From BoeingBoy
Quote:
Why do glider pilots wear parachutes where GA pilots don't...???
Very simple.....They fasten their own wings on......we don't!
No cigar I'm afraid. If we don't put the wings on right, they tend to fall off as soon as we get airborne, and thus far too low to use a parachute!
The main reason has already been stated - a much higher risk of mid-air collisions, at least for gliders taking part in competitions (where a gaggle of 50 in the same thermal would not be unknown).
Outside competitions this risk is much lower, and when I started flying gliders 11 years ago the majority didn't wear parachutes. A few years later the norm switched rapidly, and now almost all do wear parachutes. It helps that most glider cockpits are designed for a parachute-wearing pilot, and thus difficult to make comfortable if you're not wearing one. On top of that, as almost every glider now has a parachute (they tend to go with the aircraft, not the pilot), it seems a bit foolish not to wear it - one would feel so silly trying to put in an express order on the way down, and a high-density foam seat cushion is not really an adequate substitute.