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I'm a pilot and a paraglider. I own an emergency chute via my paragliding kit. I fly an experimental plane powered by a much less reliable engine than what this
by dghlsakjg 5y ago
I'm a pilot and a paraglider. I own an emergency chute via my paragliding kit. I fly an experimental plane powered by a much less reliable engine than what this man had. My airframe has had an in air engine failure, and forced landing on a small road, although I wasn't the pilot.
I have never once thought about bringing my reserve parachute with me when piloting my plane. I was trained to land the plane without power, as are all pilots. I don't know any pilots who have had a simple engine out that wish they would have bailed out. I know pilots who are skydivers and they don't wear their chutes.
The ONLY pilots that I know of that wear chutes are aerobatic pilots who do high risk maneuvers. Absolutely none of them wear one that looks like a skydiving rig because it is VERY uncomfortable to be in a cramped cockpit wearing what is essentially a bulky backpack. In the video you can see just how cramped he is in that plane because he has a chute on.
- topherPedersen 5y agoAt the dropzone the pilots usually wear emergency bailout parachutes. But yeah you're right, a skydiving rig would be really uncomfortable to wear flying. It looks like he was planning to jump before he ever took off to me. I've never seen anyone pilot an aircraft wearing a skydiving rig.
- dghlsakjg 5y agoI recall now that some aircraft types are modified in a way that the FAA requires the pilots to wear a chute. But as you pointed out, they don't wear a full blown skydiving rig.
- nikitaga 5y agoIf you or anyone else ever decides to bring your paragliding reserve onboard an airplane, be sure to check its specs first. Paragliding reserves are optimized for fast deployment at low airspeed, whereas deployment at airplane flight speeds needs a slower deployment sequence to avoid excessive G load on both the parachute and yourself. For extra safety, getting a whole-airplane ballistic recovery parachute is a much better choice, although those are not foolproof either – installation must be done properly, and deployment is not guaranteed to succeed if your plane is in pieces by the time you need it, e.g. from structural failure or a midair collision.
- dghlsakjg 5y agoMy plane has the engine behind the cockpit, and doors that are hinged on the top edge. Bailing out just isn’t a realistic option
- throwaway73838 5y ago> I don't know any pilots who have had a simple engine out that wish they would have bailed out. Survivorship bias?
- dghlsakjg 5y agoMaybe. I also don't know anyone who has suffered serious injury or death. My feeling is just that landing a gliding airplane is just not that hard.
- goodcanadian 5y agoThank you. All of the comments about full skydiving rig versus emergency chute kind of misses the point. It is extremely unusual to wear any kind of parachute at all when piloting an aircraft (yes, there are exceptions, but they are rare). To have a full skydiving rig is frankly all the evidence I need that he planned to bail out, never mind all of the other issues I have seen mentioned.