26th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences
including the 8th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference
14 - 19 September 2008, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Paper ICAS2008-1.11 ST (AIAA 2008-8949):

DESIGN ANALYSIS OF AN AIRCRAFT PARACHUTE RECOVERY SYSTEM FOR VERY LIGHT JETS

R. L. Thomas, D. G. Thomas*
Paratech Parachutes, USA; *Thomas Aerospace Corporation, USA

Keywords: AIRCRAFT PARACHUTE RECOVERY SYSTEM

This paper describes the preliminary design process to develop an aircraft parachute recovery system for the Viper Jet aircraft, using a unique and innovative application of tired and proven rocket recovery system technology. The Viper Jet is a light weight, high performance, all carbon fiber aircraft with military jet like performance. This high performance experimental jet is being used by Thomas Aerospace as a platform to design, integrate and flight test various parachute systems including a jet aircraft parachute recovery system. Parachute size, aircraft weight, flight speeds and opening loads of parachute systems for very light jets are an order of magnitude above what has already been developed for fixed wing piston aircraft such as the C-152, C-172, C-182 and Cirrus aircraft. Design challenges addressed to configure a parachute system for this aircraft can be adapted and modified to other very light jet configurations. This preliminary design analysis leads to fabrication, integration and testing of an aircraft parachute recovery system for very light jets.

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