St. Paul, Minnesota, United States |
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Key people
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Larry Williams (CEO and President) Gary Moore (Vice President, Sales & Marketing) Dave Blanchard (Vice President, Operations) |
| Products | Parachute systems |
| Website | www.brsaerospace.com |
Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. (commonly referred to as BRS Aerospace, or simply BRS) is a manufacturer of aircraft ballistic parachutes.
The company was formed in 1980 by Boris Popov of Saint Paul, Minnesota, after he survived a 400-foot (120 m) fall in a partially collapsed hang glider in 1975. As a result, Popov invented a parachute system that could lower an entire light aircraft to the ground in the event of loss of control, failure of the aircraft structure, or other in-flight emergencies.
Popov was granted a U.S. patent on 26 August 1986 for the so-called Ballistic Recovery System (BRS) - patent US 4607814 A.
The company has two divisions: BRS Aviation and BRS Defense.
BRS was founded in 1980 and introduced its first parachute model two years later in 1982, with the focus on the ultralight aircraft market. The company recorded its first successful aircraft and crew recovery in 1983: Jay Tipton of Colorado.
In 1998 the company collaborated with Cirrus Design (now called Cirrus Aircraft) to develop the first recovery parachute system to be used on a type certified aircraft, the Cirrus SR20. They named the design the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS). In 2002 BRS received a supplemental type certificate to install their parachute system in the Cessna 172, followed by the Cessna 182 in 2004 and the Symphony SA-160 in 2006.
In response to the 2008 economic crisis and associated falling orders, the company announced in November 2008 that it would lay-off 25% of its workforce for an indefinite time period.
A solid-fuel rocket is used to pull the parachute out from its housing and deploy the canopy fully within seconds. Typically on ultralight installations the rocket is mounted on the parachute container. On larger aircraft installations the rocket may be remotely mounted.
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Wikipedia