You obviously wouldn't be holding on to the handle
to the detriment of getting out of the glider, but
I think the last thing you should do prior to falling
is get hold of the handle. Like you said, it might
(probably would have) come loose from it's velcro and
may be difficult to grab in the panic of freefall.
I believe there have been cases of pilots successfully
abandoning their aircraft and the chute not having
been deployed. If you pull the cord after leaving
the glider there is virtually no chance of entanglement.

At 22:00 12 September 2007, wrote:
Probably not a good idea, for a couple of reasons:

1. You may need both arms to get out, or may only have
one working (or
free) arm available to get out. And you HAVE to get
out before using
the chute (with one possible exception).

2. If you are holding the rip-cord during egress,
you probably
increase the chance of an early chute deployment, and
possible
entaglement with the glider.

A better plan is to practice finding your rip-cord
while wearing your
chute - using your eyes to guide your hands to where
it should be.
This should be tried both standing up, crouching, spread-eagled;
any
position you think you might assume after exiting the
glider. Also,
note that the rip-cord handle (D-ring) may be jarred
loose from it's
housing during the bailout, and you might have to locate
it by finding
where the rip-cord exits the chute housing and following
the rip-cord
wire to the D-ring. Think about it, look carefully
at your parachute,
and practice actually deploying it when you drop it
off to get it
repacked - you may be surprised how hard (or easy)
it is to pull. I
like to setup a scenario with my rigger, then talk
myself through the
timeline of a mid-air and bailout (CANOPY, STRAPS,
EXIT, FIND D-RING,
PULL, CHECK CANOPY etc), until I pull the rip-cord
and the chute
'deploys'. My chute always surprises me with an 'easy'
pull, compared
to some military training jumps I did long ago that
required two hands
to move the D-ring!

The exception mentioned above? You can't get out of
the cockpit.
Last resort,(canopy gone) is to unstrap, lean forward
as far as you
can (pull youself using the instrument panel), then
pull the rip-
cord. You WILL be extracted from the glider. It may
not be pretty,
thought!

Ref FLARM: Unfotunately, we pathetic Americans are
specifically
prohibited from using it. Not that it would do much
good in most
parts of the US, glider density is way too low. And
I can't even get
most pilots in my club to set their altimeters to QNH!
So the chance
of there being pressure to introduce a similar system
in the US is
pretty low, IMHO...

Kirk
66