My gut feeling is that one of the more likely scenarios is a mid-air at or
near pattern altitude. When you are this low, I doubt you have time to bail
out, whether you have NOAH or not. This is where only a Balistic Recovery
Chute can save your butt.

Mike Schumann

"Paul Hanson" wrote in message
...
At 21:01 11 September 2007, Mike Schumann wrote:
I don't understand the NOAH system. Why not just put
a ballistic recovery
chute in the glider? That way you don't need to worry
about getting out,
you are somewhat protected when you hit the ground,
and your chute will
deploy even if you pull the cord at 300 ft.

Mike Schumann

1. Not all gliders can have a BRS installed (probably
goes for the NOAH as well)
2. With a BRS, you can not guarantee you will still
be attached to the part of the glider with the BRS
installed, nor that it will function properly in the
case of catastrophic damage

Even if you have the BRS, I highly recommend still
flying with your emergency bailout chute, and please
continue to 'worry' about how you may get out if you
need to. If the BRS works- hey, great! If not you still
have an option (not below 300 AGL though) There is
already a known case of this very scenario, and it
was a flutter breakup and not even a midair that caused
it. Skillfully (not luckily cause' it's not called
luck when you prepare for the unexpected) the pilot
had his personal chute (and presence of mind) and was
able to live to tell about it. Plus with a personal
chute you can steer away form power lines or cliff
faces and other hazards just as deadly as no protection
at all.
For the really safety minded (and thick walleted) a
BRS, NOAH, a personal chute, a helmet (might have saved
more lives than you may think) and all the other gizmos
mentioned already, including the condom, although admittedly
the helmet may significantly reduce the need for that
one

Paul Hanson
"Do the usual, unusually well"--Len Niemi





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