At 19:15 27 March 2017, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Thought I would share an interesting experience from this
weekend flying
ri=
des. Most Sundays I fly rides at the local glider FBO. My last ride
of
th=
e day was a former military air traffic controller. When giving her
the
sa=
fety briefing I clearly explained the jettison handle, and canopy
release
l=
ever on the Grob 103. She told me that she had been in many
military
aircr=
aft could clearly see the red placard and knew not to touch the
lever. I
a=
lso told her we would both close and open canopy so please do not
touch
the=
opening lever, if she felt she needed to grab anything, grab her
shoulder
=
harness. We released from tow and she had wanted to try a small
little
tiny=
wing over, you guessed it, she grabbed both the release lever and
jettison=
lever. I told to let go immediately as I stopped the maneuver as
quickly
=
as possible. Spent the remainder of the flight flying as level as
possible=
as that was what she wanted. I was rather surprised that the
only two
thi=
ngs I told her not to touch were the first things she grabbed, and
the
wing=
over was just about the smallest one possible.

My brief to all first time passengers/students is to tuck their
thumbs either behind the harness or the parachute straps,
whichever is more comfortable. I also make a point of never doing
anything remotely aerobatic on the first flight.