Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 05:59:20 -0800
From: Greg Nelson <gregsays@swbell.net>
Subject: Canopy Jettison
To: "lancair.list@olsusa.com" <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
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Before the lancair, I flew a C172 that had an H2AD engine installed ("H" 
stands for "Hell").  That engine was a killer and it tried to kill me 
twice; the first time with my daughter and wife aboard and the second 
time I was alone.  Of interest to this group's discussion is that never, 
even for a fleeting second, did I contemplate jumping or pulling a rip 
cord or any other such unnatural act.

A pilot's training and instinct is to fly-not flee.  After a few seconds 
of sheer terror, my wife and I settled down to a rehearsed routine of 
following the safety checklist thus improving our chances of surviving 
those difficult moments.  We did survive and without human or aircraft 
damage.  We survived because of pilot training and pilot review of 
ordinary safety procedures.

It isn't advertised, therefore, few people realize that using a BMRS is 
a guaranteed destruction of your airplane.  The plane comes down so fast 
and nose-low that it fairly crushes in front thus protecting the 
passenger compartment and its occupants (I would worry about any header 
tank rupture).  As for parachutes that are carried but not worn during 
flight (no room to "wear" them) my several hundred hours of flying an 
LNC2 have shown me that emergency exit of this plane (especially at 
adequate altitude) would require extraordinary luck, acrobatic finesse 
and uncommon courage FOR BOTH the pilot and any passenger.  The safer, 
easier, cheaper and more reliable solution is to jettison any thought of 
parachuting to safety.  

In thus deciding to remain aboard, the prudent, thoughtful and caring 
pilot (aren't we all!) is forced to concentrate on the three 
conventional preventatives to aircraft accident (prevention is surely 
the smartest, least costly and least painful approach).  Those three are 
broadly, pilot training, trip preparation and mechanical excellence of 
the aircraft.  A well-trained, current and safety-minded pilot who is 
fully informed about weather and flight hazards flying aboard a 
mechanically-excellent aircraft will likely arrive home safely. 
 Parachutes and such other emergency techniques will not be necessary 
when the builder/pilot embraces these three.                   Greg Nelson 

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