I had to bail out of a glider in 1990.this was an LS1f when the ailerons
became locked up at full left aileron after a yank and bank.....
I was only at the time somewhere between 1500-2000' AGL....after one
complete roll it was obvious the controls were not going to come free so I
jettisoned the canopy, undid the belts and pushed out...I had still enough
time to clear the risers, steer the parachute and make a safe landing in the
woods down through the trees .....I attribute my success to this to having
been prepared and knowing my equipment, the glider and the parachute. I had
several years before this made 3 static line jumps so the fear of actually
having to bail out was reduced and I had some idea what to expect...did I
say I wasn't scared? absolutely not, this was an emergency! I said several
"Hail Mary's" and some stuff I made up!..but I was as prepared as I could be
.....that is the difference from those who have had to bail out (and I know
of several other) and those we have held funerals for...hesitation to bail
out would be expected if you only wore a parachute because others flying
gliders do....read the manuals, practice and go through the motions just as
you would need to if the emergency were to come...trust me, you won't have
time to read them when it happens!
I'm not a big fan of having BRS in every aircraft, I think it too can give a
false sense of security....witness the number of successful BRS uses on just
the Cirrus aircraft alone....how many of these pilots simply popped the
chute when they panicked, got over their heads and into weather they weren't
qualified or current enough to handle..we can't verify every one but there
have been some instances where these and I'm sure some UL or LSA BRS
deployments that were just a Panic reaction to a bad situation..even if I
had a BRS I would still wear a parachute....I buy life insurance too, when I
quit buying life insurance then too I'll leave the parachute on the ground.
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"Andreas Maurer" wrote in message
...
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

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