I've thought about the parachute thing too. Also thought about wings that could be instantly deployed in emergencies. How about some kind of sprung loaded, telescopic assembly shooting out either side from underneath the aircraft? Might it create enough lift to glide down?
(Then there's always the anti-gravity machine to install...)
We know that flying rotorwings is inherently unstable but it would be interesting to know if any 'slightly unorthodox' safety features have been tried and with what results.