662 Sqn (again) on a long FTX close to Braunschweig in the mid-eighties, OC and QHI (Tony P) go off for a Div brief or some such exciting thing on a Saturday morning. Just so happens that the 662 ex-Para Lynx pilot with the Polish name beginning with K, who also happens to be in the AAC free-fall team, and two other team members also in 662 have all brought their 'chutes with them. What else is one to do on a non-flying Saturday in the middle of an exercise? Someone persuaded the Sqn 2 i/c and the RN Exchange Pilot -
(more of him at thread #30 here;
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...=286328&page=2 )
-to take the 3 of them up to 10,000' and throw them out. All looked impressive for everyone on the ground, and who would ever know? Well apparently one of the distinguishing features of free-fall parachuting within an Air Defence Interception Zone (ADIZ), is that people notice this kind of thing. Not sure exactly how word got out, but a thunder faced OC and QHI reappeared to find that coffee without hats was on the agenda up at the Brigade Commander's digs. Not sure what the 3 erstwhile jumpers got (damned SNCO's and their pranks) but the 2 Officers got to make some significant contributions to the Charitable causes fund.
As they were leaving that location, the 2 i/c lifted into the hover in a Lynx, having cunningly placed the MoD Form 700 on the stbd TOW boom for safe keeping. The localised snow shower in June was his first clue that there may have been a better place to keep the 700, but amazingly enough only 1 page was lost forever. Kept the REME's busy reassembling the book, otherwise they would only have been watching porn and playing uckers all night.
To add insult to injury, when they finally left that location and moved closer to Hannover, the RMP arrived at the CP soon after, having been contacted by the German Civil Police who were curious as to when they were coming back to pick up the TOW tubes that the local kids were playing with, having found them in the trees on the glider strip they had left.
There's nothing like a professional aviator...