Chest parachute? (need more room in my Discus A !!)

John Cochrane said
As I remember from my mis-spent youth in hang gliders, though, these
parachutes are *not designed for a free-falling pilot. A broken hang
glider doesn't fall that fast.

That was true in the past. Today's HG chutes are rated for free-fall
in case
you are separated from the glider.

On Thursday, May 3, 2012 8:41:04 AM UTC-4, Derek Mackie wrote:
For the record, I tried quitting pizza and beer last night. I didn't
drink while I was eating and didn't eat while I was drinking. I
didn't notice any change, so consider the "experiment" a failure.
Don't try this at home...(I'm a professional.)

Derek

Getting kinda dull up there in Canada what with not a single team left in the NHL playoffs, eh? Resorting to tempting the Gods with such radical behavior...

P3

On May 3, 3:40*pm, Papa3 wrote:
On Thursday, May 3, 2012 8:41:04 AM UTC-4, Derek Mackie wrote:
For the record, I tried quitting pizza and beer last night. *I didn't
drink while I was eating and didn't eat while I was drinking. *I
didn't notice any change, so consider the "experiment" a failure.
Don't try this at home...(I'm a professional.)

Derek

Getting kinda dull up there in Canada what with not a single team left in the NHL playoffs, eh? * Resorting to tempting the Gods with such radical behavior...

P3

You trying to make me cry? Words hurt, you know. :-(

Derek

On May 2, 5:38*pm, Ian Reekie wrote:
At 07:01 02 May 2012, Paul wrote:

Hi all,

Does anyone know anyone who flies with a chest parachute? I'd like
extra room in my Discus A, and perhaps this might be one way? Thanks
alot in advance.

Regards,
Paul

Have you considered a remote parachute pack. *You wear the harness and the
chute pack is stored behind your head and deployed by a static line. *Used
in Europe.

http://www.streckenflug.at/shop/prod...65&products_id....

Thanks alot for that. Perfect! Now got to see if I've got the room to
stuff the chute?

Regards,
Paul

On May 2, 9:30*pm, Rick Walters wrote:
On May 2, 12:01*am, Paul wrote:

Hi all,

Does anyone know anyone who flies with a chest parachute? I'd like
extra room in my Discus A, and perhaps this might be one way? Thanks
alot in advance.

Regards,
Paul

Paul

I have flown with a headrest chute and placed it on my chest whilst
flying an ASH25. Definitely not optimum. Bulkiness and turbulence are
issues and map reading becomes hopeless. Ian has suggested the remote
( shoulder or headrest ) chute and that is the way to go. If you are
in the USA, be sure your rigger will repack such a chute, before you
buy one. The A model SH fuselage space above the wing spar may be a
tight fit so check dimensions.

Rick

OK, thanks alot Rick. Will steer away from the chest option.
Appreciated.
Regards,
Paul

On May 3, 12:34*am, soartech wrote:
On May 2, 9:30*am, Rick Walters wrote: On May 2, 12:01*am, Paul wrote:

Hi all,

Does anyone know anyone who flies with a chest parachute? I'd like
extra room in my Discus A, and perhaps this might be one way? Thanks
alot in advance.

Hang glider pilots all fly with chest or side mounted chutes that are
capable of supporting
the glider (~80 lbs.) and the pilot together. They cost about $700 and
weigh about 6 lbs.http://www.highenergysports.com/hg_eparachutes.htm

OK, thanks alot, appreciated. I'll check them out now.
Regards,
Paul

On May 3, 4:54*am, Derek Mackie wrote:
On May 2, 1:41*pm, John Cochrane
wrote:
*lbs.http://www.highenergysports.com/hg_eparachutes.htm



As I remember from my mis-spent youth in hang gliders, though, these
parachutes are *not designed for a free-falling pilot. A broken hang
glider doesn't fall that fast.

Ballistic parachute to bring the glider down too?

Trading the discus A for a B or CS might be an easier solution!

John Cochrane

Also from my mis-spent youth - the chest mounted parachutes that we
used to use (I still have one somewhere) was hand-deployed. *That is,
you peel it off your chest, look for a hole in the tangled rigging and
throw it as hard as you can. *There is no pilot chute or D-handle,
which makes them light and compact, but, YOIKS! *A lot of guys went to
ballistics.

It would seem to me that a headrest pack might be your most reasonable
solution, but I would want to practice getting out to see what body
motion you need in order to not snag anything if you need to leave.

If it was me, I'd try getting on a treadmill for a while, maybe give
up pizza and beer. *Then when that failed, I'd start looking for a
jumbo-sized glider. *:-)

Derek

Derek,
Thanks alot for that. I think a headrest chute might be the way to go.
I'm only 71 kg (156 pounds, 11 stone), but at 183 cm it would be nice
to have a little more room.
Regards,
Paul

On May 3, 9:23*am, Bruce Barnard wrote:
Not familiar with SH, but in Schleichers many remove the seat backs.
Chutes are as hard as a rocks anyway so losing the seat back is not
much of a comfort loss, only a headrest loss. *Certainly much better
than quitting beer. *Hard to believe a good natured Canadian would
suggest you quit beer.

My Discus doesn't have a seat back. So this won't be an option. Thanks
for the suggestion anyway.
Regards,
Paul

On May 3, 9:22*am, Steve Leonard wrote:
On May 2, 2:01*am, Paul wrote:

Hi all,

Does anyone know anyone who flies with a chest parachute? I'd like
extra room in my Discus A, and perhaps this might be one way? Thanks
alot in advance.

Regards,
Paul

Well, can depend on where you want the extra room. *I have heard of
chutes being packed thinner at the top or bottom to make a slight
wedge form. *How heavy are you? *Lighter but maybe still larger pilots
can safely use a smaller canopy chute which will be a smaller pack.
Is the seatback still in? *Rudder pedals all the way forward? *Looked
at a different panel with higher shin cutouts? *Is there anything at
or near canopy rail height that could move to somewhere else?

If worst comes to worst, you can always get more room in your Schempp-
Hirth A by converting it to a Schempp-Hirth B.

I'm 71 kg and 183 cm tall. And my Discus doesn't have a seatback. And
rubber pedals can go forward a litle more, but would then be out of
reach. And have just made a new panel with bigger cutouts to make lots
more room for my shins. And have already moved the speaker mounting
point from beside my shoulders to up front more (so it points
backwards and not forwards). So the only thing left it to buy a
"remote" chute so I can put the pack on the deck behind my head, or
modify the seatpan a bit (ie: remove belly release, then re-mould the
seatpan to occupy the area that would otherwise be taken up by the
belly release). Thanks alot for all this, appreciated.
Regards,
Paul