[networkguy]

I'm surprised nobody has linked a very famous deployment of a ballistic parachute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXQKaxp6Rlk

In the above video, a pilots propeller hits another aircraft's glider towline which then wraps itself around the prop and engine disabling it.

I'm not a pilot, but this probably would have been fatal if it wasnt for the BRS.

[mikeash]

I don't see why that would have been fatal without a BRS. Shut the engine down (if it's still doing anything after that much abuse) and glide to a landing somewhere.