Having not been able to watch video of a CAPS deployment all the way through touchdown, I have the following question: what is the attitude of the plane on descent/impact? (no puns, please)
I am guessing it is relatively flat, and if that is the case, then on impact the occupants will be forced upwards towards the ceiling (?) Guess I’ll keep my seat a little lower - don’t want to hit the top of my head! Serioulsy though, the top of the head is the least protected spot on the human body and I believe seatbelts (though perhaps not these) have always been primarliy designed to retard forward momentum. Any info?
Having read everything here on emergency procedures and on the AOPA site, I firmly believe that the CAPS is only a last last last resort… If you can make a controled off-airport landing in a glide into just about any terrain I would still opt for that… all you need to do is give the passenger cabin a total of 20 feet of distance to dissapate the force of the forward momentum and you are under 10 g’s. (excellent stuff on the physics of this on pages of AOPA) That being said, the Sr-20 gives you one more option that others don’t, and isn’t that why all of us by back-up pumps, gps’s…etc. in the first place?
I think you’ve got it backwards. On touchdown you will be forced down into the seat, not up into the overhead. Reason: The airframes’s downward movement is stopped by the ground; your downward movement is stopped by the airframe (specifically, the seat bottom).
There might be a slight rebound effect as the gear struts spring back (if they do) but it will be minor compared to the initial impact.
Joe
Having not been able to watch video of a CAPS deployment all the way through touchdown, I have the following question: what is the attitude of the plane on descent/impact? (no puns, please)
I am guessing it is relatively flat, and if that is the case, then on impact the occupants will be forced upwards towards the ceiling (?) Guess I’ll keep my seat a little lower - don’t want to hit the top of my head! Serioulsy though, the top of the head is the least protected spot on the human body and I believe seatbelts (though perhaps not these) have always been primarliy designed to retard forward momentum. Any info?
Having read everything here on emergency procedures and on the AOPA site, I firmly believe that the CAPS is only a last last last resort… If you can make a controled off-airport landing in a glide into just about any terrain I would still opt for that… all you need to do is give the passenger cabin a total of 20 feet of distance to dissapate the force of the forward momentum and you are under 10 g’s. (excellent stuff on the physics of this on pages of AOPA) That being said, the Sr-20 gives you one more option that others don’t, and isn’t that why all of us by back-up pumps, gps’s…etc. in the first place?