The aircraft owner and pilot who only two days earlier had a BRS whole-airplane recovery parachute system installed in his Cessna 182 survived the crash of his Skylane into tall trees in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on Wednesday, when he deployed the chute system. According to BRS, the company that manufactured the system, the owner was departing from Holly Springs when his engine quit while the airplane was only 300 to 400 agl, an altitude below the recommended deployment height for the system. Still, based on video taken by a local news channel of the crash scene, the chute seems to have successfully deployed. ** **
The pilot, who is identified by the local news channel website WMCTV as local attorney John Booth Farese, was listed in critical condition, though he was able to extricate himself from the wreckage to await help.
BRS systems have been installed in thousands of Part 23 certified airplanes, but only a handful of Cessnas. The pilot, BRS says, is one of the first customers who installed a BRS in a Cessna, when he had one installed in a 172 a number of years ago.
