Introduction
To The Harness Mounted Drogue Chute
The drogue chute
is a device designed to increase drag and
in so doing significantly reduce your glide
ratio. The drogue reduces glide ratio
noticeably even at slow speeds, but the affect
is much greater at higher speeds. In
effect, the drogue gives a high performance
glider the glide ratio performance envelope
of a much lower performance glider, and as
a result, makes many aspects of landing much
easier. First,
the drogue allows you to set up much higher,
making it easier to avoid obstacles at the
approach end of the landing area. Second,
the steeper glide path the drogue provides
makes it much easier to set up an accurate
approach to the target, because the same error
in altitude results in a smaller error in
distance traveled. Third, if you do
find yourself too high after turning final,
the drogue gives you a much greater ability
to shorten your glide by flying faster.
Finally, after you round out, the extra drag
from the drogue will make you slow down to
landing speed much more quickly. As
a result, you will spend less time in that
vulnerable phase of the landing where you
are "floating" across the LZ, at
near minimum controllable airspeed.
Also, because you will slow down more quickly,
it will be easier to time your flare and make
a good landing. In
short, in many ways using a drogue chute for
approach and landing will give you the feel
of flying a much lower performance glider.
Specific
Features Of The Wills Wing Drogue Chute
After experimenting
with several types of drogue chutes, chute
attachment methods and chute deployment methods,
Wills Wing has settled on the Asymmetric Mount,
Short Coupled, Harness Mounted Drogue Chute
as the best design. The features of
this design are as follows:
- The canopy is
a 60" diameter pulled down
apex parachute.
- The total deployed
length of the canopy from bridle
end to canopy apex when inflated
is approximately 45" and
is thus designed to deploy and
remain inside the trailing edge
of the glider, to prevent any
possibility of entanglement.
- The parachute
bridle includes an integral swivel
to prevent a spinning canopy from
wrapping up the lines and closing
the parachute. A new canopy
will generally not spin, but if
the canopy becomes asymmetric
with age, it may start to spin
after deployment.
- The parachute
is designed to be attached on
one side of the harness, at the
point of attachment of the main
support strap to the harness.
(The parachute requires a secure
attachment to a part of the harness
which is fixed and stable to prevent
induced oscillations in the canopy).
When used with a harness which
has a single, center mounted main
support, a means must be provided
to attach the drogue chute to
the side of the harness, at a
point even with the main support
attachment, and in an area where
the harness is reasonably rigid
when the pilot is in landing position.
- The drogue chute
is designed to deploy and remain
slightly out to one side of the
pilot. You can expect that
the parachute will try to fly
outwards, and slightly upwards
after deployment. This keeps
the parachute in a relatively
clean airflow, and will help to
keep it stable and inflated.
A canopy which is mounted symmetrically
on the harness and/or one which
tends to fly directly behind the
point of attachment, will be much
more subject to deflation and
oscillation caused by flying in
the wake of the pilot’s body.
Safety
Considerations
There are several
important safety considerations in using a
drogue chute. Since approach and landing
takes place close to the ground, this is a
critical phase of flight, and even small problems
can create a very dangerous situation for
the pilot. A few years ago a pilot in
Europe died after deploying a drogue chute
either over his side flying wire or his basetube,
which caused him to lose control of the glider
and led to a fatal accident. If a drogue
chute were properly deployed, and then subsequently
became caught or entangled with the keel or
a batten on the trailing edge of the glider,
it could dangerously compromise the pilot’s
ability to control the glider during the approach
and landing. Even just the distraction to
the pilot created by a drogue chute which
is oscillating significantly, or collapsing
and re-inflating, could cause a lack of attention
that could lead to a serious accident.
The safe use of a drogue chute requires constant
and careful attention on the part of the pilot
to all potential safety concerns.
Drogue
Manual, 1st Edition (135KB PDF File) now
available on-line.
Caution:
Do not hold the drogue in your hand for any
longer than it takes to make a clean, safe
deployment. Do not fly the glider holding
the drogue against the control bar.
Avoid any possibility of the drogue being
deployed over the basetube, over the side
wire, or in such a way that it could pull
directly on any part of the glider.
| Drogue
Chute Prices |
| Part # |
Description: |
Retail |
| 75B-4010 |
WW DROGUE CHUTE
- INCLUDES CONTAINER TO MOUNT
ON HARNESS, MANUAL |
$97.50
|
| 90C-1010 |
CONTAINER RETROFIT
INSTALLATION ON HARNESS |
$63.00
|
|
