1989 First Emergency Drogue Deflation System By 1989, McCulloh designed and tested the first Emergency Drogue Deflation System “EDDS”. The EDSS. Based on the same principal of a sea anchor wind and sea conditions deteriorate can slow a disabled vessel. The EDDS allows the para-sailor to manually deploy a mini-parchute device after a towline separation during an emergency water landing in high winds. When deployed, the EDDS (attached the to riser lines) interrupts the parasails ability to remain inflated. Based on numerous test flights over several months, It was determined that the EDDS system posed a inherent risk to the parasailor and could lead to a serious accident or catastrophic failure of the main canopy and was abandon. previous next
TEST RESULTS AFTER 87 TEST FLIGHTS -required intense parasailor training   -create an duty for parasailors -numerous manual deployment errors  -unpredictable in rough water deployment -increased risk of parasailor entanglement while in the water -premature launch during flight/catastrophic failure of canopy -unreliable results once in the water * Based on negative test results, this project was abandon