Is this for real?

[beaky]

I somehow missed that he was at 300 meters... in a plane with a wing coming off already, that'd be cutting it mighty close indeed. I guess even with a nice sport rig, if I had the same trouble at that altitude and I could see the runway, I'd stay with it and try to get it on the ground without killing myself.


Or maybe I'd poop my pants and scream like a little girl...

[pepper_airborne]

He wasn't wearing a chute. Check his report.

Exactly my point. Other than an inflight fire, there'd be little point to wearing/using one. Conincidence would have it, on this occasion enough control (albeit inverted) may have allowed its use

This was in 1970 when the regulations were different. Had it been today he would have worn one.

I suspect sport parachutes would be a fair amount smaller and lighter now too compared to 1970 technology.

During my days of beening single and fancy free, I went gliding every weekend that I could. The chutes we wore and still do today where said to be able to save your life if they where opened at the latest passing through 300 feet. I was always skeptical about this until one day a friend of mine was sat in his car with his feet out the door and his back to the inside of the car. His youngest child came up, grabed the "D" ring and ran. The chute deployed..............smashing the the passenger window. There is a rather large and powerful spring to throw the chute out to catch the airflow and save ones life.

Matt

All depends on relative velocities.

Yeah true, although the chutes have changed a lot throughout the years. When a shute accidentally deploys in the Aircraft the then you can put your money on it that your gone, best thing is to follow the parachute out ASAP.

1000ft is a bit low for a parachute, but if you clear and pull(get away from the vehicle and pull the ring then you could make it within 500ft to a well deployed shute. Although you cant take a twist or a half deployed slider in the process, you need to instantly find a landing spot.

[Hagar]

Neil Williams stated in his report that "Had a parachute been carried I would have climbed as high as possible and used it."

This was after he had regained full control of the aircraft, albeit inverted. He had approximately 8 minutes (the limit of fuel in the inverted tank) to climb to sufficient altitude for a successful exit & parachute descent.

This is completely irrelevant as he wasn't wearing a parachute. Knowing what sort of man he was I imagine he would have been concerned about where the unpiloted aircraft would return to earth if he abandoned it. Neil Williams was an exceptional airman by any standards. His clarity of thought in an emergency situation is demonstrated in his report on the incident.