Talisman Saber 13 -- Airdrop and C-17

[TeaSea]

The organization I work for had several personnel make this drop into Australia to provide communications off the drop zone. I thought some of you might be interested although these are both fairly long. Video 1 is raw footage and has the jump starting from the in-flight rig phase. These guys took off from Joint Base Elmendorf in Anchorage to fly 14 hours to Australia. If it looks like they just got out of bed, it's because they were just woken up to draw parachutes and get rigged. Really excellent depiction of what it takes to get out of the aircraft. In this case each aircraft flew two passes. Stay with the C-17, great view of the cockpit while landing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxkNpXTD6kE

This second video is helmet cam from one of the jumpers. It's a bit long, but it you pick it up from 5 minutes out you get to see the door check form the Jumpmaster and the exit. Note that one of the Loadmasters is a woman, not all that uncommon now. Also, bit of explanation on the time warnings. It's not unusual for the load to pass the time warning to the Jumpmaster, however it's up to him to determine the actual time ("1 Minute"). Each JM on each side of the aircraft will provide the time warning. They are using landmarks on the ground. Looks to me like the helmet cam came loose on exit, because at one or two points it's upside down.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_GNFvOWbM8

Oh, guys with air force parachutes are static safeties...they will not jump. They assist the JM and help haul in the deployment bags, as well as assure they are all accounted for (yes, you sign for all the equipment, including your parachute). Also, they guy in front of our jumper is an Aussie.

[Jagdflieger]

Airborne!

Thanks for that Teasea. Those videos bring back a few memories... several hundred in fact!

The C-17 is a pretty easy jump compared to some of the earlier aircraft and in-flight rigging is a bit easier given the greater space available in it.

After four decades on jump status and age mandated retirement, I don't get to jump anymore, but my son is still livin' the dream as a US Army Ranger.

Here's one of my favorite jump videos. Just another day in the office for a Para, Ranger or Special Forces trooper.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bC8HDPEg_ho" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

[Skyhawk_310R]

Airborne!

Thanks for that Teasea. Those videos bring back a few memories... several hundred in fact!

The C-17 is a pretty easy jump compared to some of the earlier aircraft and in-flight rigging is a bit easier given the greater space available in it.

After four decades on jump status and age mandated retirement, I don't get to jump anymore, but my son is still livin' the dream as a US Army Ranger.

Here's one of my favorite jump videos. Just another day in the office for a Para, Ranger or Special Forces trooper.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bC8HDPEg_ho" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

Interesting you say that because I thought you guys preferred the C-130 due to the lower airspeed for personnel drops -- less opening shock. C-130's drop personnel at 130 KIAS (sometimes 125 KIAS) while I recalled the C-17's dropped at 140 KIAS.

Ken

[Flyboy208]

Really cool fellas ... my Dad is a former US Army 82nd Airborne Captain, Medical Corps Doctor, 1st BTN, 325th INF. He tells some amazing stories from the 1960's jumping from C-123's, C-119's, Caribous, Herks and C-141's .... Mike :salute:

[TeaSea]

Interesting you say that because I thought you guys preferred the C-130 due to the lower airspeed for personnel drops -- less opening shock. C-130's drop personnel at 130 KIAS (sometimes 125 KIAS) while I recalled the C-17's dropped at 140 KIAS.

Ken

Ken,

I've only done safety on a C-17 and never had an opportunity to jump one, but I will tell you this....a C-130 is fantastic (just the silhouette sends shivers up my spine), but with over 40 combat equipped jumpers it is very, very, very tight. As you know, you can potentially put up to 64 troopers on board, but I honestly never understood how. It's also a pretty rough ride at times, particularly when NOE. Every in-flight rig I ever participated in ended up with me being vomited on at least once by one of the jumpers I was doing JMPI on. You get tossed around that much.

So I guess what I'm saying is that there's more to it that the exit...and frankly I never noticed much difference in aircraft speeds. I did notice a difference in opening shock between parachutes though....(T-10B versus T-10C versus MC1-1B/C). I'd be interested in what Jagdflieger thinks....

What I don't like about the C-17 is the spacing between aircraft across the drop zone. I'm used to the whole freaking task force coming across the DZ en-masse... with only 5 seconds or so between aircraft....just the noise sends an unambiguous message.

Flyboy208, I was in the 3rd Battalion, 325th (ABN) Infantry, 82nd ABN from 1983 to 1985. In fact for several years my Regimental affiliation was with the 325th INF, before the Signal Regiment was stood up and sucked us all back in....(initally we were allowed to select a Regiment, just prior to the support branches deciding to get in on the act).

[Skyhawk_310R]

Ken,

I've only done safety on a C-17 and never had an opportunity to jump one, but I will tell you this....a C-130 is fantastic (just the silhouette sends shivers up my spine), but with over 40 combat equipped jumpers it is very, very, very tight. As you know, you can potentially put up to 64 troopers on board, but I honestly never understood how. It's also a pretty rough ride at times, particularly when NOE. Every in-flight rig I ever participated in ended up with me being vomited on at least once by one of the jumpers I was doing JMPI on. You get tossed around that much.

So I guess what I'm saying is that there's more to it that the exit...and frankly I never noticed much difference in aircraft speeds. I did notice a difference in opening shock between parachutes though....(T-10B versus T-10C versus MC1-1B/C). I'd be interested in what Jagdflieger thinks....

What I don't like about the C-17 is the spacing between aircraft across the drop zone. I'm used to the whole freaking task force coming across the DZ en-masse... with only 5 seconds or so between aircraft....just the noise sends an unambiguous message.

Flyboy208, I was in the 3rd Battalion, 325th (ABN) Infantry, 82nd ABN from 1983 to 1985. In fact for several years my Regimental affiliation was with the 325th INF, before the Signal Regiment was stood up and sucked us all back in....(initally we were allowed to select a Regiment, just prior to the support branches deciding to get in on the act).

LOL!!

Many a day flying out Fort Benning to support the Airborne school there, we loaded up to the max numbers and it was sardine city back there! The loadmaster (and even I) had no choice but to literally walk on the legs of the jumpers as they were seated and strapped in! Sometimes, to give them a break, I would walk on the top of the center stanchion but eventually, I would have to climb down and then had no choice but to climb up and down on the legs of the jumpers below me! It stunk, but there's was no other way to get through the cargo area.

Ken

[Jagdflieger]

Oh yeah. I've had a few loadmasters walk on my legs and ruck sack!

As far as opening shock for static line (S/L) chutes go, I guess the least offensive was the original T-10 and the original MC-1 before they went to the low porosity fabric of the T-10C and the MC-1C chute. The SET10 chute (predecessor to the MC-1C chute) was probably the worst of the bunch as it was designed for high altitude drop and thus had a very low porosity in order to reduce descent velocity. I made a few jumps on DZs as high as 7,000' ASL with it and it performed as advertised. The current special ops S/L chute is the SF10A and it is also designed for high altitude DZs and heavy equipment loads. It is more responsive in steering than the MC-1 series of canopies and you can actually back up with it if necessary to hit your DZ. As I recall from getting checked out on it, it's vertical descent is supposed to be reduced from the MC-1C, but I never noticed much difference in that or the opening shock. SF10 was a development from the US Forest Service's FS10 canopy that the smoke jumpers use. My brother is retired from the USFS and was a smoke jumper for a few years until a jump accident grounded him. Needles to say, I won the total number of jumps that we had fun competing for. Still, he's on the honor roll wall at the Smoke Jumper HQ in Missoula, Montana.

My son tells me that the new T-11 parachute has a very slow opening and that they add an extra second to their count when leaving the A/C until full chute deployment. He says that even with weapon, kit and armor, the opening shock is much less than the T-10C that he started with.

Whenever I went to the jumpmaster/aircrew briefings prior to loading the A/C, the jump speed for any of the high performance aircraft was usually quoted at 130 to 135 knots. In the C-5A, I was told that by the aircrew that the A/C had to start above the planned drop altitude and descend across the DZ as it unloaded so as not to stall. I don't know how true that was, but you could really hear the pilot spool up those turbofans when the last jumper (usually me as the jumpmaster) left the plane. I think that the easiest high performance plane to jump from was the old C-141 Starlifter, although the C-17 isn't far behind it. I had more blown panels and snapped suspension lines when jumping from the Hercules than the other aircraft going back to the C-123 Provider and the C-7 Caribou.

A little desert action that a chase plane crewman took of my stick.

[TeaSea]

Ken,

Don't sweat the stomping on us part....we expected it (we get back by leaving our barf bags on board). I even had a load step on my helmet once when he lost his footing.

I agree with Jagdflieger ref the best high performance jump. C-141 wins for me...lots of room and easy exit, usually a pretty good ride. Funnest fixed wing was the 'Boo for me (St. Mere-Eglise DZ at Bragg, and I went into the trees on the leading edge). Loudest ride was the C-123. Sherpa is the weirdest jump...CASA 212 was about like the 'Boo, although a little wider.

Mostly I jumped C-130's though....

Beautiful picture Jagdflieger!

[Jagdflieger]

A little humor for what is really a pretty serious career path. Just this last week at Fort Bragg, a full colonel was killed in a parachute accident. RIP Airborne.

[TeaSea]

Yeah, we had some details on that.....not all of them pretty....

It will be some time before the investigation is complete, so I'll reserve comment. We lost an O-6 here at MacDill a couple years back. Went into the water and drowned.

Here's my motivation contribution....

93693

[Skyhawk_310R]

It's full of risk under the most ideal circumstances. My dad was in the 82nd, so I tended to be very careful with jumpers. I'm happy, and relieved, to say I never put a jumper off the DZ with but one exception I could not control. At Benning, one jumper in the middle of the stick floated off into the nearby marsh of the river area, way off the DZ. We actually had to follow her drift in the C-130 because she floated so far away the DZ staff lost sight of her!

We followed her down into the marshy woods. Fortunately, she did not land in the river. But, still the woods were so dense, we lost sight of her after she went between the trees. We were pretty worried about her. Then, while we were still orbiting overhead the place we last saw her, the DZ radio'd and said she walked up to the DZ with her chute folded up in her arms and was ready to do it again!

She was the case of being unable to carry enough equipment to equal the weight of the average jumper, so the winds combined with the thermal from the bare ground of the DZ, to just carry her for a ride! She was a toughie! I'm sure she earned her jump wings, but that could have ended very badly!

Ken

[Jagdflieger]

I remember that incident at McDill a few years ago. I was stationed at SOCSOUTH at Homestead Air Force Base at the time, just down the state from you. We got a briefing on it and it seemed to be jumper error from what I recall.

I also recall an incident similar to the one described by Ken above. While stationed at Fort Hood, Texas in the early 70s, I was a member of the post sky diving club. One hot afternoon, a WAC (yes they still had 'em then) came up from Fort Sam Huston to jump with us. She was just a waif and couldn't have weighed more than 80 pounds soaking wet. At any rate, she also got caught in an updraft and stayed hanging in the harness at about 1,000' AGL for some minutes before steering her T-7 (Modified) out of the thermal and landing fairly close to the DZ's pea gravel.

[TeaSea]

The jumper at MacDill exited late. He ended up over some built up area of the base (the BX). Meditatively off the base is a pond and he apparently deliberately steered towards it (which I would have done also). He did not activate his LPU's (they are required here for every jump) for some reason and went into the pond without them inflated. There were actually two gentlemen fishing at the time in a small boat, and when they saw him they reeled in and started to row over. He actually apparently laughed and hollered at them as though nothing was wrong, but while they were moving towards him he went under and never came up. A cramp perhaps? No one knows.

Ken, I've gone into the trees plenty of times....it's a part of the deal. Actually, some of my softest landings have been after drifting through the trees.