At 09:51 AM 30/05/2007, you wrote:
>I think it depends on the environment it is in and how it is looked after.
>A couple of hundred hours in a cockpit at 50 deg. With the pilot sweating
>on it may not be too good.
>
>I've seen videos of paragliders and hang gliders throwing reserves. One
>stayed in a ball the size of a 15 litre bucket at the end of a 5M bridle.
>The may canopy was only 20% inflated they fell 3000 ft, It never opened.
>
>I've also seen footage of a parachutist deploying a recently repacked main,
>then one that had not been repacked for 12+ months. There was at least a
>3-4 second difference. From memory 3-4 sec is around a 1000ft at terminal
>velocity.
>
>I know of some people that consider a 3 sec delay acceptable. Personally
>I've deployed an emergency chute at around 300ft agl in a paraglider, with
>20-30% of the canopy inflated. I managed to get the chute out and it
>inflated just before I hit the water. 3 sec would have made a significant.
>
>Cheers
>Steve
You would have to know if both chutes were the same type, packed by
the same person etc for a meaningful comparison.
Interestingly, the ballistic chutes on ultralights have a 9 or 10
year repack cycle IIRC. Anyone know what it is on a Cirrus SR20 or SR22?
The Apollo spacecraft had 3 large chutes which were packed during
preparation of the craft. This would have been 6 months or more I
think. The chutes were vacuum packed to get the air out and
apparently felt like knocking on a piece of wood when packed. They
then survived ascent, a couple of weeks in vacuum going to the moon
and back and re-entry and out of at least 16 uses(48 chutes) only
one of the chutes failed to open properly. 2 out of 3 was quite
acceptable for landing loads in the ocean.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments
phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
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