Chapter 5
Parachute Jump School: Day One
Jill had jumped out of an airplane three times at the Army’s static-line jump school. She didn’t mind. In fact, she was thrilled with the adrenalin rush when she leaped through the door of the airplane. The blast of turbulent air from the propeller hit her body hard, followed by silence and the eerie sense of floating as she fell away from the airplane. The static line unrolled, and moments later yanked out the parachute, which was followed by the womph of the parachute inflating. Then, silence rang loud as she slowly descended to the earth under the perfectly round parachute. Tugging gently on the steering straps, she pointed the parachute toward the drop zone. She then landed feet first and rolled so her ankles struck the ground next, followed by her knees, hips and shoulders. This distributed the landing energy over her whole body instead on a single bone, which could easily break.
She had heard about HALO jumps, and looked forward to the new challenge. She wanted to be able to say that she did it, and it would look good on her Army record.
Jill strutted into the HALO school. I have to be careful. I can’t let anyone sense my fears. But I shouldn’t worry; soldiers rarely get injured during training.
Jack was already there, deep in conversation with four other trainees and the instructor. When Jack saw Jill approaching, he stopped talking and with a raised voice said, “Teeeen hut!” Jack and the others snapped to attention.
“As you were,” Jill said with a smile, “and good morning.”
“Good morning, ma’am,” replied the other soldiers.
“It’s time to get started,” the instructor said. “Let’s go to the classroom and get our book work out of the way.”
In the classroom Jill sat next to Jack in the front seats, the other four trainees sat behind them. The instructor systematically explained each phase of the HALO jump process. He showed photos and videos of actual HALO jumpers to explain how they controlled their descent by manipulating their arms and legs as they fell at a speed of two hundred miles per hour. He explained the operation of the high performance parachutes that were steered similar to an airplane. Next he talked about opening the parachute at two thousand feet above the ground using the ripcord. Finally, he talked about parachute problems, including proper use of the reserve chute if the main chute failed. The classroom session took three hours. Jill was busy making mental notes. She hoped she didn’t forget anything. Now it was time for all of them to practice in the vertical wind tunnel.
The VWT is an enormous fan that blows air straight up at a speed of two hundred miles per hour. This simulates the air rushing past a HALO jumper as they fall. It allows the jumpers to float in mid air, hovering over the fan. The instructor would stand next to the VWT and coach the jumpers concerning the use of their arms and legs to control their descent. The VWT lets the jumpers make mistakes in a controlled situation where they will not get seriously injured. That gives them plenty of time to learn, and gets rid of most of the risks.
The instructor said, “Savage, suit up. You’re first. Ma’am, you’re next, so suit up.”
Jill watched Jack as he put on the necessary jump suit, helmet, and goggles. Then he walked up to the VWT. It was round, and as big as a two-car garage. The instructor flipped the power switch to the “on” position, and it roared to life. It took a full twenty seconds for it to reach maximum speed. The massive motor groaned as it spun the twenty-foot propeller. Jill stood back a ways from the VWT, but nonetheless felt the air tossing her ponytail, and the concrete floor shook under her feet. Candy and gum wrappers on the floor blew to the far corners of the hanger. She was both nervous and eager, and she was going to concentrate on every move that Jack made. She had not done this before, and she didn’t want to make any silly mistakes that would lose her respect in front of Jack.
The instructor put on a pair of goggles and stepped up to a small launching platform that was next to the fan. He motioned to Jack to follow. The instructor had to yell so his voice could be heard over the sound of the fan. “Jack, I will go first and then you can join me. Be sure to give yourself a hard push-off when you leave the platform, otherwise you will get blown back and land on the floor.”
Jill watched as the instructor lunged into the swirling vortex of air. His leap looked like someone diving into a swimming pool. His body bounced upwards as it hit the rising air, causing the instructor to go up about ten feet. He bobbed up and down. After several seconds the bobbing subsided. He gracefully demonstrated the proper method for moving forwards, backwards, and turning. Then he rolled, first forwards, then backwards and finally sideways. Each maneuver looked graceful; and each maneuver restarted the bobbing action, but then it slowly died as he finished the maneuver. After demonstrating all the moves, he yelled, “Jack, it’s your turn.”
Jill noticed that Jack did not hesitate. He pushed off as hard as he could from the platform. That kept him from being bounced out of the VWT and onto the floor. The instructor was still floating in the VWT, but on the far side. Jack stabilized himself in the airstream and waited for the bobbing to die down. The instructor smiled at Jack’s initial success and yelled, “Let’s see you do some turns.”
Jack began a series of slow turns, first left, then right. He then made more turns, but faster. Jack smiled at the instructor between turns.
“Are you challenging me to a dual?” yelled the instructor.
Jack smiled.
The instructor joined in on the fun and began turning in circles with Jack. They synchronized their turns so they turned in the same direction at the same time. They alternated left and right turns. Their speed increased, and together Jack and the instructor looked like the propellers on a twin-engine airplane. They turned so fast that they were a blur—faster and faster. Finally, the instructor slowed down. His face paled, his body convulsed, and his cheeks puffed out. Then he swallowed with a slight gagging motion. He must have gotten motion sickness and began to vomit, but didn’t want any of the students to see him puke.
At this point Jack also slowed down, and came to a stop. The instructor looked at Jack. “Have you done this before?”
Jack smiled again.
The instructor maneuvered across the cushion of rising air and turned so that his feet were close to the launching platform. He floated smoothly out of the airflow and landed in the center of the launching platform.
The instructor began yelling commands to Jack. Jack responded by doing everything the instructor asked: forward rolls, backward rolls, sideward rolls. Jill noticed his graceful maneuvers. Hmm, pretty cool stuff.
“Stay there and I’ll send in Lieutenant Jacobson,” the instructor yelled over the noise of the fan. “Ma’am, you’re next.”
Jill put on her goggles and walked up the steps to the launch platform. She looked one last time at Jack. He floated about six feet above her on the far side of the VWT. He looked relaxed. Her mouth was dry.
“Push as hard as you can so you will get into the middle of the airstream,” the instructor yelled. “You don’t want to get bumped out by the edge of the airstream.”
Jill looked at Jack floating in the air stream. He makes it look so easy. I should be able to get the hang of it pretty quickly. She looked down at the massive propeller spinning below, then she held her arms in front of herself and pushed off with all of her might.
The blast of invisible air grabbed her and pulled her upward, away from the spinning propeller. When she was about the same height as Jack, her forward motion slowed to a stop. She stared into his eyes and noticed they were a deep brown color, just like his hair. She examined the details of his face, smooth skin drawn taught over muscular features, a strong jaw line that intersected a broad muscular neck . . . No, I can’t let my attention be diverted. I’m here to learn how to do a HALO jump!
Her forward speed stopped and she saw a look of horror on Jack’s face. A split second later she was moving backwards toward the edge of the VWT. Even worse, her speed was increasing. The edg
e of the VWT passed under her. She was being bounced out of the vertical wind flow. She felt a hand grabbing for her hand, but it slipped off as she continued falling toward the concrete floor. The floor was initially about fifteen feet below her, but it was now much closer and coming at her quickly.