On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:37:22 -0800, Holger Stephan
wrote:
Ron Wanttaja wrote:
...
This doesn't include the cases of in-flight fires (at least three, during
1998-2000), other common reasons for ballistic-chute use (engine failures
over hostile terrain, etc.), or those accidents which were not included in
the NTSB databases (ultralights, non-reported accidents, etc.).

Mid-airs are another case. A chute may still work with the structure
partially disintegrated or the control system jammed.

True, but mid-airs are even rarer than structural failure. Nine homebuilts
involved in midairs in my 1998-2000 database period, five were fatal. In
some of the fatalities, the pilot was probably dead or unconscious after
the collision, so neither a personal nor ballistic parachute would have
been much good.

But...as I've pointed out in the past...in those rare cases where you
*need* one, nothing else will do.

Ron Wanttaja