Just pull the little red handle!

On Sep 1, 1:02*am, Walt Connelly Walt.Connelly.
wrote:
JJ Sinclair;739478 Wrote:



I have felt for some time now that my back-pack parachute provides
little more than a false sense of security..............I don't think
I would ever get out of a spinning, tumbling ship. The BRS has been
demonstrated to work as low as 260 feet during the FAA certification
of the Cirrus. This could save you from a mid-air in the pattern or
that all time biggest killer. stall/spin turning final. BRS also
provides a way out of structural failures or pilot incapacitation. How
about stuck low on the wrong side of the ridge with nothing but trees
in all directions?

The BRS descent rate is about like a normal parachute (like stepping
off a 7' ledge). The Genesis installation calls for a 4-point bridle
that attaches to all 4 lift fittings, this will result in *a wings-
level, slight nose down attitude under the chuts. *Lowering the gear
will absorb some of the landing forces.

Flarm is great and I'd buy it in heartbeat if everybody had it. Lets
not forget that 2 of the 4 mid-airs in the US last year involved a tow
plane and some of them still don't even have radios, let alone
transpponders, Pcas or Flarm.

Bottom line is; We are all the chairman of our own safety committee
and we must take the actions we believe to be the best course to keep
us out of harms way. For me that includes installing a BRS.
Cheers,
JJ

I have always felt that listening to those with greater experience than
myself is one of the best safety devices. *Seems that today people spend
more time flying with their heads inside the cockpit than outside. *With
a parachute, BRS, FLARM, survival kit, bail out bottle, knife, gun,
flares, medical kit, lunch, snacks, condoms and everything else one
could carry in a glider, it's a wonder these things can get off the
ground.

As a relative newbie to the world of gliding, I have in my some 100
flight had two close calls. I consider myself a heads up kind of guy and
try hard to keep my head on a swivel, my eyes wide open and paying
attention. *

I have asked a few local pilots why it seems that the preferred color
for gliders appears to be white. *I understand that the sun might
degrade a more brightly painted ship faster than a base white one. *Is
this really true? *It would seem to me that the cheapest form of
avoidance would be making ourselves more visible. * I am in the market
for an older, aluminum ship and would consider painting it bright red if
it would increase my visibility. *

I understand that FLARM only works if the other guy has one. *I guess
for the time being I will have to depend on my parachute and luck for
survival, along with a healthy dose of paying attention. *

Walt

--
Walt Connelly

There is a problem with darker colors on the majority of composite
sailplanes. The darker colors get hotter by absorbing more heat in the
sun, and at a certain temperature the glass/epoxy matrix will begin to
loose its structural integrity. Look up T sub G. Go to your glider
field in the midday sun and put your hand on a glass ship painted
white, do the same on a red 1-26.

Mike "0"