“Cypres” Automatic Parachute Activation Device Test

So, you have a friend who buys a device for the sole purpose of saving his life in an emergency. This friend willfully and repeatedly jumps out of a perfectly good airplane for over 10 years with a Cypres style automatic device. The device deploys his emergency chute IF the main chute fails to open at the set altitude pressure.

The wonder, does it work? Would it have saved his life?

The device is designed to cut a cord/line when activated. The device was set inside a vacuum chamber. The pressure was slowly decreased to simulate the airplane climbing to the drop-altitude (0.01 PSI change per second) . The pressure was then increased to simulate freefall ( 0.1 PSI change per second).

The test results were positive. After its 10 years of service, the device functioned as designed in our test. Impressive.

And of course, we performed a tear-down just to see what’s inside.