MIG54 From United States of America, joined Aug 2001, 39 posts, RR: 1 Posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 636 times:
I saw an interesting photograph here at airliners today. It shows an SAS Caravelle with a brakeing parachute deployed. I know early Caravelles did not have thrust reversers but I had never seen one with a parachute brake system. Was this a manufacturers option? Did any other early commercial jet types have this feature?
Jetguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 1, posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 619 times:
A lot, if not most, 20, 35, & 36 series Learjets had chutes. They fit in a "coffee-can" sized container in the belly of the airplane aft of the trailing edge of the wing. I only deployed them a time or two, more for amusement than anything else. The Lear had excellent brakes,
Jetguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 596 times:
Actually, I helped him repack it every time we did it. And we only did it when it was due for a repack. You're right, it is truly a pain in the @$$. I still don't know how we got all of that cloth into that tiny can. Personally, I always try to take advantage of opportunities like that. It's best to find out how well something works when you have time to play with it a bit.
Apathoid From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 593 times:
In my career, there was only one time where a crew I worked with needed the chute. They pulled it and it didn't work. Oops. I don't think I would count on it to save my ass for sure. That six month repack requirement is a real ball buster. No doubt.
Jetguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 5, posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 13 hours ago) and read 596 times:
Our Lear had both T/Rs and a chute. I never really felt that either one was a necessity, but it was nice to have the T/Rs. Our chute opened everytime I tried, but I agree with you I would never count on it. It was pretty much a non-event when you deployed it - you didn't feel much at all, just a slight tug followed by a slightly faster than normal deceleration. It was most effective from touchdown through about 80 knots or so, after that I don't think it did much. We released the chute on the runway and always had a crew standing by to recover it - you didn't want to get the bloody thing hung up on anything - they were pretty expensive to replace. I was pretty surprised when I saw it. I quess that I was expecting a round chute like a jet fighter's, instead the Lear's chute is shaped like a large +, just like the ones on dragsters. Somewhere I have a picture that was taken of us when we deployed the chute. If I can find it, I'll post it. It's actually pretty cool.
Jetguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (11 years 2 months 3 weeks 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 581 times:
It's been a while, I had forgotten all about the lids. I know that it went through at least two deployments without braking, but I think we did have to replace it once. Our mechanic kept a spare on hand "just in case". I don't know why, we never popped the chute except when it needed repacking, it wasn't like it was something that we did every day. I also seem to remember seeing chutes on some Falcon 20's, but I'm not positive about that. I'm not sure about any other bizjet installations.
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