avoiding the obvious answers please...!

is there some sort of device that ejects the canopy or is it all just white mans magic...?

 

i think parachutes are packed in pretty tightly in a specific way, so...

(a theory from someone who has never been near a parachute!)
when you pull the cord, the chute pops out enough that the 100mph airflow round you pulls the rest of the chute out and expands the canopy.

that works as a sensible theory to me



what's the real answer then?

 

Howstuffworks "The Drogue Chute and Parachute Deployment Sequence"

 

You either get static line or freefall.

With static line, a long strap connected to the rip cord is also attached to the aircraft. When you've dropped a short distance, the strap automatically (you hope) deploys the canopy.

With a free fall, you have to pull the rip cord yourself.

In either case, the parachute is packed in such a way that when it comes out of the bag, it deploys as a well formed canopy and doesn't get twisted etc.

 

wiki says this for non static lines "Freefall-deployed parachutes are pulled out of their containers by a smaller parachute called a pilot chute."

i assumed there'd be a small chute first, but the question still stands on how the ickle pilot chute comes out of the bag.

 

Parachute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Depends some are deployed by drogue chute and some have a massive spring which pushes the canopy out into the airstream which then deploys the main canopy.

Found the spring in a MOD reserve chute.

 

Isn't it like a grouse shoot, only with parrots?

I'll get me coat

 

They don't always work.....
YouTube - man falls 5000 foot parachute fails SURVIVES!

YouTube - falling sky diver versus the ground versus power lines

 

 

They have an even smaller chute to pull it out.

Which in turn needs a yet smaller chute still.

Which is pulled out by....



John.