How Not To Leave A Plane!

[Flashermac]

 

 

[Flashermac]

<< From the load master on the plane that day: "I was the load master on this mission. That is me on the far right of screen. We were flying out around Ft. Stewart. The official drop score was 10 miles at 6. His reserve somehow wiggled out and he was physically extracted from the plane. He was hooked up to the static line so both deployed. He landed safely in a field. His first text back to the plane was "I'm okay". His second text said "Please, dear God, tell me you got that on video". We circled him for about 30 minutes until the ground guys could get to him. By far the craziest thing I've seen." >>

[StoneSoup]

From my days as a jumpmaster - the ultimate hazard was if some new guy about five or six jumpers back managed to somehow deploy his reserve inside the plane, as you approached the drop zone.. There is a sort of "spring" in the reserve chute housing, which forcefully ejects the silk forward and away from you. There is also a sort of suction effect (venturi effect) near an open door. Combined, there is a tendency for a deployed reseve chute to make its way to the open door - and out. If that happens, everyone between the guy whose chute deployed and the open door is in a WORLD of hurt - as the unfortunate chute owner is dragged out the door at about 250 km/hr (or whatever the aircraft cruisng speed is at that point) - literally sheering the legs off everone along the way.

 

I never saw such a terrible event, but I did see a couple reserve chutes deploy inside the plane after "hooking up" - and I was amazed to see how fast a couple of NCO's could react to throw themseives on top of the chute on the floor, pinning it to the floor. Then, within 75 seconds or so, they had the jumper unhooked, him and his billowing chute dragged to the front of the plane, and the NCO's then back in the stick, hooked up again, ready to jump.