My first Jump Continued
I went to Jump School directly from my ROTC Advanced Camp. The Jump School Training companies in the Summer are filled with Cadets (with a leavening of regulars and foreigners). One of the things our instructors noticed was "an unusually high number of washouts among the cadets" as we got closer to jump week.
Now, "unusually high" covers a host of sins. Certainly it was not something "I" noticed. It might have been no more than something like "normally out of 500 cadets four or five will washout, but this time we had ten washouts", I do not really know how many Cadets chose for various reasons to go home without their jump wings.
Being me, I took the time to talk to the blackhats (the Instructors, so named because they wore black ball caps as part of their training uniforms) looking for suggestions and advice. Being one of the cadets, they asked me if I was aware of the high washout rate.
As noted, I was not.
But it happened that I had an inkling of why when the question was raised.
Before those of us who attended our Advanced Camp at Fort Bragg departed for Jump School, the 82nd Airborne put on a demonstration of a Mass Tactical Drop. All the Cadets at Fort Bragg that did not have some compelling reason not to be in formation that day (sick, orders to be someplace else, etc.) were bused to bleachers to view this event.
As we sat there watching, two parachutes came into contact, and they and their loads then plummeted to the ground far more rapidly than the other parachutes.
From there, the Cadets going to Jump School returned to their barracks, picked up their bags, and boarded transport for Fort Benning. It was on that bus that we heard the news that the two men we had seen plummet to the earth had perished as a result.
When I went out the door on my first jump, I looked around for my fellow jumpers.
And I saw that scene begin to play out once more.
Two cadets had come out after me on opposite sides of the aircraft (you jump from both sides). Their chutes had opened such that one was higher than the other, but even with the other's parachute. The higher cadet collided with the lower cadet's chute.
During Jump School you are taught what to do if this happens. Just spread your arms and legs out and allow yourself to "bounce" off the other guy's chute. It is really no big deal (coming down on TOP of the other guy's chute is a little more complicated, but covered in the training).
The Higher cadet Panicked, forgot his training, and instead of allowing himself to bounce off, he grabbed the other guy's chute and held on for dear life.
This was one of the worst things he could have done. The lower chute now stole the air out of his chute, causing him to fall faster, and tip the lower chute spilling its air, and both cadets started heading for the ground at a faster rate.
I had cupped my hands and sucked in a lungful of air to shout "LET GO YOU IDIOT" when the upper cadet released one hand and pulled his reserve, which shot straight down. At that point I froze (hands still cupped to my lips) with the overriding thought of "Oh my God, they are dead!" The wind was grabbing the limp reserve chute (not enough air flow to inflate it) and pushing it into the lower guy's chute. Once it tangled, it would be all over.
It was at this juncture that the upper guy apparently finally and fully realized just how bad his situation had now become, and he did the "right thing" . . . well, sort of.
He fainted.
Releasing his grip he fell clear of the other guys chute, and in the air flow, both his main and his reserve inflated. With his weight gone, the lower guy's chute refilled, and both made it to the ground safely.
Well . . . sort of safely.
The cadet who fainted went down in a circle due to the two chutes, and the plot of ground he was going to land on was being rapidly approached by white figures with rapidly pumping black jump boots and black hats. Like sharks on a wounded fish. I and everyone else still in the air nearby pulled slips to land as far from that point as possible.
There was no question that the Blackhats were not at all amused by that Cadet's failure to use the training he had been given.
But at least no one died that day.
Now, "unusually high" covers a host of sins. Certainly it was not something "I" noticed. It might have been no more than something like "normally out of 500 cadets four or five will washout, but this time we had ten washouts", I do not really know how many Cadets chose for various reasons to go home without their jump wings.
Being me, I took the time to talk to the blackhats (the Instructors, so named because they wore black ball caps as part of their training uniforms) looking for suggestions and advice. Being one of the cadets, they asked me if I was aware of the high washout rate.
As noted, I was not.
But it happened that I had an inkling of why when the question was raised.
Before those of us who attended our Advanced Camp at Fort Bragg departed for Jump School, the 82nd Airborne put on a demonstration of a Mass Tactical Drop. All the Cadets at Fort Bragg that did not have some compelling reason not to be in formation that day (sick, orders to be someplace else, etc.) were bused to bleachers to view this event.
As we sat there watching, two parachutes came into contact, and they and their loads then plummeted to the ground far more rapidly than the other parachutes.
From there, the Cadets going to Jump School returned to their barracks, picked up their bags, and boarded transport for Fort Benning. It was on that bus that we heard the news that the two men we had seen plummet to the earth had perished as a result.
When I went out the door on my first jump, I looked around for my fellow jumpers.
And I saw that scene begin to play out once more.
Two cadets had come out after me on opposite sides of the aircraft (you jump from both sides). Their chutes had opened such that one was higher than the other, but even with the other's parachute. The higher cadet collided with the lower cadet's chute.
During Jump School you are taught what to do if this happens. Just spread your arms and legs out and allow yourself to "bounce" off the other guy's chute. It is really no big deal (coming down on TOP of the other guy's chute is a little more complicated, but covered in the training).
The Higher cadet Panicked, forgot his training, and instead of allowing himself to bounce off, he grabbed the other guy's chute and held on for dear life.
This was one of the worst things he could have done. The lower chute now stole the air out of his chute, causing him to fall faster, and tip the lower chute spilling its air, and both cadets started heading for the ground at a faster rate.
I had cupped my hands and sucked in a lungful of air to shout "LET GO YOU IDIOT" when the upper cadet released one hand and pulled his reserve, which shot straight down. At that point I froze (hands still cupped to my lips) with the overriding thought of "Oh my God, they are dead!" The wind was grabbing the limp reserve chute (not enough air flow to inflate it) and pushing it into the lower guy's chute. Once it tangled, it would be all over.
It was at this juncture that the upper guy apparently finally and fully realized just how bad his situation had now become, and he did the "right thing" . . . well, sort of.
He fainted.
Releasing his grip he fell clear of the other guys chute, and in the air flow, both his main and his reserve inflated. With his weight gone, the lower guy's chute refilled, and both made it to the ground safely.
Well . . . sort of safely.
The cadet who fainted went down in a circle due to the two chutes, and the plot of ground he was going to land on was being rapidly approached by white figures with rapidly pumping black jump boots and black hats. Like sharks on a wounded fish. I and everyone else still in the air nearby pulled slips to land as far from that point as possible.
There was no question that the Blackhats were not at all amused by that Cadet's failure to use the training he had been given.
But at least no one died that day.
posted by Federation Commander at 3:34 PM
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