Photo: Kitplanes magazine
After 18 months of development, BRS Aerospace says it’s ready to accept orders for the Van’s RV-10 ballistic parachute. BRS already offers a kit for the Van’s RV-7 and RV-9 aircraft as well as other experimentals.
Priced at $25,990, the system can be retrofitted to flying aircraft or built into airplanes currently under construction. To ease the latter option, BRS is offering the kit in two parts to better incorporate into the build process; first comes the installation hardware then, once the airplane is ready to fly, the builder can purchase the parachute assembly and rocket.
BRS says the RV-10 installation consumes 82 pounds of payload and the right side of the RV’s baggage compartment, opposite the baggage door. The parachute and deployment rocket fit into a box roughly 20 inches on a side, which consumes about a third of the RV’s baggage-bay volume and approximately half the floor area. Builders should watch weight and balance, because the bulk of the system weight is in this area.
When deployed, the chute exits the airframe on the right side, eventually engaging straps connected to the rear rollover structure and the upper edge of the firewall. The straps are run under thin exterior fairings.
Installation is slated to take 48 hours to complete as a retrofit, though RV-10s equipped with air conditioning will require “up to 78 hours.”
