Stay in, or get out?

That depends. The chute is very reliable..super high tech yet very simply
elegant. How reliable are you? Have you ever jumped before? Would you be
stable in free fall, and have your wits about you to pull the ripcord in a
stable position?

Jim, while I appreciate your concern about being stable in freefall
(having tried it myself, long long time ago), I think you overestimate
the need to get into a stable free fall in an emergency bailout
situation. In most cases, there will be no need to delay opening
until lower altitude (wave flights excepted). So the real task is to
successfully exit the glider, find the ripcord (not any of the other
hard shiny things on the harness), then pulling it with enough
altitude to get a good chute. Tens of thousands of military aircrew
managed to do this for real and survive, and I am pretty sure 99.9%
didn't have ANY training in getting into a stable arch before pulling!

My concern is that someone with only a little training might be more
concerned with "style points" and delay opening too late - especially
back east where a lot of time is spent below 3000' agl, and a midair
with another glider or a spamcan is a real risk.

I know I'm not going to even think about getting into a nice hard arch
- I'm getting clear of the glider as fast as I can, looking for the D-
ring, grabbing it with both hands, and yanking that sucker ASAP! If
it hurts the old nads during opening, so be it - I can deal with that
later.

Absolutely agree that every glider pilot who wears a chute should try
to experience a tandem or static line jump, if possible - great
confidence builder, and a lot of fun, too!

Cheers,

Kirk
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