PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Making sense of where to aerobat and what to wear
Old 6th Aug 2005, 21:06
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Lowtimer
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: UK Work: London. Home: East Anglia
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There are very,very few examples of structural failure in post-war aerobatics, so the sample size is probably to low to prove anything statistically valid from the numbers. (I will have a look though). But there have been several cases of RAF trainees and instructors bailing out of the likes of Chipmunks and Bulldogs in unrecoverable spins. If they can do it, why can't you? There have also been cases I know of where pilots have baled out of gliders in the UK following collisions.
Engine failures are often a very good reason for bailing out, if you are over water, over mountainous terrain or over solid undercast. SOP in the RAF if to eject, or in non bang seat equipped aeroplane, to bail out, in such circumstances.
There are many, many extremely well documented cases of scared 17 and 18 year olds successfully bailing out of much higher performance aircraft, in many cases burned or ptherwise injured, those aircraft having been mortally crippled, spinning, wings blown off, you name it. Just read any WW2 history. Getting out of a Spitfire, P-51, or spinning wingless B-17 or a Lancaster on fire in a searchlight cone at night has to be harder than jettisoning the canopy on a slow lightplane, releasing the harness and making sure you and the aeroplane go in different directions.
Have you practiced your parachute drill?
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