Lots of discussion of parachutes lately with related subjects of sailplanes, structural failures, flying over solid cloud decks, etc.
Various thoughts: KR's tend to be "tail heavy" from the factory. As fuel is consumed this feature gets even worse. The KR-2 with two people in it is ridiculously tail heavy unless corrections were made during construction to counter that aspect. Spinning any airplane with excessive rear CG makes it pretty much impossible to break an established spin. Put that together with the short-coupled design and we've got planes that we really ought not to spin. ********* Gliders are fragile things. A couple years ago there was a Japanese tourist wave riding over the Sierras that got clipped by a Hawker and only survived because he had a chute. That and all the other stories of sailplanes colliding in thermals or suffering structural failure would prompt me to make a chute part of my equipment list if I flew sailplanes. ******** Jumping out of a plane because you're caught above a cloud deck? Holy crap people . . . are we pilots or passengers? Actually, to answer my own question, in many cases we KR pilots (and other Experimental builders as well) are builders first and pilots second. Some guys just love building. The flying part of things is actually a secondary consideration for some. For the latter, put a simple wing leveler servo under the seat and buy something that gives you synthetic vision - the new Area 660 by Garmin is surprisingly (for Garmin) inexpensive and will allow you to fly yourself visually right through anything to the nearest runway. You don't need to even look outside except to land. These planes are too capable and too much fun for their pilots to have to worry about it getting dark outside or getting caught over clouds. We need to be comfortable with winds, clouds, darkness and all that the sky has to offer. Hail is another matter - gotta stay away from ice and hail but except for those two things we really ought to be at home up there. Surfing scares me a lot more than anything I've ever experienced in the air. I'm a real weenie when it comes to water. Thank goodness the KR is a real floater. There was a priest in the early days who went down in a KR over the ocean, quite a ways off shore. Rhode Island I think. After hitting the water he floated all the way to land. Took a long time, but the KR didn't sink. If he had jumped out with a parachute he would have drowned! Having a parachute would have killed that priest and ended all his good works. So. Mike KSEE ____________________________________________________________ Better Finances New Rule In Local Area http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5734ed27c02676d271206st02vuc
