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You are the wind beneath my......


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..parachute! :lol:

It never really dawned on me until lately that the evolution of the parachute had it's specific goals.

And although square and rectangular parachutes are primarily seen more often, round parachutes are still in extensive use by the military.

You see, round parachutes are not specifically designed to guide you, but merely to slow your decent to an earth landing.

The primary reason the military still uses the round parachute for multiple deployment of troops, is that it keeps everyone landing in a general area.

Who knows where 25 troops would end up if they all had square parachutes and could guide themselves! :huh:

Paratroopers.thumb.jpg.652063692a662ebf28bfc50e5495a88f.jpg

With the advent of the square/rectangular parachutes, guiding you to almost anyplace you wish to land (within reason of course) became a reality.

1436434084_ArmyRamAirparachute.thumb.jpg.4ce14066eb6a802b3a0513c84d923c63.jpg
 

Either way, square or round, I don't plan on jumping out of a plane with one in my lifetime. :blink:

Certainly not on my bucket list.

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yep, why jump out of a perfectly good airplane, right?

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3 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

Well, if you jump out of an airplane I suggest having one whether you like 'em or not! :o

 

Sixgun:

        665068047_Laugh-BellyLaugh.JPG.8894f3e031c6598d2e188eacd38ebcea.JPG You're killing me here!

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1 minute ago, Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L said:

. . . but there is nothing like the adrenaline rush you get from looking up to a fully inflated chute. 

I bet it doesn’t hold a candle to the Adrenalin rush you get when you look up and don’t see a fully inflated chute.

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24 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

I bet it doesn’t hold a candle to the Adrenalin rush you get when you look up and don’t see a fully inflated chute.

 

That wouldn't be the only stuff rushin'....   :rolleyes:

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I would give my left test.... Uh, I'd love to jump once. Maybe twice. Broke my legs in a fall and my son has been nursed back twice with destroyed legs. Momma says next time we go into a nursing home and she is bailing. So.... No jumpie

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3 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

I bet it doesn’t hold a candle to the Adrenalin rush you get when you look up and don’t see a fully inflated chute.

 

That was actually my first jump--main was Mae West and reserve kept going into main.  Kept pulling it back and trying to throw it out further away from me.  Finally opened in front of main.

 

Way reserves are attached I hit heels, ass and back of helmet.  then there was the problem of trying to get both chutes into the aviator kit bag.

 

they did trade my deployed reserve for a freshly packed one before next jump

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5 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

I bet it doesn’t hold a candle to the Adrenalin rush you get when you look up and don’t see a fully inflated chute.

Or you look down and land on one.

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SF, Recon and SEAL teams use steerable canopies. Fairly easy to put a dozen or so highly trained jumpers in a small drop zone.

Putting a whole battalion in the same spot, not so much. I never participated in a mass drop and never wanted to. Too much atmospheric congestion for me. ;)

F66BED9C-F069-4000-AA68-3165339345CB.jpeg

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7 hours ago, Shotgun Willie Nelson said:

yep, why jump out of a perfectly good airplane, right?

Nothing’s perfect. :)

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13 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Putting a whole battalion in the same spot, not so much. I never participated in a mass drop and never wanted to. Too much atmospheric congestion for me. ;)

 

 

one of the real dangers on the drop zone is getting clobbered by a helmet that fell off a jumper above you.  they make no noise and hit like a ton of bricks.

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1 hour ago, Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L said:

 

one of the real dangers on the drop zone is getting clobbered by a helmet that fell off a jumper above you.  they make no noise and hit like a ton of bricks.

 

Personal experience?

 

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For the brief time I was in pilot training, the chutes had two risers marked with yellow.  We had a switchblade knife with a sharp edged "hook" that was tucked into a pocket in our flight suits, and attached with a tag line. The theory was that you could pull out the knife and use the hook to cut the two marked risers, which would loosen or open (I forget which) two panels in the canopy.  This would cause your chute to slip forward.  Then, by pulling on the rest of the risers you could rotate  right or left and steer the chute.  Never actually jumped, but the instructors asked who would cut the marked lines.  Unlike paratroopers, who primarily jump out the door, fighter pilots have to get over the shock of ejecting from an incapacitated aircraft. (It used to be that before changes to the ejection seat rocket rate-of-onset forces, F-4 aircrews invariably suffered compression fractures of the spine!  With the newer Aces2 seats, you can eject at zero altitude and zero airspeed, and you are so close to the ground you may get one swing under the chute and no time for such games.

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