Aerobatics and parachutes

[JimRice85]

I'm not a aerobatic pilot, but I do have a lot of experience with parachutes. I spent 5 of my 6 years in the AF Reserve as a loadmaster. I've packed hundreds of parachutes and flown many air drop missions day and night dropping equipment and troops. The parachute is a fairly simple invention and very reliable. I have never jumped out of an airplane but if you wear one, even without any actual training, you will feel very secure with opening doors in flight and such. I've flown lots of "students" at the jump school in Fort Benning, GA and watched the smiles appears as they bounce back from the initial shock of the chute opening! If your wearing a parachute be sure and pay attention to the ground/water that your flying over, landing on a roof or in the middle of an Interstate could get you just as dead as flying into the ground nose first.

Joe

Army riggers always packed our parachutes.

[Hiperbiper]

I considered posting this thread in the "unusual attitudes" segment of this forum but figured it would fit here in Hangar Talk as well.

I know of a few people that perform mild aerobatics. Some with the required parachute and some without. I was speaking with one of the guys that has a chute and I asked him if he has ever skydived as a way to acclimate himself if he should ever need to exit his plane and use his chute to save his skin. He advised he had not.

I believe most pilots, if not all, will try to fly the plane all the way to the crash site. Even if a major component is missing and the plane is falling, versus flying. I just wonder how many people have elected to impact the ground with the plane due to fear of exiting the plane and no experience in deploying a parachute? Or the fear of free falling outweighed the crashing of the plane?

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

[ChiefPilot]

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.

That's an excellent point - you need a plan. Mine is committed to memory and reviewed prior to take off:

CCCBG:

• Cut the engine
• Cords disconnected (helmet/headset/etc)
• Canopy jettison
• Belts release
• Get out!

[Joe LaMantia]

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

[Saville]

I considered posting this thread in the "unusual attitudes" segment of this forum but figured it would fit here in Hangar Talk as well. I know of a few people that perform mild aerobatics. Some with the required parachute and some without. I was speaking with one of the guys that has a chute and I asked him if he has ever skydived as a way to acclimate himself if he should ever need to exit his plane and use his chute to save his skin. He advised he had not. I believe most pilots, if not all, will try to fly the plane all the way to the crash site. Even if a major component is missing and the plane is falling, versus flying. I just wonder how many people have elected to impact the ground with the plane due to fear of exiting the plane and no experience in deploying a parachute? Or the fear of free falling outweighed the crashing of the plane?

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.