Crunch Alert (USA) - hugely serious but (apparently) non-fatal

On Tuesday, May 1, 2012 10:43:53 AM UTC-4, John Carlyle wrote:
I've often wondered about the amount of altitude loss that occurs when exiting an aircraft in distress. Here it was about 1,500 feet in what would seem to be ideal circumstances - inverted (I have no idea what part centrifugal force was playing in this case).

Doesn't bode well for someone in a deep cockpit in an upright attitude. Maybe it's time to look seriously at DG's NOAH system...

-John

On Tuesday, May 1, 2012 9:42:52 AM UTC-4, Mike the Strike wrote:
Reportedly, the problem occurred at about 5,000 ft AGL and the aircraft inverted and entered a flat spin. Angel departed the aircraft about 3,500 to 3,800 feet AGL.

Mike

John,

I watched a number of pilots trying to get out of their gliders at Perry on the ground. Between an excess of personal ballast and declining muscle strength, I'd be willing to bet half of them could never get out with any increased lateral or positive, vertical loading.

Related to this, I'm curious why static lines aren't prevalent in the US. It seems all of the European made gliders have a provision for the static line. Any of our Euro friends care to illuminate us on whether use of static lines is common there?