At 00:22 11 August 2018, John Huthmaker wrote:
I'm just starting out with soaring. Simple question for you guys. How
man=
y of you fly with an emergency parachute? It looks like they cost around
$=
2000 online. Pretty steep price; although the cost is insignificant if
it
=
saves your life. Is this something I should be looking to purchase?


Absolutely wear a parachute. Skydivers carry a reserve because they
recognise that, occasionally, main parachutes fail. Our main parachute is
the glider and we all know that, occasionally they also fail
(mid-air/rigging failure/lightning strike etc). A few years ago, I came off
AT and climbed to 3k and switched to the XC frequency. I immediately heard
"Mayday, Mayday, two gliders collided and I see one parachute".
Subsequently, I found out both pilots survived, the second pilot managed to
land his glider.
Enough said I think!