Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!pacbell.com!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Aircraft brake/drag chutes Message-ID: <1991Feb5.035929.3402@cbnews.att.com> Date: 5 Feb 91 03:59:29 GMT References: <1991Feb4.052210.14959@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 42 Approved: military@att.att.com From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: Will Martin >1) Are they regularly used every landing, or only in exceptional >circumstances, such as on runways too short for a chute-less landing? Yes. :-) Depends on the aircraft. Historically, it's not uncommon for a drag chute to show up as a retrofit after landing characteristics are found to be marginal, in which case it's used regularly. There are some cases, like the drag chutes on Norwegian F-16s, where it is mostly meant for severe situations like badly-iced-up runways. >2) Can they be re-used, or are they destroyed by a single use? ... In general they are re-usable. >3) If they are re-used, how are they re-packed? Do any aircraft have a >mechanical roll-back-in device ... Not that I know of. They have to be repacked by ground crews. The hassle of doing this, and in some cases the need for special facilities to do it, is one reason why modern aircraft prefer not to use them. >4) Are there many different methods of housing such chutes on aircraft? >That is, do some extrude from orifices, while others come out of >clamshell-door pods? Are they deployed with explosive mechanisms, or >just let fall into the airstream and open by that wind? I believe it's fairly normal practice to house them behind small doors, with a small drogue chute expelled explosively to pull the main chute out aerodynamically. >5) Where do they fasten to the airframe? Unfouled deployment of the chute pretty much demands that they be on the rearward extremities of the aircraft, typically either in the tip of the tail or in a pod on the rear edge of the fin. Mounting the fin and the stabilizer tends to require strong structure in that area anyway. -- "Maybe we should tell the truth?" | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology "Surely we aren't that desperate yet." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry