"." wrote in message
om...
I went for a ride in a glider many years ago and was immediately taken
with
the whole experience. I have always wanted to fly and now have the time
to
do it as I am finished with my skydiving career. Before I sell my rigs I
wanted to ask a question. Do any of you wear pilot rigs? Before I trade
some gear for a pilot rig....what is the reality of actually getting out
of
a glider if you have a structural failure or something catastrophic? I am
a
realist and can accept the fact there are inherent risks up there believe
me, but I don't want to buy a rig if it's a mute point. Do any of you
wear
rigs? Thanks for the advice.

Forget all the "I think this", "I think that" very common to
rec.aviation.soaring.
There are all kinds of PHDs in every science here, but unfortunately very
little flying.
Few experienced pilots write here, that's why so many people say things like
"sit on the parachute for a couple of hours".
Competition and cross-country flights in gliders very rarely are less than 6
hours in duration.
Unfortunately, 70% of all glider pilots don't really know what that is,
hence the "couple hour fliers" in rec.aviation.soaring.
Same thing applies for those who "think" there are more bail-outs because of
collision than structural failure...
OF COURSE the rare bail-outs are motivated by collision.
Gliders don't fall appart in flight by themselves like ultralights and other
crazy flying machines.
Gliders are, after all, certified aircraft.

So here is the gist :
Glider pilots almos all over the world are required to wear parachutes
because of the risk of collision with other gliders while thermalling.
That is the only reason we are "required" to wear parachutes.
In the USA parachutes are not "required" except in competition and aerobatic
flight, so, the USA is the exception.

Sure a parachute might also save you in case of structural failure, but the
vast majority of bail-outs were motivated by mid-air collisions.
I only know of structural failures leading to bail-outs in factory
test-flights and in older wooden gliders who had been previously repaired
using unknown techniques, and end-up losing their tails, leading to
bail-outs.

Glider structural failures are extremely rare in real life outside of these
cases.

Structural failures affect airplanes in flight much more than gliders, the
most common reason is to end up inside a cloud without previous IFR
training, lose control and break up in flight.
For airplanes, the other cause for structural failure is aerobatic flight
coupled with metal fatigue.

None of these two factors are very likely in the world of Soaring, hence,
for those scared flyers out there :
Gliders don't break-up in flight unless they hit something.