Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!lll-winken!sun-barr!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: chamber@udel.edu (Sam Chamberlain) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Dropping Stuff (was Re: Airborne Operations) Keywords: heavy drop, jumpmaster, door check, faux pas Message-ID: <1990Jul18.040832.14212@cbnews.att.com> Date: 18 Jul 90 04:08:32 GMT References: <1990Jul13.015904.4354@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jul17.032035.23017@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: University of Delaware Lines: 29 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Sam Chamberlain In article <1990Jul17.032035.23017@cbnews.att.com> voder!nsc!dtg.nsc.com!alan@decwrl.dec.com (Alan Hepburn) writes: > . . . What's scary is when the pilots fly a "descending trail formation" > here each suceeding aircraft is at a lower altitude than the one it's > following. Have you ever seen hamburger fall from the sky? If this happens it is the Army jumpmasters' fault. In the final door check (10 - 30 seconds out) this is one of the things checked (i.e., that no airplanes behind are lower). Nobody leaves the plane without the primary jumpmaster's approval. By the way, the door check is the highpoint of the jump for the jumpmaster. At about 60 seconds to the dropzone, the jumpmaster gets to stands on the little jump platform, forces his (her) feet against the corners of the door, grabs (hard) on the door rim and leans out as far as possible with elbows locked and back arched. Several items are checked, like the (correct) dropzone is ahead, but mostly, you just get to act cool since its hard to tell one DZ from another, especially at night. However, it is easy to observe if any airplane behind is below. Once in awhile you loose a jumpmaster early (i.e., he falls out). Life is not easy after that (for awhile). These are the things legend are made of. Sam Chamberlain