Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!pacbell.com!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Aircraft brake/drag chutes Message-ID: <1991Feb5.040108.3729@cbnews.att.com> Date: 5 Feb 91 04:01:08 GMT References: <1991Feb4.052210.14959@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Engineering Computer Network, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK Lines: 47 Approved: military@att.att.com From: jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Jonathan A Bishop) wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) writes: >From: Will Martin >Regarding aircraft that have braking or drag parachutes that can be >deployed during landing: >1) Are they regularly used every landing, or only in exceptional >circumstances, such as on runways too short for a chute-less landing? In the case of the F-4, at least, they only use them when they have to. I live near Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, and we used to have an AFRES squadron of F-4's here (they've since been replaced by F-16's). In all of the years that I watched the planes, I very seldom saw the chutes used. They were usually used only when a fairly heavily loaded plane landed on the short runway. >2) Can they be re-used, or are they destroyed by a single use? (Exhaust >melts or ignites lines or fabric, or the strain of one use renders them >unsafe for future reliability?) Yes. >3) If they are re-used, how are they re-packed? Do any aircraft have a >mechanical roll-back-in device that sucks the chute back into the housing >without manual intervention, making it reusable automatically? Or do they >have to be gathered up and re-packed by ground crew or a rigger? Is that >done while the chute is still attached to the aircraft, or is it removed? >If the latter, are pre-packed chute packages a standard replacement part, >where the crew just grabs one off the shelf and plugs it into the aircraft? >Are these then a standard part used on many different models of aircraft, >or are such chutes unique to each specific type? The base parachute shop re-packs them. They are removed from the plane, sent to the shop, and packed by hand. There are always spares ready, so a new one is plugged into the plane immediately. -------- jabishop@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu "I'm with you, LEM, though it's a shame that it had to be you. The mother ship is just a blip from your train made for two. I'm with you, boys, so please employ just a little extra care. It's on my mind, I'm left behind when I should have been there." --Jethro Tull, "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey, and Me"