Parachute 20 year limit

On Dec 5, 5:57*pm, "HL Falbaum" wrote:


My question thus is---what do y'all think if you have to jump, partially
incapacitated, but able to get out and pull the ripcord.

Hartley Falbaum
Georgia, USA

One thing that the Europeans have on us is that many (some? all?) use
static rip cords which are attached to the airplane. My glider (DG)
has a hole near the seat back marked with a red stripe for just that
purpose. It took me a while to figure out what it was for as no one
in the US seems to use this method. Thus if you are incapacitated and
do manage to exit the aircraft, the chute opens automatically.
However, don't exit the glider on the ground and just walk away!!
POP. OOPS.

I have been told that in the UK everyone wears a chute no matter the
craft. True? Other countries?

Thanks, John

On Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:25:05 -0800, ContestID67 wrote:


I have been told that in the UK everyone wears a chute no matter the
craft. True? Other countries?

Largely true in the UK. In my club we wear chutes for all flying except
in our T-21b, where chutes are never worn. I don't know why, unless that
wing overhead would make getting out extremely difficult.

I've done a limited amount of flying in Germany and New Zealand. In both
places chute wearing was taken for granted: so routine that NOT wearing
one would be surprising.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Dec 7, 3:55*am, Martin Gregorie
wrote:
I've done a limited amount of flying in Germany and New Zealand. In both
places chute wearing was taken for granted: so routine that NOT wearing
one would be surprising.

Er .. what?

We certainly don't normally wear chutes in our club two seaters for
rides or training, which is 99 of what they are used for. I can say
I've flown at every club in NZ but all the ones I have been to are the
same.

Chutes are worn as a matter of course in single seaters.

On Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:31:11 -0800, Bruce Hoult wrote:

We certainly don't normally wear chutes in our club two seaters for
rides or training, which is 99 of what they are used for. I can say
I've flown at every club in NZ but all the ones I have been to are the
same.

My memory must be going. I was certain I wore a chute for my check ride
at Paraparam and I certainly did at Omarama - I have pictures to prove
the latter.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

Chutes are worn as a matter of course in single seaters.

Pretty much the same at my (US) club. But, you have to ask "How weird is
that?".

Tony V. LS6-b "6N"

On Dec 8, 4:26*am, TonyV wrote:
Chutes are worn as a matter of course in single seaters.

Pretty much the same at my (US) club. But, you have to ask "How weird is
that?".

Tony V. LS6-b "6N"

I would say that with 3000 - 4000 ft cloudbases near the airfield and
2000 - 3000 ft terrain, our trial flights and training flights are
probably seldom high enough above the terrain for a parachute to be
any use to someone not intimately familiar with its use.

In these increasingly litigious days, I should have thought people who
run 2-seater flights without parachutes would be wise to learn from
this 1999 event:

“ . . . they were approximately 2,500 feet agl . . . the glider was
struck by lightning and large sections of its airframe disintegrated.

. . . . The student had already decided to abandon the glider and,
after he had departed, the instructor followed but was surprised when
he realised that he had not had to jettison his cockpit canopy. It was
estimated that both parachutes had successfully inflated by 1,800 feet
agl.”

Happy and safe soaring to you all.

Chris N.

I am often asked "how high do you have to be for the parachute to open if
you have to bail out"
I guess you could go on and on about just how much time it takes to exit the
glider, get into a proper position, deploy the parachute and make a safe,
soft landing...but my simple answer is, "if I know I am going to die in a
glider slamming into the ground, and there is a .000000001% chance I might
get out and survive with a parachute......I will be trying until the last
ounce of earth covers my shoe laces!" Honestly, I don't think when the
occasion appears anyone will be doing the math...and in a state of high
adrenalin time passes by very slowly...slow enough I don't think I want to
have this time to ponder the consequences...
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"Bruce Hoult" wrote in message
...
On Dec 8, 4:26 am, TonyV wrote:
Chutes are worn as a matter of course in single seaters.

Pretty much the same at my (US) club. But, you have to ask "How weird is
that?".

Tony V. LS6-b "6N"

I would say that with 3000 - 4000 ft cloudbases near the airfield and
2000 - 3000 ft terrain, our trial flights and training flights are
probably seldom high enough above the terrain for a parachute to be
any use to someone not intimately familiar with its use.