Cheers for the responses so far
flybymike - I agree, it would be great if a landing could be pulled off instead, but having a parachute does not mean use it willy nilly and i'm sure that most experienced pilots would look at other options first.
BUT
Would it not be nice to know you have it in case you have a jam in your control services? (if this is possible) Or at least give you peace of mind that if something like that happend you "might" be OK?
Hence my questions above ..