"Mark James Boyd" wrote in message
news:4029b95f$1@darkstar...
Mike Borgelt wrote:
On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:11:03 -0700, Dave Houlton wrote:

The whole ship chute concept is a bit of a worry. There you are in a
large heavy object with absolutely no control. With a personal chute
you do have steering on most rigs nowadays.

With a whole ship chute would it just ruin your day to have save and
then hit the high voltage lines, fall out of a tree, fall over a cliff
etc?

I think I would prefer a smaller chute to stabilise the glider so I
could get out or the NOAH system that one pilot has fitted to his LS8
in Oz(he's had one bailout)

Having one doesn't stop you from also wearing a
personal chute (ok, maybe we're really pushing weight
considerations now).

Whether the super low altitude capability and ease of use (vs
eject canopy, egress, pull handle) is good for you I guess depends.
From my experience doing a VERY poor job of hitting my landing spots
with a personal chute, I'd prefer the whole ship chute to a
personal one if cost and repack and weight were no factor...

I also like the idea of hitting the ground with all that fiberglass and
seat around me, instead of being lobotomized by a tree...

I will find the whole-glider 'chute idea a lot more attractive when I see
videos of test engineers riding them to the ground. So far, I think all the
manufacturers' tests had the test pilot leaving the test aircraft with a
personal 'chute after the aircraft 'chute opened - not too confidence
inspiring.

Bill Daniels