Video of a tiny 4-seat plane gliding to safety — thanks to a powered parachute — has left people asking how the life-saving device really works. Artem Konokuk, his wife and 2-year-old daughter landed in the forest of Whitehorn, Calif., after he realized his training flight didn’t have the clearance to make it over a steep tree-lined hill. The 20-year-old plane, a Cirrus SR22, featured the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) — a giant parachute made of bulletproof Kevlar, capable of floating an entire single-engine plane safely to the ground. Once initiated, CAPS launches its parachute backward from the top of the aircraft at high speed, pulled by a rocket motor that’s powered by solid-state chemical fuel. The plane came to rest caught high in the branches of a tree 100 feet above the forest floor. Somehow, the family managed to scramble clear and climb down the tree without bringing the dangerously balanced plane down on top of them. Thanks to CAPS, the young family escaped with just cuts and bruises.
