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Old 14th May 2021, 00:05
  #10 (permalink)  
roscoe1
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: US
Posts: 175
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Jumping from a helicopter in n a hover is a totally different feeling than having 50 to 70 knots or more of forward speed from an airplane. There is not enough relative wind to control your body until vertical speed picks up after 4 or 5 seconds. You want to be belly to earth if you are ripcord deploying your parachute with a spring loaded pilot chute and this is even more important if you are hand deploying a soft pilot chute as in a sport parachute rig. Uless you have some stability in the relative wind it can be dicey deploying a parachute. Perhaps that is why the short delay you see. 2000 feet is plenty for static line jumps which may be safely done even below 1000 feet if there is enough forward speed. 2000 feet is also plenty for a base rig. Never heard of "base" jumping from a helicopter but it wouldn't be too much different from a real base jump except for the noise. Typically those folks do not have reserve canopies as part of a base rig.

If you see a slider on the suspension lines, a rectangular or x shaped piece of cloth with 4 corner grommets that is packed at the top of the suspension lines and slides down during deployment to slow the opening, then they are not base rigs, although you can pack with the slider down and it basically does nothing and gives a quicker opening. The slider can be seen just above the jumpers head after deployment if there is one. BSBD.

Last edited by roscoe1; 14th May 2021 at 00:15.
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