Ask questions via twitter! Message any question to @answers on twitter. We'll publish the question and send you a reply each time there's a new answer.
Next Question

Question

 
M$1.25 May 19, 2009 04:19 PM

Have they ever invented a parachute for commercial airlines? How did it work? I know about the chute on Cirius planes.

Interesting Question?  Yes (2)   No (0)   

Interesting: morriss003, philipy

Email to a friend | RSS
 
 

 
   No Best Answer Selected, Tip Refunded
 
 


Answers (2)

Sort By
 
May 19, 2009 04:27 PM | view on twitter
There are a few patents. But I'm sure the design problems were too high (specially weight to material resistance ratio) to ever be feasible on commercial airplanes.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=parachute+airplane&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT

Helpful Answer?  (0)   (0)    Tip onek for this answer
Permalink | Report
   Reply  
 
 
 
May 19, 2009 05:36 PM | view on twitter
I'm going to sidestep the actual question, and make a related point.

There isn't a lot of point in having parachutes on a commercial airliner. Most of the accidents are around take-off or landing, and chutes won't help. Also the passengers are untrained, and if they did jump from high altitude I wouldn't rate their chances of not breaking every bone in their body.

Airliners can fly on one engine, and they can glide on no engines. Even in the event of a catastrophic failure in mid-air, your best survival chance is to trust the pilot to bring the plane down more-or-less safely.

So basically unless you expect to enagage in air-to-air combat, I wouldn't bother with a parachute. :)

EDIT:

I think I misundestood the question. You actually want to know about a parachute for the airframe itself. don't you? Will have to think about that.

Helpful Answer?  (0)   (0)    Tip philipy for this answer
Permalink | Report
   Reply  
 
 
 
May 19, 2009 06:06 PM - New Source
Looks like they do not currently exist for anything bigger than a very light private jet. Mostly it's for private aircraft and is available for a Cessna 182 among others.

http://www.brsparachutes.com/Home/default.aspx

Also it looks like there is no technical reason why something couldn't be built for a jet of the size of 737. Couldn't find any serious discussion about anything larger.

-- Quote

The weight of these larger aircraft isn't a critical issue, says BRS vice president Dan Johnson. Pointing to the hefty parachutes that safely return massive space shuttle booster rockets, he says it would be technically feasible to build airframe parachutes large enough to safely land a stricken 737 airliner.

-- /Quote

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/1289226.html?page=2

Report
 
 
Buy Mahalo Dollars with Credit Card or PayPal

Top Members

This Week All Time
  • buddawiggi
    buddawiggi
    2nd Degree Black Belt
    27808 Points
    M$799.16 Earned
  • opher
    opher
    Purple Belt
    4473 Points
    M$196.22 Earned
  • annelisle
    annelisle
    Purple Belt
    3110 Points
    M$95.22 Earned
   See All
 

Most Popular Tags

mahalo(1631)
iphone(466)
music(463)
google(358)
food(321)
online(298)
beer(279)
money(263)
movies(262)
apple(252)
aotd(235)
health(220)
video(208)
free(206)
dog(205)
   See All
 

Categories

Welcome New Members


 
 
Mahalo Dollars are the currency of Mahalo Answers.

Each Mahalo Dollar costs $1.

Once you earn more than 40 Mahalo Dollars, you can request to be paid via PayPal. Each Mahalo Dollar is currently worth $0.75 when paid out via PayPal. Learn More

 
 

Please log in to use this function.