I looked very carefully at putting a ballistic chute on my Europa - the rea
l problem is that you would have to totally re-engineer the plane - the for
ces involved in slowing the plane from 150 mph to essentially zero are amaz
ing. The other problem is that you basically destroy the plane because you
need to put the harness at the proper angle, with enough room for "swing" a
nd deployment. Putting it outside (like on the picture) affects aerodynamic
s, and could lead to problems of weathering of these harnesses over time. O
n the Cirrus, the plane is destroyed if the chute is deployed - the entire
top is ripped apart and apparently the rest of the plane is so distorted by
the shock of opening the chute that you are better off ordering a new plan
e. I guess you could make it strong enough to be reusable, but then, of co
urse, it won't fly which would also increase your safety. :)
These chutes are not benign devices - on my KitFox Lite I have a ballistic
chute - it is deployed by firing off what is essentially a mortar shell to
get the chute properly deployed - which means you have an explosion right n
ext to the plastic fuel tank right behind me. I think before deploying it,
I would have to be in a very tense situation - if it was just an engine out
I would probably take my chances landing (I have empirically tested this -
it was unplanned but worked out) rather than fire off a mortar shell next
to a gas tank.
While these chutes have saved lives, they really only work in very specific
situations - for example, a in-flight wing failure - if you remember to st
op the prop, and can get the chute deployed without tangling in the wreckag
e or the prop.
A chute does you no good on the two major accident situations (maybe 90% of
accidents?) - landing and take-off - in neither case do you have sufficien
t time for the chute to deploy - even if you are very quick to analyze the
problem.
The real insurance is to build it right, don't fly it beyond its performanc
e envelope, and stay out of bad weather.
Gary Leinberger
A237
Waiting for Paint
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-europa-list-serv
er@matronics.com] On Behalf Of G-IANI
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 11:49 AM
Subject: RE: Europa-List: ballistic Parachute
Trev
The Flyer Europa with ballistic parachute was never completed and the unit
was removed from the fuselage. That aircraft has a new owner and work is
in progress to complete it.
Ian Rickard G-IANI XS Trigear, 300hours
Europa Club Mods Specialist
e-mail g-iani@ntlworld.com
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