I got to jump out of a Blackhawk for the first time today! (PICS)

[Texacon]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002452403#post22

Calling Docstew and the other paratroopers here.  I have a question.  I don't question people's claims of military service unless I know something for positive sure.  Most of this post I can agree with but there is a statement here that is bothering the hell out of me.  It's in bold below.

USArmyParatrooper (1,802 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore


 I got to jump out of a Blackhawk for the first time today! (PICS)
Last edited Wed Mar 21, 2012, 04:32 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

(Cross Posted from a comic book nerd website I frequent)

Hello all,

So finally today I got to jump out of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for the first time, and find out why those who've gotten to jump them rave so much about them.

Most of our jumps are from C-130's and C-17's (fixed wing), and to be honest there's not a lot of fun factor there. You go through about 6-8 hours of pre-jump headaches, when you're jumping full combat load wearing your chute and all your gear is literally painful, it's cramped and you're stepping all over each other trying to prepare to exit the aircraft. All of this for about 30 seconds (guessing here) of free fall and a very hard landing.

Jumping the Blackhawks about 75% of the BS goes away. We lined up with 22 different chocks, and three birds making very rapid back and forth runs. Without going into the boring details, you essentially mount the bird, sit on the edge with your feet hanging off and when the jumpmaster says "Go!" just push off and away you go. The jump elevation was (I heard 1000 and someone else said 1250) above ground level. Normal fixed wing training exercises are from 800 feet. Lots and lots of time to enjoy the view.

Some guys have been known to take photos while they're in mid air. I can neither confirm nor deny whether I've ever done it, but if the wrong person catches you you can get in a lot of trouble. It's a safety violation.

 

Any idea what the hell this guys talking about??  30 seconds of free fall?  Hell you count to 4 not 30!  And as I remember the ride down is longer than 30 seconds too.  What gives?

There are some pics at the link.  From what I can see none of those on the ground have their chutes or the bags we had to carry to put the chutes in (I'm having a brain cramp here and can't remember what the damn bag was called but we put the mains in the back then snapped the reserve to it and slung it over our head).

I also don't remember stepping all over each other in the 130's and 141's trying to get out.  We stood up and the outboard and inboard jumpers simply intermingled.

I've been out for almost 30 years so maybe things have changed ....

KC

[Traveshamockery]

Methinks someone found their long-hidden stash of LSD.

 

[Skul]

Lots and lots of time to enjoy the view???
From that altitude it takes somewhere around ten seconds to hit the ground.
If that noob wants time, he should go HALO.

[Texacon]

Lots and lots of time to enjoy the view???
From that altitude it takes somewhere around ten seconds to hit the ground.
If that noob wants time, he should go HALO.

My jumps in Airborne school were from 1,250 feet and we had quite a nice ride down.  I don't know how long it was but certainly longer than 30 seconds.  Jumps when I was with the 82nd were from 800 feet and while that is considerably lower we still took longer than 30 seconds to hit the ground.

I can't figure out his 30 second free fall statement.

Hell, maybe my memory is just faulty.

KC

[GOBUCKS]

My jumps in Airborne school were from 1,250 feet and we had quite a nice ride down.  I don't know how long it was but certainly longer than 30 seconds.  Jumps when I was with the 82nd were from 800 feet and while that is considerably lower we still took longer than 30 seconds to hit the ground.

I can't figure out his 30 second free fall statement.

Hell, maybe my memory is just faulty.

You can reach the ground in much less than thirty seconds if a DUmpmonkey packs your chute.

This guy is another phony soldier, in the tradition of TomInTib, numbersBoo, and DUmotex.

[Texacon]

You can reach the ground in much less than thirty seconds if a DUmpmonkey packs your chute.

This guy is another phony soldier, in the tradition of TomInTib, numbersBoo, and DUmotex.

Like I said, I don't like to call anyone's military service into question unless I'm 100% positive.  It just looks to me like he's one of the guys standing around watching a Hollywood jump but I could be wrong.

KC

[Rebel]

Depends on the temperature, doesn't it? I saw, I think it was at Lewis so it must have been Rangers, they jump, most came down gradually, but this one seemed to stay up there forever. It was a helicopter jump.

[TVDOC]

My jumps in Airborne school were from 1,250 feet and we had quite a nice ride down.  I don't know how long it was but certainly longer than 30 seconds.  Jumps when I was with the 82nd were from 800 feet and while that is considerably lower we still took longer than 30 seconds to hit the ground.

I can't figure out his 30 second free fall statement.

Hell, maybe my memory is just faulty.

KC

Well.....strictly from a physics point of view, a 30 second free-fall from 1000 feet, wil land you in a skin sack of broken bones with an unopened parachute on your back.......just say'n.....

doc

[BadCat]

Like I said, I don't like to call anyone's military service into question unless I'm 100% positive.  It just looks to me like he's one of the guys standing around watching a Hollywood jump but I could be wrong.

KC

I'm trying to figure out where the jump zone is...doesn't look like Bragg.

[Texacon]

I'm trying to figure out where the jump zone is...doesn't look like Bragg.

I didn't think so either unless it was St. Mere Eglise.  All the ones we dropped on were flat and sandy.

KC

[Texacon]

Scratch that.  It looks too big for St. Mere.  Best I remember anyway.

KC

[GOP Congress]

I call bs....

I was 82nd Airborne back in the 70's and 80's. There was NO FREEFALLING EVER in paratroop operations. As far as I know, only true special ops (Rangers, Special Forces, MAYBE rescue units) has free-fall capability.

(I was in SF for awhile as well, but never HALO'd, which stands for "High Altitude Low Opening" jumps which require freefalling)

As to the 30 second free fall distance...

Essentially, the following equation calculates the distance travelled from a 30 second free fall from a fixed point in the sky:

d = (1/2) x gt², where d = distance, t = 30, and g = 9.8 m/s² (near the surface of the earth).

So, campers the equation comes out to this:

d = (1/2) x (9.8 x 30²

which comes out to, oh, say... piddle paddle...

4410 meters...

Yes, that is over 2 and a half MILES... over 13 thousand FEET folks!!

I Would call bullshit...

HOWEVER, in his defense, I BELIEVE he meant that the entire DROP time was 30 seconds. The normal drop time of a normal 200 pound in a T-120 parachute is about 32 feet (10m) per second, so if he jumps from about 1000 feet up, then he's pretty close.

(And I ONLY come to his defense because he claims he's 82nd; he's got a lot of the terminology right that doesn't come from popular media).

[Texacon]

Depends on the temperature, doesn't it? I saw, I think it was at Lewis so it must have been Rangers, they jump, most came down gradually, but this one seemed to stay up there forever. It was a helicopter jump.

I don't remember temperature ever affecting our descent time ... WIND on the other hand ... wow.

KC

[Skul]

My jumps in Airborne school were from 1,250 feet and we had quite a nice ride down.  I don't know how long it was but certainly longer than 30 seconds.  Jumps when I was with the 82nd were from 800 feet and while that is considerably lower we still took longer than 30 seconds to hit the ground.

I can't figure out his 30 second free fall statement.
Hell, maybe my memory is just faulty.

KC

That's the big one.
I suspect the lad is trying to impress the DUmp girls.
Kid should be a bit more careful when there's a bunch of you old farts that know better.

[Texacon]

I call bs....

I was 82nd Airborne back in the 70's and 80's. There was NO FREEFALLING EVER in paratroop operations. As far as I know, only true special ops (Rangers, Special Forces, MAYBE rescue units) has free-fall capability.

No, we always used static lines at the 82nd but I thought I would give him the benefit of the doubt and say ... Ok, I could call the 4 second count as a 'free fall'.  Using that we know he couldn't be talking about the exit to opening shock.  That brings me to the ride down.  I remember it being longer than 30 seconds and MAYBE he's talking about that but ....

I don't know.  It's looking kind of bad for our OP here.

KC

[TVDOC]

I call bs....

I was 82nd Airborne back in the 70's and 80's. There was NO FREEFALLING EVER in paratroop operations. As far as I know, only true special ops (Rangers, Special Forces, MAYBE rescue units) has free-fall capability.

(I was in SF for awhile as well, but never HALO'd, which stands for "High Altitude Low Opening" jumps which require freefalling)

As to the 30 second free fall distance...

Essentially, the following equation calculates the distance travelled from a 30 second free fall from a fixed point in the sky:

d = (1/2) x gt², where d = distance, t = 30, and g = 9.8 m/s² (near the surface of the earth).

So, campers the equation comes out to this:

d = (1/2) x (9.8 x 30²

which comes out to, oh, say... piddle paddle...

4410 meters...

Yes, that is over 2 and a half MILES... over 13 thousand FEET folks!!

I CALL BULLSHIT

Yeah.....I  calculated it omitting atmospheric resistance and came up with 14, 467 feet in 30 seconds......

doc

[BadCat]

Man, that was one HIGH FLYING UH-60.

[jukin]

My best guess is some DUmpmonkey just rented a paratrooper movie or perhaps some new first person game. I would think that jumping and not repelling out of helicopters would be very elite. I doubt that any DUche would reach for that kind of exceptional success.  

[GOP Congress]

AS I said above, I believe he didn't mean free falling (non-deployed) with chuting (deployed). In a static line jump, 30 seconds is about right, though the landing wouldn't necessarily be any different unless the chute gave him an accelerated descent ratio (maybe 12 meters per second as opposed to 10).

[JohnnyReb]

I call bs....

I was 82nd Airborne back in the 70's and 80's. There was NO FREEFALLING EVER in paratroop operations. As far as I know, only true special ops (Rangers, Special Forces, MAYBE rescue units) has free-fall capability.

(I was in SF for awhile as well, but never HALO'd, which stands for "High Altitude Low Opening" jumps which require freefalling)

As to the 30 second free fall distance...

Essentially, the following equation calculates the distance travelled from a 30 second free fall from a fixed point in the sky:

d = (1/2) x gt², where d = distance, t = 30, and g = 9.8 m/s² (near the surface of the earth).

So, campers the equation comes out to this:

d = (1/2) x (9.8 x 30²

which comes out to, oh, say... piddle paddle...

4410 meters...

Yes, that is over 2 and a half MILES... over 13 thousand FEET folks!!

I Would call bullshit...

HOWEVER, in his defense, I BELIEVE he meant that the entire DROP time was 30 seconds. The normal drop time of a normal 200 pound in a T-120 parachute is about 32 feet (10m) per second, so if he jumps from about 1000 feet up, then he's pretty close.

(And I ONLY come to his defense because he claims he's 82nd; he's got a lot of the terminology right that doesn't come from popular media).

...and acceleration due to gravity = 32'/sec squared....but then you have to allow for wind drag but you're still hauling ass when you impact the ground.

Lets see, jump from helicopter at 800'....count to 10 by 1,000's....pull ripcord....if you didn't count to slowly....The chute should cover your body nicely.

[miskie]

The math says someone be lying.. or at least really terrible at estimating time.

1250 = (1/2)*32*t^2

or t^2 = 1250 / 16 or ~78.13

The square root of ~78.13 = 8.84 seconds.

if one assumes an unnatural amount of wind resistance, the entire freefall would be no more than 10 seconds.

[hillneck]

The cherry didn't free fall at all.  Blackhawk or other low speed aircraft is a approx. 6-7 fall before the static line deploys your chute.  Compare that to a 4 or so sec. fall with high performance aircraft i.e. C-17, C130.  He's just a cherry jumper.

[Skul]

The only thing I know for sure.
If a "doctored" explosive object is thrown from a helicopter flying at 1500 feet, it takes right around eleven seconds to hit the ground.
I know that for a fact.

[JohnnyReb]

The only thing I know for sure.
If a "doctored" explosive object is thrown from a helicopter flying at 1500 feet, it takes right around eleven seconds to hit the ground.
I know that for a fact.

So a DUmmie thrown from a helicopter at 1,500 feet would have about 11 seconds for his "Come to Jesus" moment. I don't think that's enough time to atone for all the evil they do in a lifetime....or just one weekend for that matter.

[Skul]

So a DUmmie thrown from a helicopter at 1,500 feet would have about 11 seconds for his "Come to Jesus" moment. I don't think that's enough time to atone for all the evil they do in a lifetime....or just one weekend for that matter.

Do they assplode on impact?