Ballistic Chute

[BLA82]

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone could answer a question for me.

 

I see alot of Ballistic chutes fitted to 3 axis light aircraft but not many fitted to trikes. I would like to hear what people think about these for and against and also who makes them. I am currently learning to fly weightshift with the hopes of purchasing a trike in the next twelve months and am waying up what to get and what to fit to it:juggle:

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

Hi Ben

 

There has been much discussion (often heated) about this on this forum & elsewhere

 

If you haven't already seen them try these threads to get an idea of peoples views

 

Ballistic Chute - Recreational Flying

 

Ballistic chutes - Recreational Flying

 

what brands of recovery chutes are there - Recreational Flying

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[alf jessup]

Evening Bla82,

 

Well I guess it is up to the individual as to whether you decide to fit a chute or not, I have flown over 400hrs without a chute in a trike and have just now ordered one from Airborne for my trike to which I expect to arrive within a month or so.

 

I decided that I would purchase a chute even though I have complete faith in my aircraft as a few months back I had a close call with 5 ibis birds whilst coming out of a turn when flying around my area, one of them missed my leading edge spar by less than a foot as it dived down as that is what birds will always do.

 

I did not see these birds prior to commencing my turn and had no time to react once I saw them.

 

Basically I think my life is worth the $6000 as I have the potential to earn a lot more money than that for the rest of my working life and I atleast owe my family a lifestyle as I am the main provider, I also owe myself a second chance at life if something unforseen was to go wrong, yes maybe the chute may malfunction and not go off but if I was going down and never had one I wouldn't know would I and I would certainly face a bleak outcome.

 

I would probably kick myself on the way down for not having one and if I did have one and was still going down I bet I will be cussing BRS for it not opening but I will have tried.

 

There will be pro's and cons for having and not having one, I have decided on getting one and that is my choice.

 

I do not think I will ever have to open it in anger but if I have to I will have that opportunity and if it works and saves my butt it will have been be a good investment, if it doesn't well I most likely won't have to worry about it.

 

Basically where I fly has a lot of migratory birds and I am sure an ibis would almost certainly bring me down if it hit my wing spar at 60 kts, I have already hit an ibis before on my motorbike to which it smashed my screen and broke a mirror off not to mention hitting me in the shoulder, and yes it hurt.

 

Basically I am buying one for the unforseen and unexpected, I am not buying one because I don't have faith in my aircraft or my flying skills, I do not plan on flying any different than I have in the last 400 hrs and I hope I never have to pull that red handle.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hi Alf,

 

4 years ago I bought a ballistic chute and fitted it to the Edge-X I had at the time. When it came time to upgrade to an XT-912 the chute was re-fitted to the new trike. It was nice of Airborne to fit a chute handle bracket to the left side of the seat frame.

 

I found that the weight of the chute mounted on the rear end of the base tube raised the nose of the trike in flight - bringing the trim position of the control bar 2-3 inches closer to my chest. Or rather my chest was closer to the bar.

 

After thinking about that for a while I spotted some aerobics ankle weights in KMART (2 x 1.5kg) which I bought for $30 and mounted on the cross bar which supports the pod at the front of the base tube. I'm happy to say that this brought the control bar at least half way back to its normal trim position.

 

Hope you find this useful.

 

Cheers,

 

Glen

 

 

[alf jessup]

Glen,

 

Thanks for the info on that, I am still waiting for the chute to arrive as yet and it will be intersting to see if I notice a difference in the control bar position once I have fitted it, did it alter the trim speed of the trike with the nose pointing higher in the air with the wind catching more of the pod??.

 

So you found by adding 3 kgs total to the nose it changed the position of the pod, I wonder what 2.5 kg would do to each side of the nose cone brackets and whether the brackets would support the extra weight.

 

Thanks

 

Alf:help:

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hi Alf, No change in trim speed, just a change in the range of pitch control available and the top of the screen seemed a bit higher on the horizon.

 

No problems with mounting 1.5kg on either side of the crossbar as it's mounted on the base bar at its center and the weights tend mostly to balance each other.;)

 

 

[alf jessup]

Thanks Glen,

 

Guess all I have to do now is just wait for it to turn up, I ordered it 4 weeks ago and they said 4 to 6 weeks, I will give them a call later this week and get a heads up on it as I am out at work now until the 19th.

 

Thanks again for the info.

 

Regards

 

Alf:thumb_up: