Parachutes on a pusher plane.

[Marc Zeitlin]

Ok then, did it work?

You do realize that these things are not airbags, and are not actuated automatically, right? That there's a lever, and you have to pull it? And that a Stroke (Tim Crawford, the pilot, died of a stroke while flying - not a Sudden Cardiac Arrest as I misremembered) does not necessarily leave the victim with the time or ability to do anything whatsoever?

 

A parachute won't do diddlysquat for pilot incapacity, unless the pilot REALIZES that he's soon to be incapacitated and pulls the lever (and it has happened).

 

Or, is there any reason to beleve that the BRS would not work with a Long-EZ?

No.

 

My bro just won't drop the subject and I just cannot think of a practical place to put such a device. I also cannot get rid of the mental image of the parachute and its rigging getting chopped up or tangled in the prop.

Mechanical failures that would cause the need for a BRS are way down on the list of things to worry about. Read the Nall report to see what things (mostly YOU and your judgment [a topic that I'll be talking about at the COZY dinner on Friday night]) you should be worrying about.

 

Ignore your brother if the BRS doesn't make YOU feel any better, because it won't improve your overall survivability chances by any measurable amount. In fact, I don't think that I can think of ONE canard fatal accident that would have been mitigated by a BRS. At least not off the top of my head.

[Wayne Hicks]

I can think of two perhaps. My memory is a bit fuzzy. There was the VariEze (?) in California (?) that lost the canard due to elevator flutter. Then the Long-EZ on a return trip from Mexico that supposedly broke apart at 17,000 feet. That's all I can think of.

 

I agree with Marc. A BRS is not the "EZ" button; it's no guarantee of a do-over.

[Marc Zeitlin]

There was the VariEze (?) in California (?) that lost the canard due to elevator flutter.

Yes - that was the 2001 crash near the Banning pass - you're correct - that's a possible save, depending upon what their altitude was.

 

Then the Long-EZ on a return trip from Mexico that supposedly broke apart at 17,000 feet.

Yeah, due to running into T-storms. A maybe on that one.

 

I agree with Marc. A BRS is not the "EZ" button; it's no guarantee of a do-over.

Nothing's a guarantee. My point was that there are many OTHER things to be concerned with and to spend your weight and money budget on before a BRS. Clearly, if a BRS weighed 5 lb. and cost $100, I'd be the first one installing one in my COZY. But they don't, so I'm not.

[mfryer]

You do realize that these things are not airbags, and are not actuated automatically, right? That there's a lever, and you have to pull it? And that a Stroke (Tim Crawford, the pilot, died of a stroke while flying - not a Sudden Cardiac Arrest as I misremembered) does not necessarily leave the victim with the time or ability to do anything whatsoever?

 

A parachute won't do diddlysquat for pilot incapacity, unless the pilot REALIZES that he's soon to be incapacitated and pulls the lever (and it has happened).

 

 

I was refering to the ultralight pusher you said had a BRS tested. I was in no way impling that the incapacitated Long-EZ pilot was saved by the cute.

 

And YES, I know that it isn't an airbag!!

[TMann]

You do realize that these things are not airbags, and are not actuated automatically, right?

To my knowledge they are not equipped with an AAD (Automatic Activation Device) and to equip it with one would be even worse yet.

 

Those devices are usually not all that trustworthy anyway. I had one misfire on me shortly after opening shock. A few seconds earlier would have really complicated my day.

[mfryer]

I am going to reitterate again my response to Marc.

 

Marc's assumption that I somehow thought that the BRS was some sort of passive safety device, thus eliminating the need for pilot judgment is totaly incorrect.

 

My question was with regards to the ultralight example that Marc mentioned. How he came to the conclusion that I somehow thought that a paracute was like an airbag and are somehow automatical depolyed is a mystery to me.

 

For me, I will leave the BRS debate with the conclusion that they may be possible, however they are likely inpractical.