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

At 15:00 01 May 2012, Papa3 wrote:


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
s=
trength, I'd be willing to bet half of them could never get out with any
in=
creased lateral or positive, vertical loading. =20

I think you might find that adrenaline takes over in that situation

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
l=
ine. Any of our Euro friends care to illuminate us on whether use of
stati=
c lines is common there?

Static lines are not used here in the UK for the very good reason that
pilots tend to exit the glider wearing the parachute and walk away. I think
the fitting of a static line loop in the glider was an LBA requirement but
as far as I am aware no one uses it for the reason given above.

If you want a good laugh have a look at this. The demonstrator is
attempting to show that the practice of undoing the chest strap before the
leg straps is unecessary because you won't ever get dragged by the chute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kx-buGUOhw