Rolling a Non Aerobat 150

I have an acquaintance that kicked his way out the windshield of a Citabria,
after the wings folded up against the fuselage.

Karl
"Curator" N185KG


"john hawkins" wrote in message
et...

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...


Cox wrote:
If you do manage to get out of a spinning aircraft, I wouls estimate
close to a 100% better chance of survival if you have a chute on. I
sure would hate to be the person who was able to get out of the so
called "impossible aircraft to get out of" only to find they didn't
have a chute on.

Wear a chute, what can it hurt?

Adam

Adam Cope
www.dcaerobatics.com
703-623-9445



I totally agree with this. The " you'll never get out of this airplane
because of the door" routine is something I've heard repeated many times
through my career teaching aerobatics. My standard answer and "lecture"
on this issue is as follows;
For spins, even if the regulations don't call for chutes, I always
recommend wearing them. I always had chutes available for whatever
aircraft we were using for spin training.
A lot has been written and said about the difficulties involved in
getting out of Aerobats, Citabrias, and Decathlons.
There is no doubt that especially with a structural failure, exiting one
of these aircraft could be iffy. That's why any good instructor not only
supplies chutes for spin training, but as well performs a complete egress
brief specific to aircraft type to the point where once the bail out call
has been made, each occupant knows what the exit procedure will be. This
is especially critical in tandem aircraft.
I should mention that even with the most complete egress briefing, there
is STILL an element of doubt that a successful exit from these airplanes
can be executed in the time available under extreme g in a post
structural failure.
The factors involving a successful bail out are so diverse that there are
just no guarantees.
In the Pitts S2 for example, if the upper wing fails, the flying wires
will most likely remain attached and the upper wing will beat the
occupants to death before a bail out can be achieved.
All this being considered, the use of chutes is not only recommended, but
in my opinion a necessary part of every non- standard flight whether it
be aerobatics or spin training.
The bottom line is that wearing a chute gives you a fighting chance for
survival. Not wearing a chute gives you no chance at all.
Its a smart pilot who takes advantage of all available options!
Dudley Henriques


Dudley,
Could you give some specifics about exiting a citabria?
I used to do aerobatics in one and always wore a chute. I never suspected
that I would have trouble exiting if I pulled the door hinge pins, I
thought the door would vanish and leave me a big hole to climb out.
The only serious instructor I had was in a Stearman and he never discussed
exiting in case of trouble.
Obviously I was completely ignorant. Better to learn late than never.