§ Viscount SANDONasked the Secretary of State for Air whether the Government have tested the new American invention as to parachutes for the aeroplanes themselves; and whether they propose utilising it for some other analogous device?
§ Sir S. HOAREThe particular invention referred to has not been tested, but a similar proposal was carefully considered and rejected some time ago. While a parachute to sustain an individual is quite practicable, the weight and bulk of one to sustain a complete aircraft would be incompatible with present-day performance, and, as far as the aircraft itself is concerned, it is considered to be better to make it safe to fly than to rely on extraneous aids of this nature.