1.0.4 parachute questions

[Bishop149]

With the advent of 1.0.4 parachutes have become a little trickier to use due to their breaking at anything other than quite low speed.

It seems that 250 m/s [surface] is the magic speed at which normal chutes are safe to deploy, 500m/s [surface] for drogues.

Is this true of every situation? I've only tested on Kerbin.

Also I've had a go at deploying a number of times under "risky" . . . chutes destroyed every single time. Is "risky" in fact any different from "unsafe"? If not why does it even exist?

[NathanKell]

It's dependent on atmospheric density as well as velocity. 250m/s at sea level is fine, up higher faster is OK, and on Duna very fast indeed is ok.

Risky will sometimes work, especially higher up in the atmosphere and/or with drogues.

[Cairol]

Today my chutes were destroyed while deploying them at 260 m/s at about 10k height.

Am I sure to survive if I open them at 250 m/s or less with this height or even lower?

It's pretty bad if I can no longer be sure if they will survive or not.

Is there some rule or formula to calculate or estimate this during re-entry?

[Sharpy]

There's an indicator of "safe to open" which changes to "safe" at 250. Above that, it shows "risky" and... you were unlucky.

[moronwrocket]

With chutes now sensitive to velocity, should there be a tweakable for deploying the chute at a specified velocity? I try to set my density parameter in case my chutes are accidentally staged, but now it is much less forgiving.

[Sharpy]

That would remove the challenge and thrill, wouldn't it?