The leadership team from Galaxy Recovery Systems (GRS) were honored guests at our Parachute Party last month. Milan, Vit and Jiri came all the way from Liberec, in the Czech Republic, to the SportairUSA facilities at KORK for the event. Milan and Vit are the ones posing for the camera in the photo below. That's Jiri chasing the parachute, at left.

For five days we worked together closely, removing and replacing ballistic propulsion systems and parachutes in the Sting while learning to safely decommission rockets that have exceeded their time-in-service. In the end, SportairUSA was approved as the US center to sell, install, remove, replace and decommission the GRS systems. Mark Miller and Ralph Murphy received individual certificates from Galaxy's President, Milan Babovka.

Jiri Photographs Milan & Vit

The Galaxy rescue system is remarkable. Milan led the pioneering effort to develop a whole-plane parachute and is passionate about continuous improvement. Today it is the quickest opening, safest and most reliable ballistic recovery system available. The company's European patents have been copied by recovery system manufacturers in other countries, but GRS still leads the way. Here are just a few of the unique characteristics of the parachute used in the Sting:

• At 49 knots airspeed, the parachute opens completely in 5.8 seconds.
• At 135 knots airspeed, the parachute opens completely in 5.0 seconds.
• The maximum dynamic shock of opening the parachute is 3.8g.
• The rocket burns for 1 second, resulting in a smooth deployment with minimal recoil to the airframe. (It is compared to a low-recoil bazooka rather than a high-recoil cannon.)
• If opened at 120 knots, the load safety factor is 1.5.
• If opened at 135 knots, the load safety factor is 1.25.
• The rate of descent of a fully loaded Sting under the parachute is 23 feet/sec (equivalent to an 8 foot free fall).

The soft-packed GRS parachute deploys evenly with minimal chance of damage. Competitive chutes are packed with up to 20,000 psi of pressure, in order to save space, but the excessive pressure can lead to fusing of the nylon parachute material and stripping of panels during deployment.

The GRS rocket draws the entire soft pack clear of the airframe to a distance of 60 feet before the chute begins to open in order to provide clean airspace for the blossoming parachute. GRS has designed a patented yoke and slider system that eases the shock and improves the regularity of opening. There is even a separate, small parachute for the spent metal rocket casing, floating it to the ground at low speed to avoid damage to persons and property below.

Milan Test Firing A Rocket

We had a little fun while the GRS crew was here, too. It turns out that the same folks who are able to focus with great seriousness on safe handling of fissile materials know how to have fun with it, too. That's Milan taking cover behind a makeshift barrier for a test firing of rocket fuel attached to our utility trailer.

Curious about performance, we harnessed one of the outdated GRS systems to our trailer and towed it behind our SUV. Jiri activated it from the back seat while airport officials supervised the strange use of their parking apron at KORK. The combined speed of the tow vehicle and the headwind resulted in an airspeed of about 46 knots (53 mph). We had a great time photographing the parachute, but when a gust picked up the trailer and the rear end of the Yukon and swung it sideways we figured it was time to shut it down. Here’s a link to the video we made of the parachute opening.

Our GRS Test Rig

GRS maintains an informative Web site at www.galaxysky.cz. Unique among all the other recovery system manufacturers, GRS posts all of the testing required to assure ASTM performance and compliance. It took a lot of helicopter time for the 0 speed tests and a cargo plane for the high speed activation. Take a look if you'd like to learn more about the ballistic recovery system installed in your Sting.

If you have questions about your ballistic recovery system, want to schedule an appointment for GRS service (repacking or SB corrective action), call us at 888, FLY LSA, (501) 228-7777, or email info@sting.aero.

 

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