Parachute Identity

[megan]

Could anyone please identity of the squarish type chute being jumped by these folk, manufacturer/model, I see the USA uses them as well? What advantage do they have over the old round type?


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/638x960/243710_b317a53e5a948bddb5b1abd8226ba7c3d56fffda.jpg

[Stitchbitch]

Squipper porn. It's a non-steerable T11 parachute normally jumped with a reserve based on the UK LLP aeroconical. The boxy design allows for a slower decent rate (19 feet a second) for the 95th %tile compared to the old T10 (24 feet a second). Slower decent - less landing injuries.

https://airborne-sys.com/product/t-11-static-line-troop-parachute/

[Less Hair]

Pretty standard US Army use these days.

[Fortissimo]

Also, like non-fitted sheets, they are much easier to pack neatly...

[megan]

Thanks folk. :ok:

[VX275]

The two round canopies in the photo are the UKs LLP (Low Level Parachute) which is based on a design called the Russell Lobe. Incidentally this was a parachute design rejected for UK military use at least twice before Irvin GB made it work. The first time it was rejected was in 1919 and again in 1942. It just goes to prove that some good ideas have to wait for materials technology to catch up.

[ancientaviator62]

VX275, what height do they jump using the LLP ? I assume if it is that low then the reserve would be dispensed with.

[Flugplatz]

What's that on the risers? presumably to assist with opening smoothly before sliding down?

[SASless]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2puqqmycM

[ancientaviator62]

SASless,
how long would the DZ have to be to drop all those in one pass !

[SASless]

Probably about a tenth of the width the 82nd and 101st were scattered across Normandy!

If you have Google Earth or just Google maps.....look up Fort Bragg, North Carolina and look for the drop zones....named for famous parachute assaults.

That will give you some reference for what is available there and the lengths of the DZ's.

The C-17 is designed to drop 102 Paratroopers and 8 Equipment Bundles....so that would be 51 per door.

Drop speed is about 130 Knots I suppose.....so watching that video and counting Chutes and marking the time....should provide a way of guessing the distance for a single pass drop.

Combat drops are lower than training jumps....normal is 1200 feet AGL.



Fort Bragg Drop Zones

There are other DZ's used off of the Fort Bragg location....that SF and other Spec Ops units use for training Ops.There are a pretty good number of them, large and small, everything from Sicily (2.5 miles long and a half mile wide) to St Mere Eglise (a 6 second DZ . . . . . in a Casa)

Here's an alphabetic list:

Gela Drop Zone

Holland Drop Zone

Nijmegen Drop Zone

Normandy Drop Zone

Oran Drop Zone

Rhine Luzon Drop Zone

Saint Mere Eglise Drop Zone

Salerno Drop Zone

Sicily Drop Zone

[VX275]

VX275, what height do they jump using the LLP ? I assume if it is that low then the reserve would be dispensed with.
The specification required a minimum (Operational) drop height of 250 ft which is why once the LLP looked like it was a goer there was a rapid program to compete and develop a Low Level Reserve Parachute (LLRP).
Before the LLRP came along there was a demonstration of the LLP at operational height and all up weights (into a lake for safety!) during which some of the jumpers chose not to carry a reserve. The time from leaving the aircraft to water impact was in the region of 9 seconds.

[ancientaviator62]

SASLess,
thanks for the info. I have been to Pope AFB and dropped at Fort Bragg during my C130K days both equipment and para. As you say all those DZs are quite large and can accommodate the larger sticks of the C17. Do the troops have the same 'crossover' problem that the C130 has when dropping sim sticks.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/999x669/hercules_vr_msp_crushes_car_9358cd60cb141f5e2589288a43f634cd 95418411.jpg
Pic shows one of our platforms after a drop on a 'Volante Rodeo' competition. The platform is exactly where it should be the vehicle was not !

[SASless]

I have no basis to speak of the crossover issue....but looking at the size of the 17 vs the 130....and videos of 17 Jumps there seems to be no coordination on exit timing between the two sides.

I used to fly Medevac Standby for mass drops at Fort Bragg.....and saw some pretty funny things happen...especially on the equipment drops.

On public displays....the 82nd got smart....they staged operable equipment behind a small rise....dropped junk vehicles by parachute so they would land behind a second rise.....and after a decent interval would then drive the good vehicles out for display.

Why they would ever drop a serviceable vehicle just for practice escapes me....as the results could drive a Motor Pool Officer to distraction.

One bright starlit Full Moon night.....we got to pickup several Troopers who had somehow mistaken the glitter of the granite gravel in the macadam roadway for a stream....and rather than wait for their feet to hit the "water" they cut loose about Telegraph Wire height.....and were awarded broken ankles and legs for that failure to do right.

Dropping our SF friends while supporting their monthly training Ops...couild be good sport too.....like dropping a late comer at night so he could "join up" with is Patrol on the ground......from Twenty Miles away from where he thought he was getting out.

He did fetch up at the Rally Point at the appointed time after a very long walk in the woods.....surely thinking of how he was going to murder the Pilots who dropped him.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKTVY57oXe0

[ancientaviator62]

SASless,
thanks for the video. Spent most of my 30 years on the RAF C130K doing airdrop and have seen my fair share of 'MALDROPS' as we called them. Especially when I was with the trials unit. As for staggering the paras when jumping from both doors we tried every trick that we could think up. But once that 'train' got up to speed they were going whatever we tried !