On Saturday, August 11, 2018 at 6:45:15 PM UTC-5, Al McNamara wrote:
I'm amazed at some of the comments on this issue. In 20+ years of gliding,
I can remember only one flight without a parachute - at Seminole Lakes in
Florida. It was in a Grob Acro and was possibly the most uncomfortable
flight I've ever had, as the Acro seat (like most gliders built in Europe)
is designed to be sat in with a parachute.

Aside from comfort (yes of course you could use a parachute shaped cushion)
I personally know 3 pilots whose lives have been saved by parachutes in my
time gliding, and know of many more occasions where this has been the case
(including the lightning strike at Dunstable previously mentioned by Mark
Ware).

The US appears to have a culture of not wearing parachutes which I find
really surprising. In my view, wearing a parachute during flying training
should be mandatory. This would build a culture where it was the norm, and
every single seat pilot would see a parachute as being an essential bit of
equipment.

Al

Since I have a parachute for my glider, I also wear it whenever I fly in powered aircraft (except commercial of course). No reason to leave it hanging in the closet at home. I do get some funny looks, though, when I climb out of a Cessna wearing a chute.