A matter of safety ( Urgent )

[Arnulf]

Read this:
Mc Guyver wrote

Ballistic chutes are they necessary??
Yes , most definitely.
I have always taught if you screw up , tell as many people about it so that someone might learn from the mistake. So here I am putting my pride in my pocket and telling all.
I had someone coming up to the airfield for a flight last Monday morning.
The weather was not good and very cloudy.
I called them to cancel as the weather conditions were not good enough for flying.
They had already left home and said they would come up to the airfield in any case.
From the ground above the airfield I assessed the conditions as good enough to do a circuit or two and to see how the surrounding area looked.
Soon after take off I realised I was in trouble with a cloud that had come in low. I decided to do a right hand turn out and land back on the airfield.
Problems!!! I ended up in heavier cloud. What were my options?
All I could do now was give full power and hopefully climb through the cloud and divert to a nearby airfield.
I entered our airfield on the GPS so as to have an arrow to follow to keep straight. I did not take my eyes off the instruments which were a digital VSI and altimeter as well as my GPS. I was climbing out at between 280 and 350 fpm with my control bar slightly back from neutral which is the position that I always fly in.
I climbed to approx. 1000ft agl and then saw that the instruments showed I was no longer climbing but was in rapid descent. I kept watching my VSI and it showed a drop of 400fpm then 600fpm and then 800fpm. I was at full RPM, my control bar was straight with slight back pressure and nothing was changing. I took my hands off the control bar to see if the wing was stable and the bar remained basically in the identical position. I had no sensation at all of the plane descending. Knowing that the highest point in the area was at approx 1 ft I watched the altimeter descending with my hand on the cable for deploying the chute. I was still at full rpm. At approx 200 ft above what I thought was the highest point, I deployed the chute and came down safely to mother earth.
I am not sure as to when I broke through the cloud, as I had my eyes glued to the instrumentation readying for activating the chute.
On deploying the chute the explosive went off with a much louder bang than I anticipated. I was expecting a massive jolt when the parachute opened and was surprised as to how gentle the tug was when it opened.
I failed to switch off my motor and the steel cable of the chute got hooked on the gearbox.
This brought me down in a very much nose down attitude. I used my left hand to brace myself on the front profile tube with my right hand holding the control bar.I kept saying to myself keep conscious.
It seemed like ages before I hit the ground.
The front wheel hit and then the nose of the wing and then the trike came down sideways on the right rear wheel. With the shock of hitting the ground and all the cables and the wing coming down on me I think I just remained still for a few seconds! The plane was on its side with me trapped underneath it. I then released my seatbelt, took off my helmet (I don't know why I did not leave it on and get away from the plane!) I climbed out and was lucky enough to get out completely unhurt.
I had a slight surface bruise on my forehead which was probably caused by the helmet moving on impact.
I was lucky in that I landed in a field with trees all around me. I must have been approx 500ft agl on deploying the chute.
I am extremely angry with myself for screwing up the way I did and hope that others will learn from my very bad error of judgement in not realising that the weather conditions were changing rapidly!
On looking back, if it was not good enough to take up a passenger, why was it good enough for me to fly?
I have tried working out why I had no sensation of descending and have come up with the conclusion that when in a thermal you feel the knock as you go in and then your VSI shows the climb, but you do not actually feel it. With the downdraught I assume that it must have been the same.

I have seen written, that a Ballistic chute is not neccesary and is basically a waste of time and is "redundant exuipment".
I also used to think that, but when Alan Honeyborne lost his life I decided to equip my trike with a chute. Thank goodness I made that decision.
Spending a few weeks in hospital severely injured, or even losing my life, would cost more than the chute!!
The Recovery system that I used was the GRS.
People will say that a chute is only neccesary for structual failure or mid air collision as one should not be caught in bad weather.
Errors of judgement do happen and my pride is very hurt and I am angry that this happened to me.
The damage to the trike was minimal with the front fork,the right rear stub axle, the radiator, wing keel and a few curved battens needing replacement.
I have always said that accidents are 99% pilot error but generally pilot stupidity.
I will let you decide on this last remark!
To GRS recovery systems I thank you

:

[Big-D]

Just a note on Ballistic shutes:

Make sure that you do the neccesary paperwork with CAA - It is a appplication for a modification.

Mine was fitted by a professional, we did not do paperwork however and my ATF was turned down by CAA, not a big issue - Just get the paperwork right.

I have been up without the shute once (Last sunday) - K*kked myself, suppose in light of the recent tragic accidents we have had

Another thing: When you fit it make sure you can access the red handle easily and take the safety pin out when you fly, mine was fitted with red handle (used to fire the ballistic) under my seat, in emergency I would have to reach down, pull out safety and then pull ballistic fire mechanism - Will take too long (A little lesson I learnt flying with Demon - His handle is easily accesable and he takes the safety pin out on every flight - This way from the moment you become aware of an irrecoverable danger untill the parachute opens above your head is approx 3 seconds)

Is it neccesary - YES, you do loose lift with it fitted, but I reckon it is a small price to pay for something that can save your life

D

[Andre]

Leprachaun.

Any further news regarding our Airborne Edge wings. As you know we were informed by Mike that for the time being we are all grounded

I have inspected my wing to the best of my ability but need to know the exact root of the problem. I will however stay on the ground untill you guys tell us that it is save to fly again. Damn hard to do that, one can only look and polish your plane for so long. At least the weather is playing along)

[Morph]

Yes, the placement of the red handle is critical. You are going to have to easily get to it in extreme conditions, such as a 4G tumble, or falling inverted, or wing seperation

You are going to struggle stretching your arm out far in a high G situation. I would not put it on the instrument panel on the pod. Too far to get to. Somewhere close to the body would problably be ideal, like a pull strap on a parachute. What about worked into the shoulder harness? between your legs etc. It mustn't snag on clothing etc. The last thing you need is it going off taking a bystander out while you or your pax are getting out of the trike.

Next have a good think about how it's going to shoot out and what it's going to do to the wing. Most trikes I have seen shoot it out back or to the side. Imagine the trike hanging from the cable. Will you have the wing tilting forward, pressing the A-Frame into your stomach? With a 450K trike I would say that this will be very painfull

Also what angle would the trike come down at? With the tilting forward I would say nose first. At what angle? What is going to be holding you and a heavy pax in your seat. Will the pax be bearing down on you, and you are being held in with a single lap seatbelt. What will you grab onto in front of you to help support your weight or will the PAX crush you or worse, your seatbelt break loose.

Also remember to kill the motor first, or have a pull lever that automatically kills the motor (I wonder if this is legal?). The last thing you need is the cable and chute caught up in a prop, or even worse the prop servering the cable

[Harlequin]

Hi Gents.
When I took up instruction I had a good look at the accidents reported by CAA. Besides student pilots landing with the landing gears up on their bliks, the Robby 44 was the next most reported!
In the microlight stats only 5% of the accidents were due to structural failure.
5% was more than enough encouragement for me to fit a shute, 20K insurance!
As for the position of the activator, mine is on the inside of the PIC’s leg, easy to reach. I also make this a briefing point for any student or pax. I keep mine under lock and key when on the ground! You never know!
Fly safely.
Graham.

[gertcoetzee]

Imagine the trike hanging from the cable. Will you have the wing tilting forward, pressing the A-Frame into your stomach? With a 450K trike I would say that this will be very painfull

No, as long as the wing is still there, it will try to fly - thus...

I used my left hand to brace myself on the front profile tube with my right hand holding the control bar.

So, the control bar was not pressing into his stomach.

[coastwise]

Can anyone give estimated prices and contact information to purchase BRS chute for trikes

[Arnulf]

Can anyone give estimated prices and contact information to purchase BRS chute for trikes

look here:
viewtopic.php?t=6357

[grosvenor]

If you read Mc Guyver's story, you will see that the prop will not cut the cable. The cable is steel and flexible, so it will wind up in the prop and stop the engine. Ideally you should shut down the engine, but it all depends on circumstances.

Good comments about handle and safety. The safety pin MUST be removed during your pre-takeoff checks and MUST be replaced after landing, before disembarking. Also, put a padlock through the safety if your trike does not live in its own hangar, otherwise someone might try the chute out in the hangar.

I always remind myself of the presence of the chute before takeoff and on downwind. Get it fresh in your mind so you don't take up a precious few seconds in an emergency before you remember it's there.

Keep in mind that once the chute is open you cannot control your decent. In a 3-axis you might steer it to a point, but not with a trike. So in an engine failure situation where you can still fly the aircraft, do so. Fly it to the best possible landing site and use the chute to give you a quick stop on the ground if necessary.

There is a misconception that some chutes are better than others because they use compressed air rather than a rocket (which throws a flame out) to deploy them. All modern chutes use a rocket system. It's the only way to get the chute clear of the aircraft quickly (0.8 seconds for the GRS). The difference is that with some the rocket exhaust exits in the same direction as the rocket. This caused a severe "kick" on the airframe, like firing a gun. Some, like the Galaxy GRS, allow the rocket exhaust to exit in the opposite direction to the direction of rocket fire, so there is no reaction on the airframe - like firing a bazooka. http://www.galaxysky.cz/index_en.php?k=grsu_en

[Mc Guyver]

Hi all, as mentioned the positioning of the handle I believe is critical as well as the anchor point of the cable.
Demon I am not at all happy about your anchor point. If you have a mid air collision or major structural failure you could lose the wing, the cable could slide up and maybe come off the pylon .
I was advised and given drawings by Dave and the anchor point must go around the seat base and the pylon.
With regards to the handle,as I instruct and spend 99% of my time in the back seat, I feel the best position is on the seat frame next to the mag switches. You can then kill the motor (if you remember ) and then pull the lever which is accesable by pilot and pax. I believe this position would be good for all installations. If the pilot is incapacitated the pax could still activate the chute.

[Big-D]

Demon

Perhaps we are not understanding you correctly? I too agree with McGuyver that the cable should be attached to the undercaridge and not the hangpoint.

Lets talk about this

D

[grosvenor]

I too agree with McGuyver that the cable should be attached to the undercaridge and not the hangpoint.

Some thoughts. A hangpoint only attachment is not a great idea because if the pylon breaks you have problems. If the cable attaches to the hangpoint as well as a cable running down the pylon (aka Aquilla) you should be ok. Make sure the cable in the pylon can handle possible opening load of 450kg at 5G (2250kg). In this setup, what happens if the wing comes off the pylon? You now have a wing that is free to move up the parachute lines and collapse the chute. Connecting the cable lower down means unless the undercarridge breaks apart in flight, at least you lower the occupants safely. If the wing comes off, it does not stay with the trike.

Last thing to keep in mind. The chute is there to save the occupants, not the aircraft. If your aircraft gets trashed in the process of decent and landing, and you survive, you can save up and buy another aircraft.

Have had people say they are considering fitting a chute but their mates at the airfield are ragging them about it Ask them if they have a life insurance policy and if they plan on being hit by a bus? A ballistic chute is life insurance. You have no plans to use it and in fact I would never like to be in a situation where it gets so bad I have to pull on that red handle. But you never know what might happen.

[cobra]

Demon

Perhaps we are not understanding you correctly? I too agree with McGuyver that the cable should be attached to the undercaridge and not the hangpoint.

Lets talk about this

D

A GBS was fitted the other day at Microland and it was suggested that cable (in this case the cable was to short and needed to be extended) be looped through the safety cable at the hang point

[Massimo]

Personally anyone who raggs someomone about fitting a chute is himself the biggest MORON! When you up there and wish you had one then we will see who is praying

Please guys think clearly here. You can NEVER think about every situation you will be in when you need that chute and if it will work for you or not. Like Gros said it is an extra insurance policy.

But what are the disadvantages of fitting a chute besides the cost of 25k!

You decide if your life is worth it or not, i know mine is and i will take all precautions possible to ensure i live as long as possible.
Case closed

[Big-D]

Agreed

But what are the disadvantages of fitting a chute besides the cost of 25k!

You do sacrifice lift. Mine was fitetd above the engine, perhaps hindering airflow to prop and extra weight plays a role

When I have it refitted (With CAA approval this time), I will have it fitted underneath engine, I spoke to AndreB and his is mounted there, he reckons not a significant change in lift, so the only thing then really is cost - A GRS is cheaper than R25k though, and I agree - you cannot put a price on something that has saved lives before

D