bail out or bale out  For escape by parachute my copy of Chambers Dictionary authorizes both spellings equally I am British I am more familiar with the spelling bale out Perhaps this is yet another case where usual UK and USA spellings differ   First bailing water is never spelt baling water and I doubt youd find that in Chambers For the parachute bailing we use British English almost exclusively for the most part in Australia too yet Ive never once seen this use of bale as in bale out of an aircraft although it is evidently an alternate spelling of bail But since bail out of an aircraft is the way its spelt at least  of the time in Britain and close to  of the time elsewhere according to this WorldWideWords article dont you think this information should go at the Bail disambig page on Wikipedia  and there is already a link to this from Bale