Flying with Parachutes

On Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at 11:46:37 PM UTC-7, krasw wrote:
On Tuesday, 14 August 2018 18:14:39 UTC+3, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
On Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at 3:51:23 AM UTC-7, krasw wrote:
tiistai 14. elokuuta 2018 7.10.18 UTC+3 Jonathan St. Cloud kirjoitti:

I do fly commercial rides at our gliderport were parachutes would not be practical on the scenic flights.

That's an excuse like no other. We do scenic flights all the time, and no passenger has ever said that wearing parachute is inconvenient. But obviously we live in different culture.

With all due respect there is a lot of judgement on this site. Most of my multiple thousands of hours of flight time is without a chute, nor would one have been appropriate or even useful (helicopter; twin). I certainly respect your operation's procedures and I don't disagree. However, many operations conduct commercial rides as a normal course of business without chutes. A part time line pilot is not going to change how an operation has successfully run for over 45 years, with never an incident where a parachute would have been nice.

As I said, we have different culture. I have never seen or heard anyone flying without chute and would ground such pilot on the spot and forever. Anecdotal evidence make extremely bad statistics. I too have never used parachute, though I have witnessed emergency jump after midair.

Imagine this, a 2-32 with two passengers in the back seat. It has been a hot day, the passengers are taking this flight on whim and are giddy, laughing, perhaps one is a minor, or a young couple looking for a thrill and not really in a the state of mind I want someone making command decisions about life. The canopy is closed at the last moment the tow starts smoothly, at 300 feet you hit the first bump, the canopy flies off. With the canopy goes any hope of being heard over the wind, the two in the back were well briefed on only jump if you hear "bailout, bailout, bailout," how to pull the rip cord and where it is so when the canopy goes and they see the pilot in the front say something right after the canopy was jettisoned they bailout, at 300 feet on windy tow. Not having an incident needing a parachute is not anecdotal, it is factual. However, there have been a number of lost canopies, broken tow ropes, wind shear, tow plane engine problems on tow... any number of issues that require a calm pilot to make the correct timely decisions. Rather than ground pilots who fly without a chute ground the pilots that take rides up with thunderstorms local. I don't think any of this chute or no chute is culture, it is experience. The experiences you your side of the pond are different than the ones on this side. In my experiences as a line pilot, other than on the acro rides where it is not only the law but a great idea, I believe a chute would be more dangerous. Especially in 2-32 dual rides where you have two to verify each other's bad decision. I ALWAYS wear a chute when pleasure flying a glider, and almost never wear a chute when commercially flying a glider. I never wear a chute in a helicopter, in a cabin class twin... The right tool in the hands of the wrong person is more dangerous than no tool.