We've discussed this before in the context of light sport and ultralight aircraft pilot behavior, but in light of the fact that a few STC's exist for installing these in certified aircraft, I have a few thoughts.

Ballistic Recovery Systems are on-board parachutes that are meant to bring the entire airframe to earth at a survivable rate of decent. They've gained some popularity because of their default installation in Cirrus aircraft, and to date, the company who makes the system claims to have saved 234 lives through the technology.

I was introduced to them because of my early flying years in ultralights. Given the questionable reliability of some popular ultralight powerplants, and the "ultralight" airframes, it was a common addition. Disarming the T-handle pull cable by pulling the safety pin was a pre-flight ritual, and the final option to blow the 'chute was always there should you need it.

Some would argue that it's a mental crutch, like wearing a helmet while skiing; Having the extra protection subconsciously causes the pilot to take more chances, and operate as if he always has a final option, rather than operating as if there is no second chance. While that may be true for some, I think the practice in general is prudent and wise, especially for the type of flying we enjoy.

Flight over mountainous terrain can be deadly should you lose your only engine. Even the most skilled pilot cannot escape injury or death when the only options for a deadstick landing are in tight ravines covered in trees. At 40-50 mph, it's going to hurt, and then burn. Deployment of the chute increases the chances of survival by a HUGE margin. Floating straight down at 15-28 feet per second sounds far more appealing than a while death ride through trees and rocks, hoping that the fuel tanks will be sheared off cleanly with the wings.

The other usage scenarios include: airframe structural failure, which is much less likely, but it happens. Look at the Zenith 601XL wing collapse issues lately. You'd think these would be more popular among the experimental/homebuilder crowd. Also, mid-air collisions. Watch this video, it's a great piece of in-cockpit footage of a mid-air.

BRS has an STC for the 182 and 172. Why isn't this a more popular mod? These have been around for a long time.

Weight considerations? Price? We can talk hours on end about survival gear, but in harsh terrain, what good is that, really?

I took a look at one being installed in a 172. It basically took up the entire luggage compartment and, if I recall correctly, was about $10 - 12K. You give up a lot to have one retroactively installed. I think having them is a big plus but it makes more sense when it comes from the factory and is designed into the airplane from the start. Like Cirrus does.

I had a good friend (relative by marriage) that had one on his Kolb. He crashed buzzing a party, and never got to pull his. His partner in the aircraft volunteered to donate the unpopped chute to our local FSDO, but they wanted it to be popped before they touched it. So one fine day, we tied the can to a fence post, attached a rope to the ring on the riser, and popped it. That sucker yanked the 50' rope out of my friend's hand and went a long ways up! I was impressed!! So naturally, we tied it to the gooseneck ball in my dually and figured it would be cool to see it inflated.....of course, being the guys we are.... one of us comes up with the "bright idea" to grab some of the shroud lines as it goes by....and gets a ride. Of course this is a blast, so we have to keep it up for a while...up and down my runway, so that everyone got a ride and video. I couldn't get more than about 20mph before it would literally LIFT the rear of the dually off the ground (it's a 4x4, so we still kept going) and made things really tough to keep straight. It was totally impressive and we all agreed that it would probably be a pretty well welcomed sight if you had a failure high enough to use it!
John