Army riggers always packed our parachutes. :)
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I regularly fly aerobatics in a plane that has jettisonable doors for quick egress and wear a parachute most days.
That being said; an Emergency parachute rig is going to be a 24-28' conical chute that is minimumly steerable, it's designed as a better way to impact the planet than the broken airplane you just left, nothing more, nothing less!
A skydiving rig (ram air type) is comtrollable and you "can" land like a feather after you learn how to fly/use one.
The emergency chute is much simpler: jump,pull,hang and wait. While you DO need to know how to land (feet, butt, back roll) it's not something you'll want to go out and practice with a conical chute!
Self preservation is a strong emotion; I love my plane but if she ever lights up, breaks up or screws up it's pull the mixture, pull the door, pop the belts and Geronimo!!! I actually go over the steps in my cockpit preflight after the props turning.
Chris
Jim,
Yes, personnel chutes are packed by riggers in the Army and the Personal Equipment (PE) shop in the Air Force. Cargo chutes are packed by Loadmasters in Aerial Port units or in some cases flying Squadrons. I packed mostly A-22's which can handle a one ton load, also lighter A-21's and the monster G-11A with a 100 foot canopy used to drop vehicles. In training drops these chutes would get wet sometimes and we would have to lay them out in a dry area until they were completely dried out b/4 repacking them. All these chutes use static lines as due most paratroops with the exception of Special Forces. The Air Forces' PE shops have a tower type structure that is used to hang chutes up and blow air up the tower to insure they're dry b/4 repack which if my memory serves me is every 60 days...maybe 90.
Joe
:cool:
When I was a kid I knew I'd be flying and I also knew I'd be flying acro. So like lot of us I'd read aviation magazines and I began to notice that a lot of pilots who wrote articles about mishaps they had, and who had to leave the airplane *all* said that they hesitated before jumping because it was a scary proposition. When I was in college, I had the opportunity to do a little skydiving at a local skydiving school. I decided I would do enough jumping such that there would be no hesitation due to this being my first jump, if I had to leave the plane. So my skydiving logbook has 29 jumps. Enough to get me into 15 second free falls, My first jump...I was petrified until it was my turn to jump and then I was too busy following the commands to be afraid. By my 8th or 9th jump I was able to sit in the open door with my feet dangling out in the airstream, in total comfort. After all - if we hit a rough patch and I was thrown out of the airplane...I'd just hit a hard arch and pull the ripcord. So nowadays I am perfectly comfortable and psychologically ready to leave the plane if that's the move to make. I recommend a few jumps to anyone who want's to be just that much more prepared.