First flight safety

[carl nank]

I am interested in finding out how many utilize parachutes and or Helmets for first flight.

I plan on making first flight this summer and I note how expensive these items are and would like some guidence.

Note that I have a tip up canopy and I have heard nobody even knows if that will open!

Thanks

[TSwezey]

A helmet is a good idea but a parachute is probably useless since you probably won't be high enough to be able to safely use it.

[n468ac]

parachute and helmet for all the "firsts" during testing. You are just looking for options if something goes wrong.

[andrew phillips]

The guy who did my test flight brought both. He couldn't fit into my cockpit with both on so he opted for the helmet. I told him that he probably wouldn't be able to get the slider open anyway. The best part was that the helmet has extra "cool" factor for those first flight photos.

[JonJay]

Might be interesting to find out. I did neither, and of all the first flights I have witnessed, only remember one person using a chute, never a helmet. Cant get the canopy open in flight for a chute anyway. Not saying those where the best or smartest choices however.

[Ironflight]

I use a parachute for first flights with a canopy that can be jettisoned - and a rehearsed plan for accomplishing the jettison. If I have a parachute, I wear a helmet because the likely reason for using the chute would be a structural failure, and in that case, there could be some flailing around. If you know for a fact that the canopy won't let you out, the Chute is probably excess baggage.

The only time I wear a helmet without a chute is if I am flying high enough that I am above safe nasal cannula levels, and want to use a real mask.

Personal standards, of course.

Paul

[Jim P]

I'm a geek, I wear a helmet on most flights. With Headsets Inc ANR, it's got great noise cancellng, and the tinted visor is much better than sunglasses. There's an added bonus of some protection from really big birds we have up here around Seattle.

[N941WR]

I wore a parachute but no helmet. The parachute was borrowed but I couldn't find a helmet.

What I didn't have but should have was a nomex suit, shoes, socks, and underwear.

I didn't really see a need for the helmet as my biggest fear was fire. If I even smelled smoke, I would have been out before the end of my mayday transmission.

As for altitude, I was at 2500 AGL (3000 MSL), plenty high enough for the chute to open.

Getting out of a tip-up will not be a problem. Once you open the canopy, you can push it up out of the way. Just release it and then zoom climb. You will be able to push it out of the way before the or just at the stall. The quick release will not work unless you cut the slots and put a light layer of fiberglass over them, like in the plans.

[airguy]

I'm thinking even a slider could be opened in that fashion, with a very steep (maybe near vertical) zoom climb into a deep stall, to kill the aerodynamic forces on the top of the canopy at the peak. This would only work assuming you had full control of the aircraft, which pretty much limits you to saving your bacon from frying in a midair fire...

[grover]

I used neither.