I usually pull the chute and float to the ground, and then .ef. It's NOT because I have some ulterior motive for doing so - it's partly habit from a prior sim where you didn't have a choice but to do so, and partly because it just feels "right" to try to get down intact if I can.
As I can only recall once when I've been shot in the chute in AH out of many hundreds of bail-outs, it's hard for me to understand how this could be a very big problem. Maybe it's because people know who some of you are after they shoot you down, and can't resist? Or maybe it's because it's not a big deal to me and I don't remember other incidents, but I'm pretty sure that if it happened very regularly, I'd remember.
It doesn't bother me though when it happens, or when people try. Especially since unlike other sims where when you hit the ground you towered, here there are ways a downed pilot can interfere, at least in the war part of the game.
<S>