I have been a pilot for about 40 years, and a skydiver for a little more than that. For 36 years I have also been a parachute designer, test jumper, and manufacturer. I have had several skydiver friends who also were jump pilots and a handful of them had to leave a "perfectly good airplane that wasn't airworthy any more. This is what I THINK I have learned during this time:
1. It is way easy to get out of a stable airplane flying level at about 70-85 knots, power at idle. Like slipping into a nice hot tub for me. Going much over 100-120knots is not much fun at all- even in a stable airplane. My max exit speeds have been 170 knots, from a tailgate airplane, with one side door exit at 205knots.
2. Getting out of an airplane with a structural failure of a control system failure is a totally different animal. things happen really really fast, and I have lost a few friends from this over the last forty years that were very competent and physically fit people.
3. Many airplanes just don't have a good configuration for getting out of--without hitting the tail. This is particularly airplanes true with bubble canopies and tight entrances. I have seen videos of tail strikes on actual bailouts of disabled warbirds, and there have even been skydivers who have managed to hit the tail on normal exits on some airplanes. That takes some effort on most jump planes...
4. As for altitude loss during the opening, someone mentioned getting out of a fast C-130 at very low altitude. The very low altitude loss is due to the high speed and the time spent in the forward throw which is present when leaving an aircraft in level flight. The parachute would open very differently if the C-130 was disabled and going vertical at the same speed, and would take a LOT more altitude.
So the above items are what I believe I know, and now what follows is what I think I would do personally. These are my opinions based on my experience and my personal beliefs and should be different for other folks:
1. I fly four pretty interesting airplanes, only half of which would be reasonably practical to leave if things went really bad. There isn't really any room for parachutes in any of them for a guy my size, and the other two are just so hard to get in and out of when they are sitting on the ground. I don't do aerobatics and don't carry a parachute in any of these airplanes.
2. If I owned a plane that had a "whole plane" parachute, I would certainly use it in the case that a good landing could not be made in a very safe location. (I do realize that this attitude has been botched by many Cirrus owners, and that statistics are much better for Cirruses once the company was able to encourage folks to actually use the parachute instead of trying to be a hero.)
3. Again, this is a personal belief, but I believe that when I decide to aviate and something happens, I have a responsibility to make sure that my aircraft won't harm others. I will pick the best place to land if something happens in an airplane that isn't on fire and still has a functional control system. If i am in a sparsely populated area with hostile terrain, I would use the plane parachute, or a bailout rig, if either were available.
4. The part that bugs me with my fleet, is when I do long cross countries at a high altitude over unpopulated mountainous areas. Yes it is a risk... I sure would love to have rig I could wear in my plane in that situation, especially in my faster airplane where the most likely outcome would be very bad. I would love to build a parachute system that would fit me and my plane in a way to make it easier to exit. I haven't done that because I wouldn't want to certify it for one rig, and I wouldn't be willing to sell it to those who don't understand the rig. I also won't violate the regulations by wearing a safe but illegal rig, as there is too much is at stake for me. I would definitely use a whole parachute plane in the above scenario if it would allow me to stay within CG limits with Glasair with a a little luggage in the back.
5. I have had two full power failures, one in a Cessna a long time ago, and one in my Glasair 1TD when it was really new to me. I was able to make the runway safely on both of them, and consider luck to be a part of that... I have had three partial power failures all which ended up on the runway. In a way, the partials seem more challenging. The last couple of years I decided to carefully work on learning about the so-called"impossible turn," and now know the lowest reasonable altitude that make it around to the runway on the two airplanes I have practiced this on the most. I also include an extra margin and think about this on every take off. I haven't gone through this process with the Glasair, as I need to gain quite a bit more respect for it before I work on that-- even if only up high. I only have 450 hours in it...
My two cents. Yours will differ, as it should. Everyone is different.
in2flight