Of parachutes and things

That's great feedback, everyone. Thanks very much. The problem I have at
the moment is that I live in the UK and don't know of any dealers around
which I could fly to and try several on in the airplane. The Softie with
the aerobatic harness sounds like a good bet, though, based on the comments
here.

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to drop a line in. Much appreciated.

Shawn
"DSowder" wrote in message
...
Was hoping to get a bit of expertise here. I'm in the market for an
emergency bailout chute for flying in my Pitts S-1D. The top US
contenders
seem to be National and Softie but with no experience in the field, and
parachutes not exactly being the kind of object you can try on for size
in
the shop, I don't really know what to look for and what to avoid.

I'm 6 ft. and 200 lb. I used a "Mini-Softie" backpack in the S1 ("C"
fuselage,
"S" wings) that I flew for several years, and was satisfied that it was
the
best fit for that airplane.

When I switched to an S-2B, I bought two Wedge Softies (also backpacks),
which
are thicker at the bottom than at the top. The S-2B has good legroom, the
Wedge
leans me back a bit and I have more distance from face to inst. panel.
Again,
the right choice; it's very comfortable, even for 10 hr. flying days.

BUT....the Wedge doesn't work for me in the S-1, because the latter is
very
short on legroom. If I were 3 or 4 inches shorter, it would be a different
story, and the Wedge would be OK. It might also be OK in a "long fuselage"
S-1S
or T. But I think the D is short.

Some folks like the "chair pack" which has a flap below the butt to help
hold
the chute in place during negative G. I don't find any problem with the
straight backpack or the Wedge here, at least not up to -5 g's, which is
about
all I ever do.

My Mini Softie had the pelvis-bruising buckles, which I thought were OK,
so I
ordered the Wedge's that way. After I started flying serious advanced, the
bleeding started bothering me so at repack time, I had Dan convert my
favorite
Wedge to the aerobatic harness. Problem solved.

If you can, borrow chutes from friends to try, or if you are close to a
parachute shop, fly in to visit. Dan at Paraphernalia in Arlington (WA)
has
been more than accomodating to me. It's only about 220 NM from home for
me, so
stopping in isn't difficult. Go to a nearby contest and you'll find 20 to
50
pilots with every conceivable type of parachute, and they'll probably all
be
willing to advise and help. Especially the big ones (pilots, that
is)...it's a
battle for all of us!

Doug Sowder