The Klapmeier brothers, Alan Lee Klapmeier (born October 6, 1958) and Dale Edward Klapmeier (born July 2, 1961), are American aircraft designers and aviation entrepreneurs who together founded the Cirrus Aircraft Corporation in 1984. Under the leadership of the Klapmeiers, Cirrus was the first aircraft manufacturer to install a whole-plane parachute recovery system as a standard on all its models—designed to lower the airplane (and occupants) safely to the ground in case of an emergency. The device is attributed with saving over 130 lives to date. Cirrus was also the first to use all-composite airframe construction and glass panel cockpits on production aircraft, which many say revolutionized general aviation for light aircraft pilots.