video Whole plane parachute
The small planes sold by Cirrus Aircraft are all outfitted with a whole-airplane parachute. The system demonstrated in this video was developed by Ballistic Recovery Systems' Boris Popov, who was inspired after surviving a fall from a hang glider into a lake. While this is the first commercial whole-airplane parachute, the idea has been around for more than 80 years. From Smithsonian Air & Space:
