Skydiving

[mjj]

I watched my jumpmaster hurriedly pack my chute once. I opened it and found I had a line over ("Mae West", yes, it was a round chute). On my twenty somethingth jump, I had my first and only cutaway. They did notice that I stood up the landing under the reserve. I think they were impressed. I was going to salvage _something_ from that jump.

 

[Eldritch]

I watched my jumpmaster hurriedly pack my chute once. I opened it and found I had a line over ("Mae West", yes, it was a round chute). On my twenty somethingth jump, I had my first and only cutaway. They did notice that I stood up the landing under the reserve. I think they were impressed. I was going to salvage _something_ from that jump.

Yeah, as I have been told, packing a round chute for a static line jump is wildly more simple than a sport chute by design.

 

[dravnx]

Did a tandem in 1991. Jumped out of a DC-3 which was really cool. We then drove to Sac to see the Dead. Hell of a day.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

Never had the desire to pay to do what your tax dollars paid me to do back in the day - jumped from C130s, C141s, C5, and UH1 Hueys...

 

[budman]

BUT HOW DO YOU FOLD IT!!!11!1!1!!!1!!!!

 

[Eldritch]

Never had the desire to pay to do what your tax dollars paid me to do back in the day - jumped from C130s, C141s, C5, and UH1 Hueys...

Holy shit, you sport jumped from Huey's? That is hardcore. Special Operations? Most military only do static line jumps.

 

[WoodsChick]

Skydiving is not for me.
I can safely say I'll never be injured in a skydiving accident unless someone lands on me.

I can safely say I will never be injured in a skydiving accident again. Tore my Achilles in 1981, before tandem was a thing. It was really windy, We'd already delayed the jump by a day, and I was the last one out of the plane. It was a bit of a wild ride, and I missed the target. It still bothers me today.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

Holy shit, you sport jumped from Huey's? That is hardcore. Special Operations? Most military only do static line jumps.

Nope - all static line jumps. The Huey jumps were always "hollywood" jumps - used to keep troopers on status, but also open to whoever wanted to get up early on a Saturday and get out to the drop zone. Did 5 in one day once! Fixed wing jumps were always full equipment - a few times at night, and once in the rain (that was "fun"!)...

 

[westie]

My college had a skydiving club. Every time they went out someone broke a bone and on a windy day some poor soul got dragged by his chute about a mile through the desert and managed to hit everything along the way. So, as a prominent comedian once said, "Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?"

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

My college had a skydiving club. Every time they went out someone broke a bone and on a windy day some poor soul got dragged by his chute about a mile through the desert and managed to hit everything along the way. So, as a prominent comedian once said, "Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?"

...to which we paratroopers would reply: "There's no such thing as a perfectly good airplane"!

 

[bobl]

I did one static line jump using "rags". That would be a cargo chute with modifications for steerage. I cracked the small bone in my leg on a bad landing. Several years later, my wife and I jumped at Madera Parachuters for her 40th birthday. This time it was with a ram-air chute, one of those that look like a wing. BIG difference! Those chutes have an actual glide ratio that allows a lot more maneuvering, and land like a small glider if you do it right. If you are leery of smacking the ground, late model tech will allow you to land easily at very low speed if it's done right.