5
$\begingroup$

Do the passengers in Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spacecraft have a parachute or some other way to escape the spacecraft if needs be?

In the VSS Enterprise crash that occurred on October 31, 2014, the pilots did have a parachute but I wonder if passengers also have one or some other escape mechanism.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ If I had to guess, the answer would be "No", for the same reason that passengers in any other passenger aircraft also don't carry parachutes: a) they are not trained and thus wouldn't know how to safely egress the craft and use the parachutes anyway, b) any effort invested in designing, developing, testing, and certifying parachutes for emergency egress can simply be put to better use by instead designing, developing, testing, and certifying the craft such that the need does not arise. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 22:19

1 Answer 1

6
$\begingroup$

They do appear to be wearing parachutes, though they don't appear to have leg straps - could make it very uncomfortable in the unlikely event they have to be used. (They'd be left hanging from the shoulder straps.) Maybe part of the system is not visible in the footage.

Branson himself described undergoing 5 days of training before his flight. More than enough time to learn how to deploy a parachute. At my airfield, taking members of the public up, that part of the pre-flight briefing takes no more than a couple of minutes.

$\endgroup$
1

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.