Originally Posted by SNS3Guppy
You shouldn't anticipate a violent parachute jump...it's not the jump, nor the opening, that should be your concern. Neither should the landing be a concern. Being able to get out, get stable, or know when you don't have time to get stable, deploy, recognize a malfunction, recognize a good canopy, clear a malfunction, cut away (if applicable), and maneuver and land the canopy around obstacles such as powerlines, etc...these are critical things you should know and understand not only regarding parachutes in general, but for your specific system.
In all seriousness, how much of that is applicable to an emergency parachute vs a sport jumper?
Everytime I go up in a glider I strap on one of these irvine (or similar) slimpacks.. They're repacked every 3 months, the aircraft is designed such that I have a reasonable chance of escape, but it's very much a last ditch. I understand the canopy is round, quite small, and the descent rate is "about equivalent to jumping off a double decker bus" i.e. expect broken bones. It's maybe the stuff of legend, but allegedly the gliding club did do an exercise where a few people were trained and jumped under supervision - with about 50% ending up in hospital, so they stopped that idea.
So, if all else fails, scramble clear, pull the red handle and hope. No reserve. If it doesn't deploy, you're stuffed, if it's not stable, you're stuffed, if, etc., etc! It would be useful to know how to kill the canopy - I'm thinking grab one set of lines and pull. I don't believe there's any steering on them..
That said, they do work - there have been some miraculous escapes, even from very low level midairs. But then the gliding folk have this habit of congregating under likely looking clouds, all going round in circles at very close quaters...