Beginner, Parachutes?

On Nov 27, 2:47*pm, John Smith wrote:
Bottom line is: yes, you can bail out successfully from winch
launch height.

I was impressed by a sucessful bail out from 400ft. That's a huge
difference from doing it at the top of a typical winch launch.

So Andreas what is the full story? Did she realize she had a problem
at the start of the launch and decide to get out at 400ft and then
actually depart the aircraft at top of launch, or did she really get
out at 400ft?

Andy

not a dumb question at all!
having already bailed out of one glider and successfully survived the ordeal
I find it very uncomfortable to fly without one...in fact for many years
found it uncomfortable to even fly with one!..
at the time, I too was in a club that quite frankly didn't use parachutes,
some there even made some remarks because I did...but none the less, almost
all gliders are designed for parachutes to be used in them, most flight
manuals calculated weight and balance takes this into account and requires
you to either wear a parachute or add cushions to put you in the same
position...makes little sense to have cushions behind you when the wings
come apart!
If you continue to fly gliders and progress to more sophisticated singe seat
designs you'll want a parachute anyway....they are actually quite
comfortable.....and comforting to have there...
also a bigger parts of wearing a parachute is knowing how to use it.....read
the manual, go through the motions.....or even get with a sport parachuting
club or operation and get an hours worth of instruction on how to use it and
avoid common mistakes..Emergency parachutes are designed to work even when
you do things terribly wrong with them, that's what sets them apart from
sport skydiving parachutes, but you can enhance your safety and willingness
to actually use one without hesitation if the case ever comes up..
"I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was
down here"
best of luck!
Tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"vic20owner" wrote in message
...
Dumb beginner question follows:

I am just starting out flying gliders.... Here in the USA it seems
nobody wears a parachute unless they are contest flying or doing
aerobatics. However, I generally do like knowing that I have a backup
plan and a parachute seems reasonable. I suppose a history of cave
diving has made me sensitive to accident possibilities. I realize
flying is very safe but gliders tend to fly in circles near each
other.

Would it be premature to buy and wear a parachute while still taking
lessons, or would I quickly become the club's private joke?

thanks

Regardless of what kind of flight I'm taking in a glider of any type,
I feel naked and insecure without a parachute on. This is based on the
reports of inflight collisions I've read (e.g. the Hawker/ASG29 near
Minden), and my own experience as a rookie x/c pilot when I carelessly
got sucked into a CU. Fortunately I didn't break the glider but like
Andy's experience at that first turnpoint, it left a lasting
impression.

~ted/2NO

ps full disclosure -- I'm also biased by a previous life as a
skydiver; jumpers are nervous getting in any small aircraft without a
rig on.

Quick follow-up: My club is based at the same airport as the guys
that make Softie Parachutes. Most of the folks here love 'em (we have
6 chutes just for use in the club fleet, plus a lot of guys who own
their glider and fly with a Softie). They're not the cheapest, but
they're comfortable and effective. Sometimes they sell used chutes on
consignment for a good price.

Some of the IAC folks in my area love the folks at Silver Parachutes,
and certainly other brands work fine. If you have access to a few
parachutes, try them on and adjust the straps and see how they feel
(preferrably in a seating position like you would be in a glider) -
there's no substitute for hands-on review before deciding on which
type to buy.

Take care,

--Noel

vic20owner wrote:
Dumb beginner question follows:

I am just starting out flying gliders.... Here in the USA it seems
nobody wears a parachute unless they are contest flying or doing
aerobatics. However, I generally do like knowing that I have a backup
plan and a parachute seems reasonable. I suppose a history of cave
diving has made me sensitive to accident possibilities. I realize
flying is very safe but gliders tend to fly in circles near each
other.

Would it be premature to buy and wear a parachute while still taking
lessons, or would I quickly become the club's private joke?

thanks
Man - only on the internet could I 'discover' a thread ~24 hours after
it started, and find it was old/over on the same day! Anyhow...

"What everyone else has already said."

'Way back when' when my instructor kicked me out of the 2-33 we'd been
flying to the club's 1-26, he added (in what seemed to me, then, almost
an afterthought), "Go grab a parachute for the flight."

"Why?" asks I. "We haven't been using them on our flights."

"I can't fit in the back of a 2-33 with a 'chute, and you don't get one
if I don't get one. Trust me...wear a 'chute any time you can."

That last bit made sense then. Still does today. A few years later, my
personal 'chute was in for a repack, so I flew my
(supine-piloting-position) HP-14 resting atop 4" of foam. It
simultaneously: was terrifying; felt akin to (I imagine!) being naked
before the Pope; provided much food for contemplation of the U.S. FAA's
'curious wisdom' regarding emergency 'chute accessibility to the PIC vs.
violating then-applicable 'chute FARs.

Of course my view may have been biased by being a 1-time user of the
same 'chute...

Regards,
Bob - likes to listen to those little voices in his head - W.

P.S. As already noted, you'd be rather irked with yourself - for a
while, anyway - if you needed a 'chute and had opted to fly without it.

A parachute is part of the required equipment for my glider, according
to it's type certificate. I have a Kestrel 19 in Canada.

I wonder how many gliders have this requirement?

Story time.......
I was CD'ing a contest at Air Sailing and caught a 1-26 driver
climbing in without a chute. Where's your chute, I asked? Don't use
them, was his reply. You do in this contest, its
regulations..............he was retired military and I knew he
wouldn't argue with that. You can guess where this is going, come
evening, everybody's back cept the 1-26 driver. Nothing on the radio
and nobody'd heard anything in the air, so we launched a search
vehicle, AKA, tow plane. Found him about an hour later, he'd done a
one-turn spin, turning final to a dirt road about 20 miles west of
home plate. That 1-26 hit near vertical and he broke both legs and
messed up his feet something awful!
Alone in the desert, loosing blood and going into shock, he was
between a rock and a hard place. Then he remembered the chute I made
him wear. Popped that puppy and wrapped both legs and himself with the
canopy. The chute probably saved his life and not by its intended
purpose.
One could write a book about the use of a parachute other than for a
nylon descent.
JJ