I have gotten a sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your service in defending Our Country and My Family. My own life means nothing compared to the safety of my children, and when I read your account it is my children that I think of. My gratitude has no measure. Never think that you are not standing between them and a great evil, nor think that all you do is not appreciated. May God Bless you in all your days and lend you a speedy recovery.

May you also be blessed with the confirmation of your vision, and seats between the 40s from which to watch it from!

GEAUX TIGERS!

 

High windspeed.

I feel bad for you.

That wind had to be blowing too hard.

The T-10 is a tough chute to drive in a strong wind. I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure exactly how it happened to you, but I know that a lot of jumpers can get into trouble in the T-10 when the wind is blowing. Here's how you get into trouble. About 300 feet from the ground, you've got to pull on a riser in order to slow your forward speed. If you successfully do this before you land, then a 20 knot wind won't feel so bad, because your forward speed is negated by the canopy tilt that you caused by pulling the riser.

Here's the kicker: if you can't get the right riser pulled and negate your forward speed, or if you erroneously pull the wrong riser and start running with the wind, you are going to hit the ground at a fairly high rate of speed. It's not the downward (vertical) speed that gets you, it's the forward or horizontal speed. If the wind is blowing at 20 knots per hour and you don't negate that horizontal speed, you are going to hit the ground going about 20+ knots per hour horizontally. If the wind is 25 kph, you will hit the ground going about 25 kph horizontally. This can be quite a shock.

Even with you feet and knees perfectly together, you'd have to be very lucky to hit the ground going 20-25 kph and not get hurt.

Not only that, but any jumper who lands on an uneven spot is probably going to get hurt even if the wind is dead calm. Even in dead calm, the rate of descent is 16 feet per second, if I remember correctly. If you folks at home would like to see what landing with a military parachute is like, just jump off a 16 ft. platform onto the lawn. You'll hit the ground in about a second.

Maybe this is what happened. It is a fairly common injury. All of your Airborne brothers take our hats off to you. We wish we could have been there to help you.

I hope you get to finish your five jumps and get your wings. Don't say that it can't be done, because I heard of a member of the Golden Knight parachute team who lost a leg in a jump accident who is jumping again.

We jumped from 1500 feet at Fort Bragg, but that was just my unit. Others jump at 800 to 1200 feet. The HALO guys jump from even further up there.


Something that civilians may not know:
Military parachuting is not like sport jumping. The military parachute is designed to get the soldier on the ground quickly after the exit from the aircraft in order to minimize the time floating through the air like a big target. As such, you hit the ground hard with the military parachutes, because your rate of descent is faster than with sport parachutes.

:geaux:

:geaux:

 

Jean Lafitte and Crip*TEAM KATT,

I don't know the first thing about jumping out of plane, and have respect for those that can. I understand your post Jean, that the military wouldn't want you guys hanging like targets, but what is the success rate of the jumps. Do you guys suffer a lot of injuries, enough to keep the jumpers from performing their duty after they land? Is what happened to Crip a common thing?

 

What happened to me is not what happens all the time, but on the jump that I got hurt on we had 20 sprained ankles. It was a real bad day to jump. Now the sprained ankles are easy to have and still care out the mission. Hell even with my broken leg I still tried to care out the mission and hop off the drop zone. Its not an easy job to do and everytime you go out that door there is a chance of something happeneing. I would say its proably bout a 95% chance that you'll have something happen either minor or major. With me it was maybe just not the right time for me.

And Jean they are gonna have to beat me over the head with NO's before I'll get the hint, cause thats all I want to be.

 

What jump was it?

Was it your first, second, third, fourth or last jump that you got hurt on?

 

Is the T-10 a flat round, or hemisflow?

USAF Rigger

 

or square?

 

There seems to be lots of sprained ankles at the jump school at Fort Benning. I think it is because they tend to jump when the wind is high and the jumpers are not experienced. More serious injuries like Crip's seem too common at Fort Benning, also.

At regular Airborne units, there are few injuries during training jumps, but it's kind of like taking a big hit while playing in a football game: you might not be "injured" but that doesn't mean that hitting the ground hard felt good.

Every once in a while, you things work out just perfectly and you touch the ground like a feather. Wow. That is a good feeling.

After some years of Airborne service, the hard hits to the ground catch up to you in the form of accumulative injuries.

As for accomplishing the mission, I've never heard of an actual US Army combat jump mission failing because too many people got hurt from the jump.

The guys who jumped into Panama told me that they jumped at under 1000 feet altitude with no reserve parachute! Can you say "pucker factor"?

:geaux:

:lsug:

 

Jean it was our first jump and thats why I feel we shold not have jumped we were to new at it to be able to handle the winds, but all morning they were talking bout canceling it and at the last second they pretty much said the hell with it and we went up.

Tundra the T-10 is big and round and like Jean said you drop like a rock outta the sky.

Oh and jean I pulled the right risers hell I did everything I was suppose to but after 100ft we are taught that you don't change your pull you just ride it out and it was after that that I got caught in the crosswind and it started blowing me forward instead of to the left like I had planned to land.

 

Thanks guys. You know, you never think of this stuff when you are not a part of it. Taking it for granted that there are people out there willing to jump out of airplanes to protect us.

I bet those injuries do add up. I just played high school football and other sports in HS, and even my knees and ankles make cracking sounds, nothing serious, but a little wear and tear. I hope Crip gets to complete his jumps and earn those wings.

Another general question: What is the difference in sport jumpers and Airborne units, when it comes to equipment and parachute style. Earlier it was mentioned that Airborne units use chutes that get the jumper to the ground at a faster rate than a sport jumper. Is it the size of the chute (width, etc)? And since you guys jump with extra equipment (guns, packs), does that play a factor in all of this (more difficult, harder to land)?

Thanks for the responses, this is much more interesting right now than looking at the BCS for the 100th time in 2 hours or caring about Ore St/SC.