A prominent Mississippi attorney crashed his plane in the woods just after crews had installed a parachute system designed to allow it to float to the ground.

    Relatives said John Booth Farese was hurt when his Cessna 182 crashed just after taking off Monday from the Holly Springs airport, where a so-called whole-aircraft parachute recovery system had been put in.

    Farese, 67, is a member of a well-known family of attorneys from Ashland and has decades of experience as a private pilot. He was recovering Tuesday at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Tenn.

    Steve Farese Sr. says the parachute saved his brother’s life. He described his brother’s condition as ‘‘all banged up’’ with a back injury.

    ‘‘His knees are all banged up. He’s got a knot on his head. They’re putting him in a back brace,’’ Steve Farese said.

    Steve Farese said his brother told him the plane’s engine quit about 300-400 feet above the ground and the parachute deployed about 80 percent before impact.

    Charlotte Saunders, vice president John Jewell Aircraft Inc. at the Holly Springs airport, said the company had recently installed an emergency parachute system manufactured by Ballistic Recovery Systems Inc. of St. Paul, Minn.

    Saunders said John Jewell Aircraft had installed similar devices in other airplanes for Farese.

    Arthur Jones, a soldier who was home on leave from duty in Afghanistan, told WMC-TV in Memphis that the crash sounded like a bomb.

    ‘‘We saw the plane fly over and saw it was out of control and heard a big boom,’’ Jones told the television station.

    He said he ran to where the plane crashed in the woods near his home in Holly Springs.

    ‘‘He had climbed out of the plane himself and was lying stable on the ground, that was a blessing,’’ Jones said. ‘‘First thing he wanted was water, so I went back to get him some water.’’

    Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the accident is under investigation. She said the plane lost engine power and landed in trees near the airport about 5:30 p.m. Monday.