The Unmuddled Mathematician

Some Things You Don’t Forget

By Chris Coray, The Unmuddled Mathematician  

Get Ready!

It’s been 50 years since those words were yelled at me and 63 other guys in the belly of a C-130 flying at full power with the airplane side doors open.  I’m not sure that’s exactly what the jumpmaster yelled because of the engine roar but the 9 jump commands had been pounded into me so hard for two weeks that I knew what they were without thinking (which was the Army’s idea).

Outboard Personnel Stand Up!

Command number 2.  Those on the outside of the plane lurched to their feet and that is not easy to do with all the parachute gear.  For two weeks the instructors had been hounding us, training us, and nearly trying to kill us with physical effort but we were in really good shape.  In fact, we had one of our guys in the class who was a marathon runner and we challenged the instructors to pick their best guy and have a race to exhaustion.  Our guy ran circles around their guy until he knew he was doomed and made a graceful exit.

Inboard Personnel Stand Up!

Now the inboard 32 jumpers struggled to their feet and faced the rear of the plane.  Everybody was now on his feet at this stage, loaded with 2 parachutes, rifle, equipment bag, straps and gear fastened as tightly as we could get it.

Hook Up!

Each of us connected the nylon line (static line) running from our main parachute to a long cable in the aircraft.  When we exited the plane the line would automatically pull the ripcord on the chute.  No freefall here, we were carrying way too much gear.

Check Static Line!

There was always a chance that the nylon connecting cord would be tangled around a body part or airplane piece which could result in a disaster so we made a loop with our thumb and first finger around the cord and moved our loop over the whole length of the static line from chute to cable making sure it was clear.

Check Equipment!

Now was the time to check your rifle, making sure it was strapped in its case to your leg, your equipment bag hung below your emergency spare parachute, your helmet, all the quick release handles on the chute strap, and to realize it’s all about to  happen.

Sound Off for Equipment Check!

Starting at the front of the plane and working backwards towards the open doors, each jumper whacked the fanny of the guy in front of him (we are all facing the rear of the plane), yelled his number and a loud OK!  The last guy, when he received his whack, pointed his finger at the jumpmaster.  You can scarcely believe how loud it was in that plane.  Four turbo prop engines are a different object when at high power they are only 25 feet away with no door.

Stand in the Door!

The first man in the string turned to his left (or right) moved his feet to a small spot that actually sticks out of the fuselage, and faced outward.  He also watched a light above the door, currently glowing red.  Then came the last command, immediately following the change of the light from red to green:

Go!

In as fast a shuffle as can be maintained the entire outside string runs out of the airplane into space, followed by the inside string.  It is a strange sensation.  Howling wind (about 150 miles per hour, screaming engines, nothing below you but space, and you are a falling object.  Then, in an amazingly gentle way something lifts you by your harness gently up into the sky.  You don’t actually go up, it just feels like it.  Then it gets quiet as the plane disappears in the distance and you are surrounded by your fellow jumpers gently falling to the earth.  It doesn’t look like the earth from that height, though, it looks like a painting.  For a minute or so it’s actually quite wonderful.  The last quarter inch can be a little jarring but it’s much easier than the training.

I expect no one who has done this will ever forget those 9 commands, even though when it mattered the engine noise likely actually made them impossible to hear.  But we all knew what they were, having practiced hundreds and hundreds of times in simulators.  For me, although many details have faded from my memory, my DNA still contains the strange procedures for exiting a military aircraft (I’ve never figured out why anyone would want to leave a perfectly functioning aircraft).  However, everybody should try it (after they have walked on the Bear Lake ice).  President George H.W. Bush did this at age 90, albeit in a tandem jump with one of the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team as his partner.  I hope he makes at age 100.