wrote in message
...
The Visitor wrote:
There is the chance that the parachute will ice up itself; when deployed
in icing conditions. If long enough(duration) in icing conditions there
is a risk of collapse. Of course it will deploy but it is not made to
collect ice and function properly.

Thank you. That was my question ... not whether or not a parachute could
sustain an airplane with ice, but whether or not a parachute itself is
susceptible to ice and resulting failure.

Bogus answers.

The amount of time under chute is brief, and significant icing would not be
likely in that amount of time. Even if ice did build up somewhat, this is not
an airfoil parachute, like some skydivers use, so performance degradation would
be minimal, most likely.

The real answer is that the parachute has not been tested to not tear away, at
deployment speeds above 133 knots (I think, but that is close) so there is some
question at what speed it would tear away. Your are a test pilot at speeds
above the maximum tested speed, but it might hold and save you at speeds higher
than that. The fact that icing was significant would mean that the plane has to
fly faster to stay in the air without stalling, so it might not have been
possible to slow down enough to get under the deployment speed. It seems like a
intentional flat spin would slow you down enough, to me, but that is just an
idea.

The real rub is that because a totaled airplane is likely to be the result of
deployment, and saving your life is not guaranteed, so a pilot is liable to try
to fly it down and land, and if the plane stalls and spins in at too low of an
altitude, there is no time for the chute to save you. This is a possible
scenario in this accident.

We don't know why he flew into the icing. It is obviously best not to fly into
icing, thinking the chute will save you. Anything after that is a gamble.
--
Jim in NC