Slightly off thread, but in the early '70s a late colleague became the first glider pilot in Australia to use his parachute.
He'd been a bomber pilot in WW II, and flown aerial photography in Indonesia after the war, but had never had anything more serious than a wheels-up landing. When his wing separated (later found to be caused by aileron flutter) he had no difficulty in deciding to bail out, and believed that, with the aid of adrenalin, he did it much more quickly than he could have on the ground.
Once his chute opened, he was afraid of being hit by pieces of glider that were now falling faster than he was. Shortly before landing, he remembered to spit out his false teeth!
Edited to add that he was only wearing his 'chute because it was required by the competition rules.