Parachutes.....

[GingerWizard]

Morning all!,

I have just been reading something by the dreaded "Clarkson" over on the times online and it made me think for a moment.....

If you wanted to, would you be allowed to board a normal airplane at Heathrow or Gatwick say, and insist on wearing your own parachute and life jacket? In a even more extreme version, a High specced parachute, a north sea dry suit and a life jacket. Now i realise the chances of "bailing out" and surviving at the speeds and height conventional planes travel nowdays is very slim, but would it be allowed? Shirley you could take it as hand luggage.....

What does the PH Lounge think???

Gwiz

[Famous Graham]

Probably not, on the grounds of frightening other passengers.

Airlines have pretty much carte blanche about refusing boarding and, once you're in the air, the captain's word is law (realistically, I mean, not necessarily legally).

Probably a question to put to pprune.org for a definitive answer

[mybrainhurts]

They'd probably let you sit on the fuselage....

[Eric Mc]

Simple answer - no.

Parachutes are quite dangerous devices as they are packed under compression and, if inadvertantly deployed in an aeroplane cabin, could injure someome (or worse).

[louiebaby]

Eric Mc said:

Parachutes are quite dangerous devices as they are packed under compression and, if inadvertantly deployed in an aeroplane cabin, could injure someome (or worse).

I'm intrigued. I just thought they were cleverly folded to "inflate" correctly from the airflow, and not get the strings tangled. Do you have anymore inofrmation?

[freedee]

The main parachute isn't packed under compression but the reserve is. I have taken a parachute on an airliner as hand luggage on several occasions (although not since 9/11)and it has never been a problem other than being told to be discrete with it ie not run down the aircraft with it on dresssed as the captain mid flight.

Edited by freedee on Friday 27th November 09:30

[mel]

louiebaby said:

Eric Mc said:

Parachutes are quite dangerous devices as they are packed under compression and, if inadvertantly deployed in an aeroplane cabin, could injure someome (or worse).

I'm intrigued. I just thought they were cleverly folded to "inflate" correctly from the airflow, and not get the strings tangled. Do you have anymore inofrmation?

I'm more than intrigues I'm totally confused. So lets get this right then, so eric says parachutes are packed "under compression" and are therefore dangerous in aircraft cabins, yet a parachute by it's nature is designed to be used when jumping out of an aircraft (I can't actually think of any other use for one well apart from base jumping or maybe cutting it up to make a funky jacket) are you seriously saying that these things should maybe be stored outside the aircraft and you perhaps pop out to put it on before jumping? Don't be rediculous man by there nature parachutes are designed to be taken onto aircraft safely.

Oh yes and on a modern parachute only the reserve is packed by a specialist, this is the only part that has a spring behind it to aid deployment, the main will always be handpacked by the jumper (I don't know anyone who has ever relied on anyone else to pack theirs) There is no compression at all in the main and if you pulled it while stood in an aircraft it would simply fall out and leave a mess of canopy and lines on the floors. I agree if a reserve was deployed it does force its way out on a spring with a bit of a push but you need to keep in mind that to deploy the reserve you would first have to deploy the main then cut it away before pulling again. I think someone might notice you stood in the aisle surrounded by canopy and cord, and do somthing about it, but even then the worse you would do is give whoever was stood directly behind you a blooded nose or something. They will get the hump about a cypres device being fitted though

[mel]

Just to clarify, I'm not saying you can take a parachute on as hand luggage on a commercial airliner, just that there is no "safety" reason why not that stands up to any sort of analysis (except the obvious safety concerns about being a nutter and wanting to jump mid flight of course)

[lawrence567]

freedee said:

The main parachute isn't packed under compression but the reserve is. I have taken a parachute on an airliner as hand luggage on several occasions (although not since 9/11)and it has never been a problem other than being told to be discrete with it ie not run down the aircraft with it on dresssed as the captain mid flight.

Edited by freedee on Friday 27th November 09:30

The thought of that almost made coffee meet keyboard.

[deviant]

mel said:

I don't know anyone who has ever relied on anyone else to pack theirs

WW2 aircrew..my nan used to do it for them

[Eric Mc]

louiebaby said:

Eric Mc said:

Parachutes are quite dangerous devices as they are packed under compression and, if inadvertantly deployed in an aeroplane cabin, could injure someome (or worse).

I'm intrigued. I just thought they were cleverly folded to "inflate" correctly from the airflow, and not get the strings tangled. Do you have anymore inofrmation?

I was thinking more of military chutes - which have to operate under more extreme loads and circumstances than "sport" chutes.

I visited the parachute packing school at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas many years ago and they showed us the presses they used to pack USAF chutes.

[rhinochopig]

Good luck staying concious above 30k feet.

You'd need an an auto altimeter linked deployment mechanism and an EPERB for when you hit the water.

[Maxf]

rhinochopig said:

Good luck staying concious above 30k feet.

You'd need an an auto altimeter linked deployment mechanism and an EPERB for when you hit the water.

And you'll just end up alone in the sea, waiting to die without hope of rescue. Happy days!

[rhinochopig]

Maxf said:

rhinochopig said:

Good luck staying concious above 30k feet.

You'd need an an auto altimeter linked deployment mechanism and an EPERB for when you hit the water.

And you'll just end up alone in the sea, waiting to die without hope of rescue. Happy days!

No I'd have the sharks for company

[monthefish]

GingerWizard said:

If you wanted to, would you be allowed to board a normal airplane at Heathrow or Gatwick say, and insist on wearing your own parachute?

Yes you can.

I have personally done it. Most people on the plane didn't know what it was (modern parachutes look more like rucksacks than anything else). The ones that realised what it was just smiled.

The only problems arise if you have an AAD (automatic activation device), which I don't.

[s3fella]

At check in when they ask, "did you pack your own bags sir" what will happen if I say "no, Deviant's nan packed my chute!"

Do you think they will understand it, or think I am a real deviant myself...??

[monthefish]

Eric Mc said:

louiebaby said:

Eric Mc said:

Parachutes are quite dangerous devices as they are packed under compression and, if inadvertantly deployed in an aeroplane cabin, could injure someome (or worse).

I'm intrigued. I just thought they were cleverly folded to "inflate" correctly from the airflow, and not get the strings tangled. Do you have anymore inofrmation?

I was thinking more of military chutes - which have to operate under more extreme loads and circumstances than "sport" chutes.

I visited the parachute packing school at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas many years ago and they showed us the presses they used to pack USAF chutes.

Modern [sport] parachutes are packed by hand with no real compression at all (well no more than a normal person can muster - there are no special tools/devices involed in packing).

Parachutes are activated by throwing a small parachute (pilot chute) into the relative airflow which then pulls out (1) the rest of the parachute from the container and (2) the pin holding it all in.

Edited by monthefish on Friday 27th November 11:31

[mel]

So are modern military parachutes, I can only imagine that the presses that eric saw were either for reserves or for the high tech auto deploying parachutes attached to some ejector seats and to static cargo loads being dropped. Oh and deviants nan never did any of mine, you'll have to ask her, did she ever get jiggy with it in the drying loft amongst all the silk canopies hanging up? (what film was that?)

Edited by mel on Friday 27th November 12:16

[onlynik]

You wouldn't want to wear a survival suit for more than a couple hours either, they aren't the most comforatable of things.

[plg101]

Erm... don't reserve chutes contain an explosive device for the trigger...? So that would be a no.

Anyway, what are the scenarios where you would get to use it?

Plane in terminal stall - good luck staying calm enough to open the doors. Suppose the crew were just about to regain control and your opening the door doomed them?

Plane in flat spin / breaking up: good luck getting to the doors

Crew incapacitated - decompression would probably kill a far few people and you would be traveling way above the speed that you can deploy safely (several hundred knots)