1,000 - 1,200 Standard Military Exit Altitude?

I just read this article in the Incidents section that seems to say the 1,000 - 1,200 ft is a standard exit altitude for some military jumps. Is this correct? I will assume these are static line jumps. I suppose they are also packed like reserves and are mad out of F111 or a similar Reserve Type material. Even so what would the hard deck be in this scenario?

RIP Col. Darron Wright

/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4658713;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

Is this the incident where the officer jumped a square canopy yet exited at round canopy static line altitude???

normiss

Is this the incident where the officer jumped a square canopy yet exited at round canopy static line altitude???

I thought it was some more advanced round canopy.

The newest AT-11 canopy is a cross-type canopy that behaves like a round canopy. Looking straight down, it is sort of rectangular, but all the lines are the same length and it has drive slots on all 4 sides so it goes straight down.

The article says it was an MC-6 which looks to be a "round" and not a T-11(square round)

Hard deck is 5 seconds after exit. If you don't see a fully-inflated main overhead, pull the ripcord (on your chest-mounted) reserve IMMEDIATELY!

normiss

Is this the incident where the officer jumped a square canopy yet exited at round canopy static line altitude???

Sorry I thought I posted the link to the article. I added it now.

/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4658713;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

It says he jumped an "MC-6 steerable parachute instead of the standard variety used by most conventional soldiers at Fort Bragg". I don't know if it is a steerable round or a ram air type.
THe article did say he jumped at 1,000 ft instead of 1,200 ft.

shibu

I just read this article in the Incidents section that seems to say the 1,000 - 1,200 ft is a standard exit altitude for some military jumps. Is this correct? I will assume these are static line jumps. I suppose they are also packed like reserves and are mad out of F111 or a similar Reserve Type material. Even so what would the hard deck be in this scenario?

RIP Col. Darron Wright

/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4658713;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

I have well over 200 jumps in the military. Helicopters accounted for half (which makes it funny that I cant now jump from a helicopter without a B or C license), night, water and handful of intentional tree (in big green gumby suits) landings. One into combat in Panama in 1989.

Standard drop altitude depending on the airframe, DZ size and number of jumpers varied between 800 and 1250' during my career. My one combat jump was from 500' and didnt include a reserve.

As RiggerRob said "hard deck" is 5-6 secs after you jump. By that time you should be looking up at a fully inflated canopy, or pulling the deployment handle on your chest mounted reserve.

MC-6 is a steerable round that gives more control and forward drive than a standard T-10.

They (at least for us) required special training in their use and fly a bit differently from the T-10 because you can control it more.

Generally they're reserved for Special Operations because of the fact that you don't want to drop the 82nd Airborne into combat and allow everyone to control where they go, it's much safer to let the wind take everyone along a similar path that is just barely modifiable with a couple fists full of riser.

Thanks for that.

Interesting fact: The acceptable margin of error on a C-130 altimeter is 125ft.

Training jumps are usually conducted at 800-1200ft. At 800ft the jumper (assuming a good 4-Thousand count) has approximately 1.6 seconds to identify he has a malfunction and activate the MERPS reserve to achieve full inflation before hitting the ground.

Training jump altitudes tend to favor towards the 1200ft, especially if jumping special items of equipment; in particular, stinger missile jump packs (SMJP) or the Womack jump pack (Womack is the Army Medical Center injured jumpers are transported to at Ft. Bragg). The stinger missile jump pack is notorious for causing injuries.

Training jumps that are 'hollywood' (main and reserve only...no equipment) are usually planned for the 800ft mark.

The planning altitude for a combat jump is 600ft (don't forget that margin of error).

As mentioned earlier, most of your line troops are jumping T-10Ds or T-11s. MC-1, MC-4, MC-6, SF-10 are for specialized units (Civial Affairs, Special Forces, Pathfinders, LRRS, etc.) When you put 1100 paratroopers in the air in under 8 minutes you want them all drifting with the wind in the same direction. It makes it easier to assemble on the drop zone and mitigates mid-air collisions. Running across the top of your buddy's round is a piss yourself experience. The MC-6 is a steerable round but you are not going to compete in any accuracy competitions with it. Again, it is designed for small units to exit the aircraft and steer generally in the same area. Turn into the wind and hopefully have a softer landing. Also, I've never heard of the MC-6 being used specifically by general officers as the article states.

Also a complete failure of the jumpmaster team not to conduct sustained airborne training or scratch them from the manifest. Regardless of rank, the jumpmaster team members are deities until the Safety conducts his final clear to the rear.

Doug, which unit did you jump with in Panama?

I will shoot you a PM.

Jumping at 500-800ft did I just read that?

 

I’m cool with HALO jumps but who did the first LALO JUMP ?that person is crazier than me!! pass  Never trust who packs your chute I saw to many cartoons as a kid I’m paranoid I’ll rip the cord and camping gear will fly out lol but I’m a jack ass.

and where was wing suiting 40 years ago?? That looks dope

db out

 

i hope they pushed a cake eater out first hahahaha

 

ps what a pain is the ass signing up just to say one thing !

it use to be called tandem? Or lame 

how many jumps ? classified

how long ?too long

favorite cereal fruit Loops

Edited October 8 by Ginked
No reason

I hope I didn’t offend anyone ghee

 

say hello to my little friend 

3 hours ago, Ginked said:

Jumping at 500-800ft did I just read that?

 

I’m cool with HALO jumps but who did the first LALO JUMP ?that person is crazier than me!! pass  Never trust who packs your chute I saw to many cartoons as a kid I’m paranoid I’ll rip the cord and camping gear will fly out lol but I’m a jack ass.

and where was wing suiting 40 years ago?? That looks dope

db out

 

i hope they pushed a cake eater out first hahahaha

 

ps what a pain is the ass signing up just to say one thing !

it use to be called tandem? Or lame 

how many jumps ? classified

how long ?too long

favorite cereal fruit Loops

Hi Ginked

Re:  I’m cool with HALO jumps but who did the first LALO JUMP ?

In 1965, at a demo/competition near Las Vegas, three members of the US Army teamed opened their ParaCommanders at 300 ft, at terminal.

How about them apples?

Jerry Baumchen

On 10/8/2024 at 2:01 PM, Ginked said:

Jumping at 500-800ft did I just read that?

 

I’m cool with HALO jumps but who did the first LALO JUMP ?that person is crazier than me!! pass  Never trust who packs your chute I saw to many cartoons as a kid I’m paranoid I’ll rip the cord and camping gear will fly out lol but I’m a jack ass.

and where was wing suiting 40 years ago?? That looks dope

db out

 

i hope they pushed a cake eater out first hahahaha

 

ps what a pain is the ass signing up just to say one thing !

it use to be called tandem? Or lame 

how many jumps ? classified

how long ?too long

favorite cereal fruit Loops

To give you some historical perspective ... during World War 2, most combat jumps were done from less than 1,000 feet to limit the time of exposure to anti-aircraft fire. During the invasions of Holland and Crete the Germans lost so many cargo airplanes that they never recovered. They suffered shortages of cargo airplanes for the rest of the war.

Since neither the Italians nor the Germans nor the British paratroopers used reserves, so altitude was less important.

The latest generation of military static-line mains are designed to open reliably within 300 feet of exit, which allows planes to fly lower and exposes them to AAA fire for fewer seconds.