Automatic Parachutes

(John DeRosa Sky Soaring Chicago IL) wrote in message . com...
I was looking at my new-to-me glider on Saturday and noticed a 1" hole
just over the pilot's left shoulder with a red stripe painted above
it. See http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/grosse-piloten-e.html for a
picture of the hole.

We stood around and pondered what the hole was for. No one had much
of an idea. The manual was no help. I wrote to DG and they said it
was for the static line of an automatic parachute, which DG said are
very popular in Germany.

My question is, why aren't automatic parachutes popular in other
countries? I can understand the advantages. What are the
disadvantages (besides getting out of your glider when back on the
ground after a long flight and forgetting to unbuckle!)?

Also, how long is the static line?

Thanks, John DeRosa

John,

the only disadvantage may be if you had to bail out at extreme
altitudes or after your glider suffered a structural overload in a
cloud. In either case, you would not be able to free-fall to lower
(=breathable) altitudes. The prospect of being sucked up into a CuNimb
and to experience first hand what it is like in there, doesn't appeal
to me. Other than that, I think there is no real disadvantage for the
static-line chute. I have seen two guys bail out of a Blechnik and
they were glad that they didn't have to fiddle around with the
rip-chord.

The line should be somewhat longer than the fuselage, otherwise the
chute begins to unfurl next to the tail and could get caught.

Uli Neumann
Libelle 'GM'