I'm sorry to reply to a thread that's almost as old as BEagle, but static line jumping from rotary beasts was practiced in the UK military.
I did three jumps from a Chinook in October 1986 onto Everleigh DZ, all before breakfast. I think we started at about 0500. We fitted parachutes, waited for the Wokka to land, emplaned, jumped, walked back to the chute truck with our used one in the bag, drew another and repeated. Three was enough for an annual jump qualification.
We'd got to the DZ on foot, as it incorporated our annual CFT in to the bargain.
And so ended my last day in uniform after five years in green and two in Dark Blue. On a DZ as the sun rose, eating an oatmeal block and holding a mug of tea, after not one but three jumps. I'd had a lot of fun, and got paid. Ridiculous value for money
