My apologies. It was a typo. 2000 feet. Still seems low. >From memory, isn't the terminal velocity of parachutists around 125mph? Which means around 11000 feet per minute In other words, if you haven't opened your main by 2000 feet, you've got about 5 seconds to pull your reserve ripcord & for the reserve to open??? I'll stick to gliding thanks.
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 04/06/02 10:37:59 >>> > Yes, people are jumping out of perfectly serviceable aeroplanes! They seem to like doing it too... strange. > I'd be the first to admit I know absolutely nothing about skydiving, > but isn't 200 feet (600 metres in some reports) a little on the low > side to be opening a chute after freefall? I'm not an expert either, but I think after a freefall from 10,000 or above, the target opening altitude is around 2000 feet. It's supposed to give enough time to lose the main and open the reserve if needed. 200 feet is indeed low - I think that might be a typo. Although I've heard a story about a parachutist disappearing behind a hill with his chute not open - it opened in time and he had only a "hard landing". I don't know if skydiver stories are more or less truthful than glider pilot stories... -- Peter Siddall ~ Renmark Gliding Club -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information. -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
