Parachute Recovery Systems Design Guide?

[pchapman 279]

There's a well known Parachute Recovery Systems Design Guide available that's written by Theo Knacke, dated 1992. (It's a 512 page manual mainly on round parachute design largely for military purposes, full of detailed engineering.)

I noticed that online at Irvin's web site, there is a 42 MB pdf file of the 1978 "Recovery Systems Design Manual" AFFDL-TR-78-151 by 3 authors including Knacke, that is nearly 500 pages, written for the US Air Force etc.

I don't know to what degree the two are similar, as I don't have the 1992 book, and only just spotted & downloaded the 1978 document. Anyone know?

Is the 1992 book done from scratch by Knacke based on what he learned during his long career? Or it is "just" an big update of the 1978 work that he was a main author on? The table of contents for the two don't look like a close match.

In any case, it looks like if one has a passing interest in the subject matter, the 1978 document would be interesting to download. The 1992 book is likely a 'must have' for people in the industry, but it would be overkill for those with just a minor engineering interest in the aerodynamics etc. of parachutes.

[bob.dino 1]

Irvin Aerospace Technical Papers.

Recovery Systems Design Guide.

[slotperfect 7]

From someone I met this week that knew Knacke personally: the "Parachute Recovery Systems Design Guide" is his own work - he collaborated with others on the Air Force "Recovery Systems Design Manual." There is some commonality between the two, but some differences as well - apparently Knacke did not quite agree with everything published in the collaboration and deviated in publishing his own work. I have a hard copy of the first and a digital copy of the Irvin scan.

Arrive Safely

John