| One of the problems facing an airman who bailed out of his aircraft
in Vietnam was that, likely as not, you would end up hanging from your parachute harness
in the tops of the tall tree canopy. Parachutes were equipped with a long nylon tape
and a snubbing device which allowed you to make a controlled descent to the ground or the
end of the tape (whichever came first). Many of the pilots who were equipped with
parachutes carried extra tapes to assure that they could reach the ground if the necessity
arose. Caribou pilots were not issued parachutes, but this was "one size fits
all" training, so we all got to practice it. The idea was to secure the end of
the nylon tape to the parachute risers and, making sure that the tape was properly engaged
by the snubber attached to the chest harness, pull the disconnects to drop free of the
risers. At this point, you were hanging from the tape attached to the risers and you
could lower yourself gently down to the ground. |
