Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Linda McKinney, Butler Parachute Systems' lead production stitcher for canopies, inspects the seams of a parachute sewn at the Loudon Avenue plant.

Wendy Webb sews at Butler Parachute Systems. The Roanoke-based company designs and manufacturers parachutes and other emergency gear for aircraft manufacturers, military customers, defense contractors, the U.S. Forest Service and others.

Bruce Fulcher, production manager for Butler Parachute Systems in Roanoke, works with material that has been cut according to computer instructions. Manley Butler, president and founder, has a national reputation as an expert in the field of parachute systems design.

Roberto Montanez (left), vice president of operations, and Manley Butler, founder and president of Butler Parachute Systems, examine a parachute a customer has sent for inspection and repacking. Montanez shouldered many new responsibilities after Butler suffered an aortic aneurysm and stroke in 2003.

Associated Press

The out-of-control balloon of Dick Rutan and Dave Melton sails over Gainsville, Texas, on Jan. 9, 1998. Rutan and Melton escaped the balloon before it crashed. Rutan credits Manley Butler's custom parachute and survival gear with saving his and Melton's lives.

Adventurer Dick Rutan says a custom parachute and survival gear designed by Manley Butler helped save Rutan's life on Jan 9, 1998.

On that day, the famous pilot's attempt to fly a helium/hot air balloon around the world ended in catastrophe shortly after launch when a helium bag ruptured at an altitude of about 30,000 feet.

Somewhere between 8,000 feet and 6,000 feet, clad in Butler's gear, Rutan and co-pilot Dave Melton bailed out of the descending balloon. Both men survived.

A few years later, a team of physicians in Roanoke almost certainly saved Butler's life after he suffered a thoracic aortic aneurysm on Aug. 2, 2003. A stroke followed.

Rutan, during a recent interview, said he admires Butler's innovative parachute designs, his creativity and his perseverance "in the face of extreme adversity."

After the aneurysm and the stroke, seizures began in January 2004.

Perseverance, both by Butler and his employees, has saved Butler Parachute Systems of Roanoke from what could have been a lethal fall.

Today, Butler, 55, carries three small laminated cards in his wallet to flash at authorities who think he's drunk.

An aggressive "rent-a-cop" accosted him once at a chain supermarket in Roanoke, he said, and a Transportation Security Administration officer hassled him at an airport.

At the end of a long day, fatigue worsens Butler's slurred speech and affects his balance.

On those afternoons, he sometimes does not field phone calls at Butler Parachute, the small company he founded in 1979 and moved to Roanoke from California in 1995.

Sales in free fall

Butler Parachute operated without its founder and president for five months. Sales dropped by about 40 percent in his absence and during the months to follow.

"Our sales fell of the cliff," said Butler.

But both he and key employees attribute the plummet primarily to the coincidentally timed completion of work filling large, sustaining contracts.

The company also retained too many employees for too long, said Butler, "in hopes that we could turn things around" and keep the workers employed.

Until this year, sales have remained flat.

The company has survived, Butler said, both because of the swift adaptation of a devoted staff and the assistance of Butler Parachute System's banker, Wachovia.

"They helped us manage our cash flow when it was low," he said.

Butler, who is a Roanoke native, still works limited hours -- typically about 25 or less a week -- with much of that time spent in a home office. He no longer drives.

His mind remains agile and his irreverent humor razor-sharp.

'Chute design expert

In September, Butler began a highly technical presentation at an Anaheim meeting of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots by declaring: "First of all, I'm not drunk, even though I might sound like I am. I had a stroke."

He added, "But I'm not nervous, because I know more about this subject [spin recovery and deep stall recovery parachute systems] than anyone in the room, with the possible exception of Tony Taylor [director of space systems for Irvin Aerospace in California]."

Recently, Taylor said Butler, whom he has known for about 10 years, is on a short list of industry experts for parachute systems design.

He said Butler's wit, candor and composure during the presentation impressed him and others in the room.

"You are standing on a stage in front of about 800 test pilots and people in the industry," said Taylor. "I really applaud him for getting up there after having a stroke. And I admire that he has continued to run his business."

Butler, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering, has designed parachute systems for military personnel, cargo delivery, the deceleration of aircraft -- including unmanned surveillance planes -- and many other uses.

In March, the company received an order from AAI Corp. for more than 400 specialized parachute systems for its small Shadow 200 unmanned aircraft.

The latest Butler Parachute-designed emergency recovery system for the Shadow 200 has further reduced the plane's rate of descent to protect key equipment aboard if the reconnaissance aircraft is disabled. Butler said the company previously supplied more than 1,000 of the emergency parachute systems' original design, which, like the new version, flips the Shadow 200 on its back before landing as another protective measure.

Butler said he anticipates that the AAI contract, together with a contract from a foreign customer, could push this year's sales back to pre-aneurysm days.

"Our sales will increase at least 40 percent in 2008," if the company can find and train enough new production workers, he said.

Butler did not disclose specific sales numbers.

Defense-related products have become a mainstay for the company, and "there seems to be no end in sight" for the use of unmanned aircraft, he said.

Key to Voyager's success

Butler Parachute does not make parachutes, harnesses or packs for recreational sky divers.

"I didn't want to put a big sign on the door that said, 'Sue me,' " said Butler.

Instead, the company's clients, both nationally and internationally, include defense contractors, aircraft manufacturers, the U.S. Forest Service (for its smoke-jumpers) and others -- including Dick Rutan.

In 1986, with co-pilot Jeana Yeager, Rutan flew the first nonstop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Voyager aircraft.

Rutan said featherweight parachutes and solo life rafts Butler designed and personally manufactured helped the Voyager succeed. Every ounce aboard affected fuel consumption, he said.

"The raft was so small and light it was incredible," said Rutan.

The two men met in California in the early 1980s through sport parachuting, said Rutan.

The Butler team

Mary Freedman, office manager, has been with Butler Parachute for 11 years. Lynda Saunders, staff accountant, has racked up 10. Roberto Montanez, vice president of operations, joined the company in September 2001. Robin Reynolds, accounting clerk, has been an employee for nearly six years.

On the Monday after Butler's aneurysm, Freedman, Saunders, Montanez and others gathered anxiously at the company's office on Loudon Avenue Northwest to draft a strategy to carry on.

Initially, when callers asked to speak to Butler, the staff crafted excuses.

"We had to be very creative explaining why Manley couldn't come to the phone," said Freedman. "They were very few people we felt comfortable telling then [about Butler's medical condition]."

Reynolds explained why.

"We were here to protect the company and Manley," she said.

Team members stretched to adapt and adopt new roles. Montanez, in particular, shouldered a host of new responsibilities.

"He is so versatile," said Saunders. "He freed Manley up to be at ease a little because he knew Roberto was taking care of things."

Butler said he had and has total confidence in his staff. Freedman still signs all the checks, he said.

Hooked on sky diving

In the beginning, in the early 1970s, there was a comely young woman.

"I started sky diving partly because I was interested in a girl who was a jumper," said Butler.

In 1973, in the New River Valley, he took his virgin plunge from an airplane.

"I got hooked. It just feels like flying."

Butler estimates he made about 1,100 jumps before the thrill diminished.

In 1976, he founded The Swoop Shop in Austin, Texas, where he was attending college, making jump suits, gear bags and performing parachute service work.

He founded Butler Parachute three years later.

Formerly formidable

"I knew the day I was hired that Manley was a force to be reckoned with," said Saunders. "But I had been through the college of hard knocks, so he couldn't scare me."

Butler's stroke changed him, and not just physically, according to his staff and Taylor.

"He has a different outlook now," said Taylor. "He recognized there needs to be time for fun and friends and family. He's not buried in his work all the time."

Freedman put it this way.

"Whatever Manley lost in his health, he gained in his heart," she said. "Manley expresses his appreciation and feelings for people now. He might have felt these things before -- but didn't express them."

Listening, Butler shrugged.

"Sometimes you're not going to get a second chance to tell people how you feel."