Hat tip to the FlightSchoolList.com for finding and posting these two videos of airplane parachute tests from the 1930s. In other words, the concept has been around long before being popularized by Cirrus Design and BRS (Ballistic Recovery Systems). In those days, the airplane parachute was called the “planechute” and could still safely land a plane with minimal damage to both the airplane and to those flying inside. No word on why the device never really took off until recent years.