Why don't commercial airliners have parachutes (like the space shuttle) ?

wrbtrader said:
I'm sure someone can bring a small parachute as "carry on" luggage if they really wanted too because it will fit the requirements for such.

Just don't tell the other passengers what you have because it'll probably scare the hell out of folks. :D
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An amusing anecdote about passengers wearing parachutes....

Back when I was in the Air Force, I was competing in the all AF bowling tournament... world wide event... went on for 5 weeks.... in which I was the All Air Force World Wide Singles Champion, thank you!

My flight on an AF plane from KC to Panama City, FL was delayed an entire day by "equipment problems". The next day, we boarded the plane and were required to put on parachutes... I asked the crew, "did you get the problem fixed?" Crew member replied, "we think so". (THINK SO??)

After being airborne for a few minutes, a crew member looked out of a window to see oil streaming from one of the engines. He looked to be in a panic and summoned another crew member from the cockpit to come see the streaming oil.

I cinched up my chute!!

The crew member from the cockpit said, "no worries"... and we completed the flight without incident... not that I hadn't already crapped my drawers, or anything.

:D
 
LEAPup


Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 6,202

Maybe I'm wrong on this one. Gotta love the Internet: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innova...day-180949373/

You nailed it. They had these way back in the day. Another idea was an ejection
seat for one of the crew members but they couldn't decide which one would use it.
lol.

Which reminds me of a dumb blond who I dated a couple of times back in the 1950's.
She said she wanted an injection seat on the airplane.

hoodooman
aeronautical engineer
 
Tsing Tao said:
Lucrum is the expert on this stuff, but my guess is a parachute wouldn't offer you much protection at 30-40 thousand feet. You'd asphyxiate and freeze way before you got to the ground.
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You may or may not freeze to death but you would definitely lose consciousness. Probably before you ever got off the plane.
TUC.jpg


Probably the biggest issue with individual parachutes on an airline is the actual act egress. The planes are just not designed for it. Not to mention the passengers themselves would be a major impediment. It would only take one panicked person to freeze up at an exit to ruin it for everyone behind them.
 
LEAPup said:
How's that project coming along?
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After taking a break of nearly two years. I got busy again in earnest several months ago.
I didn't like how the original wood/fiberglass fan or the horizontal stabilators turned out so I'm completely redoing both from scratch. The new fan is fabricated from 2024 aluminum. I've built up most of the 19 blades. Each one is made up of five pieces and 32 rivets. There are more than 1,000 holes that have to be drilled for the entire fan and roughly 700 rivets that have to be installed. I'm waiting for some steel stock to arrive that I'll be constructing the blade form from which I'll use to impart the proper blade twist. I had made a wooden form but I didn't make sufficient allowance for the metals spring back.
I redesigned the stabs somewhat but haven't started them yet. I also redesigned the internal structure of the wings and am adding some additional ribs to the vertical stabilizer which I had already started.
 
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