SOTEIRA
Soteira is a system for rescuing pilots of gliders by means of a solid fuel rocket . Classic ejection seats would be too heavy for this type of aircraft.
The motivation for the Soteira project was provided by the statistics of glider accidents with subsequent emergency exits. Here only half of the pilots currently survive an exit. Reasons for the poor chances of survival are, among other things, the opening time of the parachute , the complicated handles for opening the hood and the acceleration forces.
The altitude at which an accident occurs is another critical factor in the pilot's survival. In order to accelerate the emergency exit process, the pilot at Soteira is pulled out of the cockpit with a solid fuel rocket and the parachute is opened at the same time. In contrast to the total rescue system , only the pilot, but not the entire aircraft, is rescued.