Mystery of missing virgins, solved

Stewart,

The reserve chutes are designed for simplicity, reliability and fast
opening times. There have been recorded saves as low as 100 feet.
This is of course not a deployment attempt in free-fall at terminal
velocity. When a wing takes a collapse of such magnitude as to
require the reserve it still provides for a reasonably low vertical
velocity.

If I were to take a collapse at altitude I would do my best to work
the situation out while altitude permitted. Passing through 1000 feet
I would start thinking hard about the reserve and certainly toss the
laundry at no less than 500. Given the opening times and altitude
loss in a typical thrown reserve situation that should give me enough
time to finish ****ting my pants and prepare for a proper PLF. :-)

Gus Rasch





Stewart Kissel wrote in message ...
I see these guys in the morning flying around off the
ski lifts, the ones I have talked to are very respectful
of the big mountain air. You got me curious, if you
have a collapse and decide you need to throw your reserve,
how much altitude do you need?




Worst case scenario... The wing has collapsed dramatically
and all
attempts to fix the situation have failed miserably,
I would go to
plan 'B'. Plan 'B' is of course the chest mounted
hand deployed
parachute.

Gus Rasch

Steve / Sperry wrote:
Just curious about the light wing loading of the Paragliders... I
understand that the canopy has a tendency to fold up in turbulence.


Yeah. Ask John Good about that one sometime. He's been there, done that,
and has the hospital bill to prove it.

Tony V.

Everytime I see the thread header "Mystery of missing virgins", I check it,
hoping to learn more about them. Instead, we are now chatting about
paragliders, parasailers, etc...Let's go back to the real stuff: sailplanes or
virgins.

Cheers, Charles

Fair enough-

Although our poster from Texas has written of his experience
in these things with what I assume would be strong
thermals, I still have to wonder how they do taking
the big-G hits that are not uncommon in strong conditions.
As I stated in a previous post, I only really see
them about in the mornig taking sled rides.



At 18:30 29 March 2004, Vorsanger1 wrote:
Everytime I see the thread header 'Mystery of missing
virgins', I check it,
paragliders, parasailers, etc

Stewart Kissel wrote:
Fair enough-

Although our poster from Texas has written of his experience
in these things with what I assume would be strong
thermals, I still have to wonder how they do taking
the big-G hits that are not uncommon in strong conditions.
As I stated in a previous post, I only really see
them about in the mornig taking sled rides.

Perhaps if you are flying slowly, you do not encounter "big-G hits", as
the thermal will not seem so "sharp-edged"? We see many para-gliders in
the middle of the day when flying out of Ephrata (Washington State)
during our Regional contest, as they often have their contest at the
same time.


--
-----
change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

At 18:30 29 March 2004, Vorsanger1 wrote:
Everytime I see the thread header 'Mystery of missing
virgins', I check it,
hoping to learn more about them. Instead, we are now
chatting about
paragliders, parasailers, etc...Let's go back to the
real stuff: sailplanes or
virgins.

Cheers, Charles

Here ya go Charles,

I once SAW a virgin at a gliderport! Of course she
was only 13 so I think she stayed that way for a little
while at least. After all it wasn't Texas or Tennesee!)

Stewart,

All I can say is that you have to try it for yourself to know for
sure. And you can be sure that it's not just about morning sled rides.

100% motorless flight,
Steve

Stewart Kissel wrote in message ...
Fair enough-

Although our poster from Texas has written of his experience
in these things with what I assume would be strong
thermals, I still have to wonder how they do taking
the big-G hits that are not uncommon in strong conditions.
As I stated in a previous post, I only really see
them about in the mornig taking sled rides.



At 18:30 29 March 2004, Vorsanger1 wrote:
Everytime I see the thread header 'Mystery of missing
virgins', I check it,
paragliders, parasailers, etc

Reserve parachute in action:

http://www.skysystems.co.uk/collect/midair.jpg

Depolyed at around 100' - both pilots survived (both VERY lucky) with no
injuries...

Andy

--
Andy Kirkland
a n d y k @ g l i d e r p i l o t . n e t

My eBay Auctions http://ebay.andykirkland.co.uk

Stewart Kissel wrote in message ...
Fair enough-

Although our poster from Texas has written of his experience
in these things with what I assume would be strong
thermals, I still have to wonder how they do taking
the big-G hits that are not uncommon in strong conditions.
As I stated in a previous post, I only really see
them about in the mornig taking sled rides.




Stewart,

As I am an experienced paraglider pilot and actively seek out the "Big
Air" I typically don't launch till 10 or 11 o'clock.

While sled rides are fine for students, newbies and the less
adventuress you will typically find that the seasoned pilots opt for
stronger conditions.

Granted, we do fly a flex wing and there comes a point where the air
is simply too big to fly. I personally have not found that limit and
I have flown on some of the biggest strongest summer days that you can
find in the Houston, TX area. In reference to big-G hits.....

I love them! The bigger the stronger the better! It just tells me
that I am going to need to turn RIGHT now and TIGHTLY to stay in the
core. More than once I have flown into lift so hard that there was an
audible pop as the wing loaded up and it felt like God had reached
down and snatched me up by the risers!

Rest assured, while you may have only seen a few guys taking sled
rides in the morning; there is a whole lotta guys and gals who look
for and exclusively fly the "big air". These same people are setting
some unbelievable world records with an aircraft that you can fold up
and carry under your arm.

Gus Rasch
DK-GT/Octane
Pitts S1S / N21JF