4 ms·

Rockets, balloons, most military aircraft? Shove a ballistic parachute on it.

tylorr 10y ago
On the technology page under the safety first section they talk about a parachute being installed as a last resort.
aphextron 10y ago
> "Rockets, balloons, most military aircraft? Shove a ballistic parachute on it." As far as I know, no rocket or military fighter jet has ever been certified to carry paying passengers for exactly this reason. We're talking about shuttling people around, not highly trained test pilots. Balloons are actually far safer than fixed wing aircraft for other reasons. It would take a complete loss of the canopy for a balloon to fall out of the sky. When they run out of fuel, they just drift slowly to the ground. Ballistic parachutes are a last resort option, and add a large amount of weight and complexity to the aircraft. Not to mention that they do not scale up to larger passenger aircraft. It's not even comparable to the safety afforded by a stable airframe.
- tristanb 10y ago
  You cant dead stick a cessna in an urban environment, and current ballistic parachutes aren't that heavy. https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/24946/what-is-the-weight-of-ballistic-recovery-systems https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/24946/what-is-t...
  - aphextron 10y ago
    >You cant dead stick a cessna in an urban environment, and current ballistic parachutes aren't that heavy. Except a ballistic parachute does absolutely nothing for you in the scenario where > 90% of accidents happen: take off and landing. Even the most advanced BRS systems on Cirrus planes require 1000 feet AGL. There's simply no getting around the basic physics of this problem.
    - nickthemagicman 10y ago
      Yeah but dead sticking is less effective during take off and landing as well.
      - falcolas 10y ago
        I watched someone who wouldn't make the runway (pilot error, didn't switch the fuel tanks fully on approach) dead stick onto a perpendicular highway. With a light plane, you can do a lot with a dead stick. They have remarkably generous glide slopes (nearish to a mile horizontal travel for every 1,000 vertical feet). Not to mention being inherently stable whether under power or not.
  - tristanb 10y ago
    Well a 0/0 safety system seems like a solvable problem in the scheme of things. airbag + chute? Who knows.
  - monkmartinez 10y ago
    You can't dead stick most aircraft in an urban environment. Unless you are Sully...
- tristanb 10y ago
  Let me clarify that, you can dead stick a cessna and land it outside your local bar in NYC (someone did) but its not easy.
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fitzpatrick_(pilot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fitzpatrick_(pilot) https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/long-ago-a-pilot-landed-on-an-uptown-street-thats-where-the-bar-was/ https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/long-ago-a-pil...
- SJC1 9y ago
  Once a parachute is deployed there is no control among many high rise buildings.

On the technology page under the safety first section they talk about a parachute being installed as a last resort.

> "Rockets, balloons, most military aircraft? Shove a ballistic parachute on it." As far as I know, no rocket or military fighter jet has ever been certified to carry paying passengers for exactly this reason. We're talking about shuttling people around, not highly trained test pilots. Balloons are actually far safer than fixed wing aircraft for other reasons. It would take a complete loss of the canopy for a balloon to fall out of the sky. When they run out of fuel, they just drift slowly to the ground. Ballistic parachutes are a last resort option, and add a large amount of weight and complexity to the aircraft. Not to mention that they do not scale up to larger passenger aircraft. It's not even comparable to the safety afforded by a stable airframe.

tristanb 10y ago
You cant dead stick a cessna in an urban environment, and current ballistic parachutes aren't that heavy. https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/24946/what-is-the-weight-of-ballistic-recovery-systems https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/24946/what-is-t...
- aphextron 10y ago
  >You cant dead stick a cessna in an urban environment, and current ballistic parachutes aren't that heavy. Except a ballistic parachute does absolutely nothing for you in the scenario where > 90% of accidents happen: take off and landing. Even the most advanced BRS systems on Cirrus planes require 1000 feet AGL. There's simply no getting around the basic physics of this problem.
  - nickthemagicman 10y ago
    Yeah but dead sticking is less effective during take off and landing as well.
    - falcolas 10y ago
      I watched someone who wouldn't make the runway (pilot error, didn't switch the fuel tanks fully on approach) dead stick onto a perpendicular highway. With a light plane, you can do a lot with a dead stick. They have remarkably generous glide slopes (nearish to a mile horizontal travel for every 1,000 vertical feet). Not to mention being inherently stable whether under power or not.
- tristanb 10y ago
  Well a 0/0 safety system seems like a solvable problem in the scheme of things. airbag + chute? Who knows.
- monkmartinez 10y ago
  You can't dead stick most aircraft in an urban environment. Unless you are Sully...
tristanb 10y ago
Let me clarify that, you can dead stick a cessna and land it outside your local bar in NYC (someone did) but its not easy.
- jacquesm 10y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fitzpatrick_(pilot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Fitzpatrick_(pilot) https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/long-ago-a-pilot-landed-on-an-uptown-street-thats-where-the-bar-was/ https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/long-ago-a-pil...
SJC1 9y ago
Once a parachute is deployed there is no control among many high rise buildings.