On Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:32:50 +0000, Sparkorama
wrote:


Has anyone here ever had to exit a glider in the air? Know anyone that
has? It seems to me that a mid-air in a thermal or in the pattern is the
biggest danger. And I just can't imagine getting out of a harness and
out of a plane in the few seconds it would take if you broke a wing on
another plane.

You are correct.

A friend of mine had an inflight collision. She lost 8 ft of the left
wing of her ASW-27 which entered a spiral dive.

The collision happened at about 4.000 ft over the ground. Time from
collision to impact 56 (!!!!!) seconds. During this time she was
unable to leave the glider.

I'm really a huge fan of the ASW-27, but in my opinion its very high
cockpit walls definitely were a factor for her inability to bail out.

On the ground I get out of the 25 in less than five seconds with the
parachute starpped on.


Andreas