(Robert Cohen) wrote in
:
*I was listening to National Public Radio some time ago, and a Russian
gentleman told about a gigantic PARACHUTE thing he had invented for
large (?) or small (?) planes whose engines fail while in the air,
and supposedly it actually worked/works; and so I can't totally
discount the seemingly absurd/impossible, and especially when I or
family am occasionally along

There is such a thing for small aircraft. I have seen one installed
in a glider, and have heard they are available for powered aircraft
too. Google up "ballistic recovery system". A rocket is used to
deploy the parachute, to make it deploy as fast as possible,
which is important if you are near the ground when you decide to
deploy it. The advantages relative to wearing a parachute is
comfort, and given that the pilot lands with the aircraft, the
fuselage of the aircraft can protect the pilot. Also there is
more chance that the aircraft will be salvageable after the
incident.

key paragraphs of Newsday article:

"...The wings of the CL-600 Challenger, manufactured in Canada, are
particularly susceptible to problems from icing on takeoff.

Not sure it's the only type for which this can be said.

Although there was no precipitation at Teterboro before the chartered
plane attempted to take off about 7:20 a.m. Wednesday, the conditions
were ripe for frost forming on the wing. The plane had arrived the
night before from Las Vegas, a flight that would take the plane
through extremely cold, high altitudes,

Pretty misleading. Any flight where the aircraft reaches crusing
altitude for any appreciable time will bring the aircraft through
air whose temperature is well below freezing.

and was stored overnight on
the ramp instead of inside a hangar where frost would be less likely
to develop. The pilot did not request the plane be de-iced...."

Not many aircraft get to spend the night in the hanger.

I think 1 of 16 planes that left TEB that morning requested de-icing.