179 Lives Saved by Ballistic Recovery Systems' Parachute
July 04 2005 - 3:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
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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