179 Lives Saved by Ballistic Recovery Systems' Parachute 'The system worked as advertised and I'm alive today because it did!' Ilan Reich, New York City Pilot who deployed BRS System on Cirrus SR22 SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn., July 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. (OTC:BRSI) (BULLETIN BOARD: BRSI) ( http://brsparachutes.com/ ), a whole-airplane parachute company, has saved dozens upon dozens of pilot and passenger lives. The latest dramatic event unfolded for New Yorker Ilan Reich last Thursday, June 30, while he was flying his Cirrus SR22 at 3,000 feet near Haverstraw, NY. Reich, 50, an active pilot with more than 1,600 hours in the air, was about 10 miles from the Westchester County, NY airport when he was struck 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." According to Reich, 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 into 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 saved a company record 18 lives in 2004 but none of those deployments resulted with the airplane landing in water. BRS is a South St. Paul, Minn., based company that designs, manufactures and distributes whole-plane emergency parachute systems for use on general aviation and recreational aircraft. Since the early 1980's, BRS has delivered nearly 20,000 parachute systems to aircraft owners around the world including over 1500 systems on the certified aircraft like the Cirrus Design aircraft manufactured in Duluth, Minnesota. Actual documented uses of these systems are credited with saving the lives of 179 people. Later this month, BRS will commemorate its 25th anniversary of being in the business of saving lives. For more information on BRS contact: Larry E. Williams; BRS, Inc: Fleming Field, 300 Airport Road; South St. Paul, MN 55075; USA () TEL 651.457.7491 ; FAX 651.457.8651 or Robb Leer media liaison at 952-842-8133 ( ) DATASOURCE: Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. CONTACT: Robb Leer, +1-612-701-0608, , or Larry E. Williams of Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. (BRS), +1-651-457-7491, or Web site: http://brsparachutes.com/

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