FLYING is FUN (Dedicated to ALL having passion for Aviation) :)

**gnishan** · 22nd Jan 2019, 04:47

Hello Gearheads! Just wanted to share my experience renting and flying a Cessna 172 in which Ballistic Recovery System (BRS) was installed. In layman terms, it is a parachute for the aircraft which can be activated in case of emergency. When activated, it is propelled by a rocket and parachute is deployed for the whole aircraft. It became quite famous when Cirrus Aircrafts started providing their customers with this as an option. I have seen a few light-sport aircrafts or microlight aircrafts (as called in India) having a BRS, especially the ones running with high-screaming 2-stroke notorious engines such Rotax 582

I was quite a bit surprised to see this in a Cessna 172. This particular model is a 1978 Cessna 172N which I rented recently at a local flight school for about $135 wet (with fuel) per hour. It is exceptionally well-kept with high-quality soft touch leather, no rips/cracks, Garmin 530 WAAS GPS etc. perfect for just an evening local pleasure flight or a 100 dollar hamburger run or even 2 or 3 hour cross country trips.

The only down side I see in this plane is the useful load. Since BRS is pretty heavy, the useful load on this Cessna 172 is just 740lbs and that includes weight of fuel. That means 2 average adults and full fuel will reach the max useful load. Typically other Cessna 172s without BRS or A/C will have useful load anywhere between 860lbs and 950lbs which makes it a true 4 seater with 65-70% of fuel load.

When inquired, the average cost to install a BRS in a Cessna 172 is about $18,000 including installation and certification costs. The parachute requires overhauling/re-pack once every 10 years which would cost approx $6000. You will compromise on useful load but will get an extra edge when it comes to safety.

I also felt, this Cessna 172 N2055E is more tilt-angled towards its tail, may be due to the BRS system located in the rear baggage compartment. Of course, the weight and balance and CG are calculated/set correctly. Also, during touch and goes, when the take-off power is set, it leans more forward since the tail sits lower than the regular Cessna 172s while on the ground and idle power.

Below are some pics of that Cessna 172 N2055E showing the BRS location, activation console etc...
Followed by an edited video that includes 3 touch and go’s from my recent evening leisure flight in this interesting Cessna 172 N2055E

**gnishan** · 22nd Jan 2019, 04:59

Here is the edited video of touch and Go's in N2055E....

**gnishan** · 8th Feb 2019, 09:07

Hello! Here is another video of last week's (Jan 2019) flying the Diamond Star DA-40 with my friend (his first time in a small plane) and my wife in the back seat

Have included cockpit audio too with quite interesting control tower instructions recorded in this video while returning back to home base airport due to busy air traffic at that time.

I have posted another video of the same aircraft a while ago in this thread when we took it for a spin for a weekend lunch at a country side airport. The aircraft in this edited video is exactly the same plane N526DS and i took my friend for some fun local flying for an hour or so.

For those not aware of this Diamond Star DA-40, its a 4 seater modern aircraft. This particular model N526DS is a 2006 built, has G1000 avionics (Glass cockpit), full-auto pilot options, Lycoming 180hp engine and is capable of easy 140 knots cruise speed burning 10 gallons of 100LL fuel an hour.

**gnishan** · 4th Mar 2019, 22:59

I came across this beautiful documentary on aviation and wanted to share it with all here.
Excellent camera work, color grading and this video provides a nice perspective on GENERAL AVIATION

**gnishan** · 8th Apr 2019, 20:28

It was a super cloudy morning last Saturday here in Charlotte,NC but was in mood for flying. So, me and wife waited for the weather to clear up and it was starting to look fine around noon. Thats when we decided to go flying and have some nice BBQ lunch, late lunch

The ceiling was just 1500feet in the morning but it cleared and opened up to 4000 feet around noon. Since the clouds were clearing up so fast, we expected lot of gusts and steady wind (checked winds aloft) while en-route to Carthage, NC for lunch and yes, it was BUMPY!!!

We took off around 2pm from KRUQ and arrived at BQ1 25-30 mins later. (around 60 nautical miles / 110kms). Had to do some random climb/descend to find some smooth air. I have been here before when it was super busy, but this time we were late for odd timing lunch and had ample parking space for our plane.

The plane is CAWZ Sportcruiser (Czech made) which i have described in some of the previous pages in this thread. This has an efficient/reliable Rotax 912 100hp engine burning just 5 gallons of 100LL fuel an hour while cruising around 120 knots. This plane (N777NG) is special to me as i have been flying this for years and also got my private pilot license in this one many years ago.

Below is an edited video of the flight