Ridiculous James Bond Question

[Hickdive]

I'm imagine that pulling the ripcord only to hear the 'phut' of the Co2 cartridge inflating your BCD instead of the 'crack' of you canopy opening might be a little disappointing.

 

[RiggedEscape]

back in 1982 my father was still in process of attaining his B license (USPA license goes A for student, B, C, D in that order)and was having problems with a stable free fall. You see although he was retired Army airborne, he had lost all of his right leg in Viet Nam. Years later he decided to take lessons and also pay for his sons to learn so we could jump together.

Aerodynamics as they are, in order to establish stable free fall it is pretty much necessary for you to have 2 arms and 2 legs spread out (this is a simple explanation). The slightest movement of hand or foot can turn you right or left, etc or even flip you completely over. Being that he was absent a whole leg you can imagine the frustration over a period of months attempting to fall stable as he would always go out of control and have to pull. A requirement of a B license was to do jumps in a relative work scenario which because of his inability to fall stable he couldn't do.

Well, as fate would have it at the end of a weekend as everyone was partying up in the rigging loft all kinds of ideas were being thrown around as to how the old man could fall stable without killing himself (by now he had racked up enough reserve rides to qualify for a C license...100...and that's not even funny...a reserve ride is dangerous as hell as you are now using your last chute). One of the guys happened to be a ANG pilot and he stated that what my Dad really needed was something like a rudder in order to help him get some stability maybe. That thought led to others until somebody said why not a flipper like used in scuba?

Now to this day nobody can verify who the first person to use flippers in skydiving was. Some say some guy in California did it as a bet. Some say it was somebody military. And some say it was my Dad. We do know my dad made it popular. The rigger we had came up with an flipper that had a leather strap in the back to secure it to the foot and after that it was the most amazing sight to watch. Using that flipper the old man now attained stability, using it to not only help in turns but to also penetrate into formations. And he was very popular at demo jumps.

Some of us tried the same thing and it was comical to say the least. But good God could you track with them. right until the damn things came flying off your feet because you were flying like a bat out of hell.

So are flippers a good idea for jumping?..they have their uses..<G>

The old man continued on though his licenses finally receiving his Pro rating. He was recognized by the USPA as the first handicap jumper to receive this rating and he did it without any waivers of any kind. At the time of his death in '93 he was regarded as the world's leading authority on handicap skydiving.

This post was for you dad, I miss you

 

[Diver Dennis]

Very cool RE.

 

[miketsp]

But does a flapping BP/W cause more drag than a jacket BC at 170mph?

 

[Diver Dennis]

But does a flapping BP/W cause more drag than a jacket BC at 170mph?

The bungee cords keep it in place...

 

[Blackwood]

The bungee cords keep it in place...

But not before they snag on the landing gear.

 

[Gary D.]

Actually, can it be a balloon jump? I only ask because a balloon (especially a hybrid helium/hot air type) could have the required endurance at altitude for you to off-gas the slow compartments to such an extent that it *would* affect your deco planning (especially considering the HALO jump's short descent-from-altitude time).

By the way, you *were* planning to dive a CCR, eh? Open-circuit scuba is just too bulky to get good bottom time on a rig light enough for a decent sport canopy.

Get a Dive Flag balloon keep it tethered during your dive then have it pull you back up after the dive. That should freak out the PWC idiots.

Gary D.

 

[mike_s]

But does a flapping BP/W cause more drag than a jacket BC at 170mph?

imagine the flipping around that these flins popping up/down would cause jumping out of an airplane.

the new amphibean flip fin.

 

[Clammy]

whoa...no such thing as a perfectly good airplane...it is a necessary evil device utilized to acquire altitude in order to experience short term freedom from the physical laws of gravity

Actually, it's the physical laws of gravity that you're hoping for, otherwise you wouldn't get to free fall!

 

[ItMustBeJames]

Tried this? Helicopter diving an extreme sport

Hey, that's cool too! Their link to "our next helicopter adventure" was down. I wonder if anyone does this these days?!!