Some pilots wear parachutes when they fly, in case they have to bail out of a malfunctioning aircraft. But what if you wanted the aeroplane itself to bail out?
Unlike parachutes for humans, whole aeroplane parachutes are deployed balistically; they are “fired” out of their containers by solid-fuel rockets, rather than pulled by air resistance.
A vertical launch whole plane parachute mounted on an aeroplane’s roof. The thin black container contains the solid-fuel rocket that will pull the parachute out of the white container.
There is an interesting bit of engineering involved in this – the ‘plane couldn’t stand the deceleration force of a parachute deploying normally so the white ring visible part way up the lines starts off close to the parachute, so it only partially opens, As the ‘chute opens, the lines separate forcing this ring down towards the ‘plane thus allowing the ‘chute to open more, eventually being fully deployed. Thus the deceleration force on the ‘plane is limited to what it can withstand, over an extented period.