Plain English Meaning
A built-in parachute for the whole airplane. If something goes badly wrong in flight, the pilot pulls a handle, a rocket fires a parachute out of the airframe, and the airplane floats down under canopy instead of crashing.
Full Definition
An aircraft-mounted emergency recovery system that uses a small rocket to deploy a large parachute attached to the airframe, lowering the entire airplane to the ground in the event of a structural failure, loss of control, or other emergency where a normal landing is not possible.
Context Anchor
Seen in aircraft equipment descriptions, , and discussions of airplanes equipped with whole-aircraft .