AGnother Gnat Gfactoid
The contributor who said 'you put it on' was exactly right. My guilty 'secret' which of course was the same for almost everyone else was that I would give myself an illicit thrill by pressing the test button (on the right console?) to inflate my turning trousers while taxying out.
Not to say that the Pkt Rkt was unreliable, but on my course of 12 students (86, 1965) we had 12 major incidents. Mine was a full display of warnings while IMC, climbing solo out of low level - made a precautionary forced landing at Church Fenton, bollocked by OC Eng because I "should have known" it was a false alarm caused by an electrical fault. I wished he'd been in the cockpit with me to help me make that call.
Trophy for our course must go to Dave A***e, who suffered fuel pump failure just before low key while doing a practice glide approach. I was sitting at the take-off point so can witness that he disappeared behind the hill on the approach to 14, still in the cockpit (still going through cold relight drill, according to Dave). First thing to reappear was the canopy, followed by Dave, followed by a bouncing Gnat. Happy days!