Ridiculous James Bond Question

[ItMustBeJames]

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.

There was this guy (YouTube - Joseph Kittinger - Highest Skydive) who jumped from a balloon at 103,000ft in New Mexico ...

 

[ItMustBeJames]

I wonder how scuba gear would hold up when you hit the water. I mean, I've seen some guys literally touch down to the ground as light as a feather (flaring their chute at the last second), but then their chute is right above them. The alternative would be cutting away 10-feet up. Judging height is no small task when you aren't touching the ground. Dropping 10 ft into the water with tanks mounted on your side would be jarring. Otherwise you'd have to worry about getting all tangled up in the cords!

And what do you do with the deployed chute when you hit the water? Those things aren't cheap! And just leaving it in the ocean would be ecologically improper. Maybe you'd wrap it all up and stick a safety sausage on it for later retrieval.

 

[ClayJar]

Well, you could always use retros instead of a canopy...

 

[mike_s]

I wonder how scuba gear would hold up when you hit the water. I mean, I've seen some guys literally touch down to the ground as light as a feather (flaring their chute at the last second), but then their chute is right above them. The alternative would be cutting away 10-feet up. Judging height is no small task when you aren't touching the ground. Dropping 10 ft into the water with tanks mounted on your side would be jarring. Otherwise you'd have to worry about getting all tangled up in the cords!

And what do you do with the deployed chute when you hit the water? Those things aren't cheap! And just leaving it in the ocean would be ecologically improper. Maybe you'd wrap it all up and stick a safety sausage on it for later retrieval.

I thought about posting earlier, that most divers have a hard time getting untangled or cut loose from a piece of fishing line, much less all the cords and nylon of a chute.

 

[bfw]

But it got me wondering. Is there anywhere you can go to learn how to skydive / HALO jump, land the the water, and do a nice relaxing dive all in one shot? Anywhere besides (maybe) the military, that is?

Just go diving offshore from an area where there's a forest fire, and wait for the bucket!

 

[bfw]

And what do you do with the deployed chute when you hit the water? Those things aren't cheap!

That's why you need to join the military to get such training. At the DoD it's a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about spending some real money.