On Saturday, August 11, 2018 at 6:31:39 AM UTC-6, waremark wrote:
At my UK club parachutes have been used for all flights in club owned gliders for more than 20 years. Shortly after the then CFI made this a rule a ASK21 flying an introduction to gliding day was hit by an extraordinarily strong bolt of lightning and broke up. The instructor and student survived thanks to their chutes. Personally I had a midair collision with another glider 15 years ago. I and the other glider pilot both survived completely unhurt after using our chutes.

The use mandate was indeed fortuitous in that event for the pilot and passenger (first glider flight). Mid-airs seem to be rather more common. Of course if you have a parachute, you must have it repacked and inspected regularly. Missing a parachute AD can be lethal as in the case of the two Kestrel 19's that collided near Stratford-upon-Avon several years ago when a former UK acquaintance became a statistic.

Frank Whiteley