Sky diving factoid

Did you know that no one in the history of sky diving has complained about a shoot that won't open?

Chute. :-)

(Old paratrooper here...)

...well... they probably say, "shoot," and few other choice words when the chute won't open...

Part of a song we sang while running at jump school...

If my chute don't open wide,
I've got another one by my side,
If that one should fail me too,
Look out ground I'm coming through!

(funny, to me, that the song says 'by my side' for the reserve parachute, but it was actually in front, not on the side)

We used to say that if the parachute doesn’t open you have the rest of your life to figure out how to use the reserve. Should be about 10 seconds.

The thing I could never figure out is why you guys wanted to leave a perfectly good aircraft.

Therein lies a popular misconception, that these were perfectly good aircraft. The only time I ever landed in a military aircraft it had engine trouble. For all I know the rest just flew into the wild blue yonder never to be seen again.

I have to admit, I worked for a colonel who once lost 4 engines en route to England. Of course, the B-36 he was piloting had 10, so as he said, it was no big deal.

As an ROTC cadet, I got to take an orientation flight in a T-33 jet trainer. I still remember what the pilot told me: "Remember one thing: if I say 'bail out' and you say 'what?' you'll be talking to an empty cockpit.

I have more than 20,000 hours over a 30 year period flying in light aircraft and never thought of jumping out. The time the airplane caught fire at 17,500’ over the Sierra Madre was a bit intense but a good dive put it out. Another time the engine disassembled itself over Phoenix but we barely made it to Sky Harbot and even then it was better than jumping.

A pilot once told me that his brother’s chute didn’t open during a jump and he survived. I never did confirm that but it made a pretty good story.

"survived"

You must not have flown with Air Force pilots before.... :-)

I had one fold in half in high winds. I bounced off the ground.

Glad you made it! Yikes