Safety
Emergency Parachutes
Written by Sigmund Monday, 05 March 2007 22:00
Emergency Parachutes - What Every Pilot Needs to Know
With the recent popularity of aerobatic airplanes and gliding, it is likely that more pilots have worn emergency parachutes lately than pilots who know very much about them. In fact, many pilots seem to regard this lifesaving device as no more than a "black box" which satisfies the FAA's legal requirements when doing certain types of flying. Most pilots have never even imagined using a parachute in an emergency situation and many even suggest that they would probably "go down with the plane" rather than trust it to open properly.
Indeed, the likelihood of needing to use an emergency parachute is small, but as in any other piece of safety equipment, the time to learn about its use is BEFORE you need it. Any pilot engaging in a type of flying that requires using a parachute has a RESPONSIBILITY to learn how to use it and to trust it in an emergency, because in the case of a disabled aircraft, any hesitation in getting out might cause a loss of altitude sufficient to make a parachute's use ineffective or could block the exit path of someone else in the aircraft.
