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BRS Repack


Roger Lee

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If you incur the cost to purchase an airplane with a chute, why would anyone not want to incur the cost to keep it current, safe, and legal?

 

I'm with you on that.  Of all the areas where recommended maintenance and inspections can or should be deferred/ignored/fudged, the BRS has got to be right near the bottom of the list.  The BRS is one of the great selling points of airplanes like the CT and StingSport, IMO.  Not to mention non-pilot passengers LOVE having it.

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Parachutes degrade. Repacking is inspecting/replacing the chute. A related example, the FAA has regs on personal parachute packing inspection/replacement, depending on if it's natural or synthetic fibers, and they are QUITE short. 60 days for natural, 180 for synthetics.

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I have a Challenger II LSS CW with the hard canister that is now out of currency. The plane is registered E-AB. I believe it will be sold this season.

Should I document in the Bill of Sale paper work that it's not current and should be to avoid possible future problems?

Seems like a good idea.

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I have a Challenger II LSS CW with the hard canister that is now out of currency. The plane is registered E-AB. I believe it will be sold this season.

Should I document in the Bill of Sale paper work that it's not current and should be to avoid possible future problems?

Seems like a good idea.

 

Most ads I see for experimentals in that case say "BRS expired."  I'd definitely mention it.  It would probably still work fine, but it's less assured than one with up-to-date maintenance.

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Just helped the mechanic install the BRS in my friend's 2008 CTLS.  Shipment out and back with inspection took 2 weeks and cost $1,000 total.  Took about 40 minutes to install the chute.  I'd recommend taking good pictures of the system before it is removed and after it's re-installed.  Note especially how the harness is attached at the "D" ring.  Wouldn't hurt to also have FD part manual for your CT's particular system handy if this is the first time the mechanic has done this.

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Just helped the mechanic install the BRS in my friend's 2008 CTLS.  Shipment out and back with inspection took 2 weeks and cost $1,000 total.  Took about 40 minutes to install the chute.  I'd recommend taking good pictures of the system before it is removed and after it's re-installed.  Note especially how the harness is attached at the "D" ring.  Wouldn't hurt to also have FD part manual for your CT's particular system handy if this is the first time the mechanic has done this.

According the Flight design you should also be completing a MRA for for the chute repack.

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My apologies in advance for my minority report. But...

 

If my chute was improperly packed at BRS 5 years ago so be it. But I trust they did a quality job then. No less than they'd do now.

 

The last CIRRUS improper deployment (thank Fast Eddie for the post - my memory would never have found it on the CIRRUS website) was AFTER a repack! And there's been more than 1 failure after repack IIRC 3.

 

If FDUSA improperly installed it 5 years go - well, so be it. They've done more than my mechanic ever will.

 

My chances of damaging it or improperly reinstalling it are a heck of a lot greater. I'd never even try.

 

One of my concerns with maintenance is MIF (maintenance induced failure). I've been bitten too many times. I can't recall an annual on any plane I've owned that didn't come out of annual with an issue (usually but not always minor - once life threatening) that didn't exist before.

 

I've got an aircraft that sits in a hangar in a temperate climate and is thoroughly pre-flighted before each flight. I've heard no compelling reason why on balance I should feel safer flying 7,8,9 years with the same chute pack when the larger BRS canopy in a CIRRUS can go 10 years between repacks.

 

I understand that if the FAA requires it you must do it. No question. But I don't see the safely benefit. Just a "full employment opportunity" for BRS. Jus' saying...

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Hi Bill,

 

You do live in a humid damp climate and the chute is not enclosed or sealed. It is open to the air. Doing a re-pack may also find a problem from before. I have found 3 chutes that weren't hooked up with the cable and attachment screw at the rocket motor. The people that put the screw in missed the cable eyelet. If they weren't checked for the re-pack 98% or mechanics would never look or know what they were looking at.

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Hi Bill,

 

You do live in a humid damp climate and the chute is not enclosed or sealed. It is open to the air. Doing a re-pack may also find a problem from before. I have found 3 chutes that weren't hooked up with the cable and attachment screw at the rocket motor. The people that put the screw in missed the cable eyelet. If they weren't checked for the re-pack 98% or mechanics would never look or know what they were looking at.

Mine had the same problem. I fixed it well before the repack because of information posted on this forum.

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