Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1000484
crossed on your chest. Until the plane is on the ground, there is a chance to perform „dry runs", without the suit and the parachute on your back to practice the correct boarding and jumping out of the plane. Few other jumps under the instructor's supervision is sufficient to learn that technique well enough to „get of" the plane without hurting yourself. BABY STEPS UNTIL YOU JUMP You passed the exam; theoretical and practical knowledge have been acquired – it is time to prepare for the jump. However, before I focus on the jumps themselves, it is good to familiarize with the equipment usually used by aeroclubs. Most often, they use four-seat high wing aircrafts, due to low maintenance costs and simple construction. So far, I have had the opportunity to jump out of two such aircrafts – a Soviet Jak-12 and its Polish equivalent, PZL-101 Gawron. Jak and Gawron are multi-purpose aircrafts used both for jumps and as support for sailplanes. For the time the aircraft is used by the jumpers, its door on the left side of the hull is detached while the jump itself is performed from a specially installed step. The step is quite narrow and short, but sufficient for the task it was designed for. The crew consists of two jumpers, the instructor called „dispatcher", and the pilot (the pilot is the only person who stays in the plane for the whole flight ;) ). The basic and mandatory equipment of a student jumper includes the main parachute, the auxiliary parachute, and the parachute knife – automatic until you get the certificate of parachute jumper qualifications. The rest of the equipment, like altimeter worn on the wrist, the helmet, the suit, footwear covering the ankle (if the footwear has some hooks for cords, it is good to secure them with duct tape before jumping, otherwise there is a risk of entanglement of parachute cords), the radio used by the instructor to guide the jumper safely to the ground – those are things that increase convenience and safety of jumps, but are not obligatory. The so-called automaton put into a case is a sort of a lifesaver in case of unpredicted situations in the air. It is a microcomputer that is switched on on the ground, before boarding, and is to independently release the auxiliary parachute about 4.5 seconds before the estimated contact of the jumper with the round, based on the pressure changes. It is worth having but it is optional for a certified jumper. Currently, Polish aeroclubs usually use the parachutes specified in the table below (their basic parameters). www.fragoutmag.com