HereI am writing this e-mail. I almost wasn't. Four years ago when practicing for a standard level comp in my Pitts (1000ft higher than comp hieghts) I screwed up a simple stall turn and ended in an inverted spin going down about 4000ft/min. I don't know why I couldn't recover as I appeared to be thinking slowly and logically, but as I was considering what to try next, I realised that I could see the individual leaves on the trees, so I decided to leave my Pitts to its own ideas. It was an open cockpit model, and I was thrown out quite violently at about 1200ft (estimate of a pilot witness) and the chute, an ex US airforce seat pack opened almost instantly and all was quiet and peaceful, and the landing was most gentle. All this happened in a very short time. The most relevant points were:- I had worn the chute in standard level comp for a good many years, and was prepared mentally and training wise to use it. As inverted spinning is not in standard level sequences, my training in inverted spinning was not up to scratch. Deliberately entering an inverted spin is totally different to suddenly finding yourself in one, and in a Pitts things happen very fast. Most aero pilots I know have horror stories of the time they were lucky to get away with it. Disaster can happen to anyone, regardless of experience, and it is only fair to yourself and your family to give yourself every chance. For aeros, wear a chute and know how to use it, it keeps the log book tidy, equal take-offs and landings.