hey Everybody, I am designing a parachute system that will deploy at the command of the r/c pilot by the touch of a button in the event of a emergency. Are there any of these things around? if so..please tell me, but if not...what do you think the market of a product like this would be?

What if the emergency is a reciever problem or battery problem. How will you deploy the chute?

I've actually thought about something like this. The only problem is the chute has to be deployed at a rapid rate. I was thinking about using a small rocket engine to pull the chute out. This brought up a whole bunch of other problems. I'd still have to have enough time for the chute to fully deploy, and slow me down. There is also the possibility of a misfire by the rocket on the ground or in the air.

--Scott

Besides the issue of weight maybe a backup power supply just powerful enough to deploy the chute. I often wondered why some of these bigger planes Jets mostly havent thought of this yet. It wouldnt take much but a flick of a switch to pop a hatch that pulls a small chute out and then the small chute deploys it pulls out the full size one. But I would think the hatch would have to completly deploy maybe on a spring set up with a micro servo and a small battery. when you use a channel to flip the servo it pops the hatch and there it goes.

This is just my experience, but my crashes have all happened at an altitude where a parachute would not have helped. I would also think that between the weight and the possibility that the parachute lines might become entangled, it might be more trouble than it is worth. Also on the big planes, the parachute would have to be pretty large to ensure that it didn't come down at too fast a rate.

I'd have to say by the time I got into a situtation where I'd need a parachute, I'd be too low for it to help me. However, it may serve as a nice crash bag to carry the pieces back to the pits.

Yup, I agree with you guys, all the crashes I have had are mostly inverted and only about a meter off the ground, or crosswinds during landing..some didnt even happen in the air..like the toolbox that killed my Formosa but what if the parachute could deploy as quickly as those ones the rocket guys use? sure it wouldnt save the plane from everything, but maybe it will save the plane if it's in a stall that you barely can pull back..or simpliy..the good ol' "oh...something fell off in midair!!!" haha.. but yes..all of you guys have pointed out possible questions..thank you and keep those comments comin' ...maybe someday I'll really come up with something..and you'll be the first ones to get them..haha

put it this way, if there was such a system, would I use it? nope, for two reasons. first is weight, it is going to add a substantial amount of extra stuff that isn't serving a primary function. second, most crashes are either due to rx/tx failures or pilot issues too close to the ground. you rarely have the time to deploy a system like this.

the ONLY type of problem this could save is for things like wing failure at higher altitudes. but then again, the increased weight of the system could be partially responsible for the failure in the first place! (fusalage breakage during flight is less common, and the part you actually safe might not be the part you wanted to save anyway, should the fuse break up.)

Heres my vision. Servo/pulls a pin. The wieghted hatch flys off pulling the chute(s) with it.40 sized 1 or 2 estes 24 inch chutes. This is a trainer ok so the hatch is on top of the wing at cg. You would use y harness atatched to the reciever to the gear switch. utilizing the aileron servo to pull the pin. hypethetically spaeking it could work!

There use to be a company that sold parachutes for r/c planes. It was a pod on the top of the plane. The pod opened up and pulled the chute out. Seemed to be effective, but 90% of my crashes are RX/TX related, the others midairs. It might maybe help in a mid air.

You may be able to use it in a few situations, but like the others have said, it's probably not worth the extra weight, and more often than not won't be able to save the plane.

Even if it does deploy, Murphy's RC Law states that it will automatically find the highest, most unclimbable tree and perch itself there for eternity, mocking you.

For full scale though, a number of companies have started to use these. But they're more concerned with saving the people on board. It does reduce damage to the plane from totaled to just really messed up, but the plane's health is not the main goal.

Instead of a rocket engine how about using CO2? But I'd have to agree, most of my crashes have all hapened close to the ground, or within a split second so I wouldnt have time to react quick enough to pull a chute. If the price was right I might use it just for shifts and giggles.

I used to crash a LOT 10 years ago or so. I would say thinking back the chute would have saved one plane. It was a SuperSportster 90/120 that my buddy pulled a 10ft loop with. It sheared half the stab and one ELEV off. The chute would have saved a plane that was already dammaged.
With those kind of odds I don't think I would want one.
David

I think a spring loades chute would do better. or let the air suck it out.

heres a RCU thread for ya.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_12...tm.htm#1649430

not a new idea,this has been done by a brit modeller on many occasions,mainly on fast stuff which would be likely to disintegrate upon contact with terra firma,the canopy pops off and out comes the chute,i think it was done on barometric pressure.

guess someone had the idea first huh/ o well.I'll just experiment and see..hopefully wont do much to my foamie

the thread shows a company, think it said wildcat, made them, i remember seeing the article in the mag, but no more, maybe quit making them.

by the way..i've seen bike shops sell those tiny cans of compressed air..would those be a violation to AMA's rules?

No, think of the robart air pressure system. a can of compressed air, that would work as well.

oh good..ya..then that might help..these things dont weigh/cost much..and if it can save a plane..it'll be worth it.. I think it's like $12 for 10 of them? so ya..cheap stuff

So using one of these compressed air things..a servo can activate it, releasing pressure..but how should this help inflate the parachute? any ideas? because I know where to find this, also I know where to find cheap parachutes from the net..all we have to do is to put the system together

well good luck trying to get it to open up properly! pack it properly and take lots of pics!

I will..thanks..I've drawn a basic plan of how it's going to work..just need to solve a few problems..theoratically it should work

If you have a PCM system, set the failsafe so that if you get a radio hit the chute deploys.