Stay in, or get out?

Probably not a good idea, for a couple of reasons:

1. You may need both arms to get out, or may only have one working (or
free) arm available to get out. And you HAVE to get out before using
the chute (with one possible exception).

2. If you are holding the rip-cord during egress, you probably
increase the chance of an early chute deployment, and possible
entaglement with the glider.

A better plan is to practice finding your rip-cord while wearing your
chute - using your eyes to guide your hands to where it should be.
This should be tried both standing up, crouching, spread-eagled; any
position you think you might assume after exiting the glider. Also,
note that the rip-cord handle (D-ring) may be jarred loose from it's
housing during the bailout, and you might have to locate it by finding
where the rip-cord exits the chute housing and following the rip-cord
wire to the D-ring. Think about it, look carefully at your parachute,
and practice actually deploying it when you drop it off to get it
repacked - you may be surprised how hard (or easy) it is to pull. I
like to setup a scenario with my rigger, then talk myself through the
timeline of a mid-air and bailout (CANOPY, STRAPS, EXIT, FIND D-RING,
PULL, CHECK CANOPY etc), until I pull the rip-cord and the chute
"deploys". My chute always surprises me with an "easy" pull, compared
to some military training jumps I did long ago that required two hands
to move the D-ring!

The exception mentioned above? You can't get out of the cockpit.
Last resort,(canopy gone) is to unstrap, lean forward as far as you
can (pull youself using the instrument panel), then pull the rip-
cord. You WILL be extracted from the glider. It may not be pretty,
thought!

Ref FLARM: Unfotunately, we pathetic Americans are specifically
prohibited from using it. Not that it would do much good in most
parts of the US, glider density is way too low. And I can't even get
most pilots in my club to set their altimeters to QNH! So the chance
of there being pressure to introduce a similar system in the US is
pretty low, IMHO...

Kirk
66

On Sep 12, 1:40 pm, "jonathan" wrote:
bumper,

I find my yaw string always swings out to one side or the other - should I
use a heavier string?


Nah, just tape down both ends.

66

"Paul Hanson" wrote in message
...
At 19:00 12 September 2007, Toad wrote:
On Sep 12, 12:46 pm, Tim Taylor wrote:
... I have been thinking it would be nice to have a study
of crashes to
determine if a helmet wold have saved many lives.
We fly at speeds up
to 200 mph, yet do not require a helmet of pilots.
I have been
looking at helmet types that would allow good vision
and movement in
gliders without excessive weight for the G's we pull.
Has anyone done
this type of study and/or tried flight helmets etc
in gliders?
...

See

http://iac78.org/newsletter/Newsletter_May_2007.pdf

for info on some of the available helmets.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

You obviously wouldn't be holding on to the handle
to the detriment of getting out of the glider, but
I think the last thing you should do prior to falling
is get hold of the handle. Like you said, it might
(probably would have) come loose from it's velcro and
may be difficult to grab in the panic of freefall.
I believe there have been cases of pilots successfully
abandoning their aircraft and the chute not having
been deployed. If you pull the cord after leaving
the glider there is virtually no chance of entanglement.

At 22:00 12 September 2007, wrote:
Probably not a good idea, for a couple of reasons:

1. You may need both arms to get out, or may only have
one working (or
free) arm available to get out. And you HAVE to get
out before using
the chute (with one possible exception).

2. If you are holding the rip-cord during egress,
you probably
increase the chance of an early chute deployment, and
possible
entaglement with the glider.

A better plan is to practice finding your rip-cord
while wearing your
chute - using your eyes to guide your hands to where
it should be.
This should be tried both standing up, crouching, spread-eagled;
any
position you think you might assume after exiting the
glider. Also,
note that the rip-cord handle (D-ring) may be jarred
loose from it's
housing during the bailout, and you might have to locate
it by finding
where the rip-cord exits the chute housing and following
the rip-cord
wire to the D-ring. Think about it, look carefully
at your parachute,
and practice actually deploying it when you drop it
off to get it
repacked - you may be surprised how hard (or easy)
it is to pull. I
like to setup a scenario with my rigger, then talk
myself through the
timeline of a mid-air and bailout (CANOPY, STRAPS,
EXIT, FIND D-RING,
PULL, CHECK CANOPY etc), until I pull the rip-cord
and the chute
'deploys'. My chute always surprises me with an 'easy'
pull, compared
to some military training jumps I did long ago that
required two hands
to move the D-ring!

The exception mentioned above? You can't get out of
the cockpit.
Last resort,(canopy gone) is to unstrap, lean forward
as far as you
can (pull youself using the instrument panel), then
pull the rip-
cord. You WILL be extracted from the glider. It may
not be pretty,
thought!

Ref FLARM: Unfotunately, we pathetic Americans are
specifically
prohibited from using it. Not that it would do much
good in most
parts of the US, glider density is way too low. And
I can't even get
most pilots in my club to set their altimeters to QNH!
So the chance
of there being pressure to introduce a similar system
in the US is
pretty low, IMHO...

Kirk
66

Pretty much the only pilots that wear helmets are military
pilots, and that is probably due to the excessive g
they experience and the forces involved in ejecting.
Also for attaching sun visors, oxygen masks, headphones
and mics. Glider pilots definately do not need helmets;
not in the air anyway, maybe on the ground to protect
against walking into trailing edges.

wrote:
On Sep 12, 1:40 pm, "jonathan" wrote:
bumper,

I find my yaw string always swings out to one side or the other - should I
use a heavier string?


Nah, just tape down both ends.

That is not aerodynamically clean. A yaw string, properly mounted to the
inside of the canopy, needs tape at only one end.This results in less
drag to the glider, and less confusion to the pilot.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

Mark Dickson wrote:
Pretty much the only pilots that wear helmets are military
pilots, and that is probably due to the excessive g
they experience and the forces involved in ejecting.
Also for attaching sun visors, oxygen masks, headphones
and mics. Glider pilots definately do not need helmets;
not in the air anyway, maybe on the ground to protect
against walking into trailing edges.

I do know of one pilot that wears a helmet while wave flying. It looks
like a military jet pilot's helmet, including the darkened "goggle"
portion that covers the eyes. He does it for the warmth in normal wave
flying, for protection from the bright sun (he doesn't fly wave where I
fly!), to support the oxygen mask, to provide protection from a canopy
that shatters in the cold, and for protection from the wind and cold if
he has to bail out at high altitudes.

He doesn't have any problems with clearance to the canopy, but I think a
lot of pilots would.

I rarely fly above 18,000 in wave, but if I did it routinely, I'd
consider wearing a helmet.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

On Sep 12, 11:04 pm, Mark Dickson
wrote:
I've always thought it would be a good idea to take
hold of the rip-cord handle before finally leaving
the glider. Did you do that, and, if you didn't, did
you get hold of the handle quickly and easily?

At 11:00 12 September 2007, Peld wrote:


Mark,

I didn't have a hold of the ripcord as I left the cockpit, I was too
busy trying to hold my glasses on. I think my priorities may have been
a bit askew at that stage. Also I was using as much energy as I could
to get over the side, and also looking to see that I wasn't going to
hit the wing on the way out. The wing that wasn't there any more by
the way. To be quite honest, I don't even recall pulling the ripcord,
but as has been mentioned on here, I had practised doing that plenty
of times on the ground and obviously the practise paid off. I did hang
on to the ripcord all the way down to the ground and I fully intend to
frame it!

Nah, just tape down both ends.

That is not aerodynamically clean. A yaw string, properly mounted to the
inside of the canopy, needs tape at only one end.This results in less
drag to the glider, and less confusion to the pilot.


But, doesn't the loose end dangling in front of your face get to be
annoying? Tape both ends, I say.

Tony V.

On Sep 10, 8:50 pm, "Jim Vincent" wrote:
"Dan G" wrote in message

ups.com...

You've had a whack, but everything feels fine. Do you stay in the
glider, or leave? Just how reliable are the parachutes we use? I
understand that they're fairly simple quick-opening designs, but
there's no reserve, right? Has a glider-pilot parachute ever failed?

Dan

That depends. The chute is very reliable..super high tech yet very simply
elegant. How reliable are you? Have you ever jumped before? Would you be
stable in free fall, and have your wits about you to pull the ripcord in a
stable position?

There was a thread about 2-3 years back on static lines. I know
they're in common use in Europe, but not in the US. Anyone ever get
to the bottom of that?

P3