No guarantees with military parachuting which is why there is hazardous duty pay.
Everything's a go and some jumper makes a weak exit, has a triple Mae West, deploys his reserve, and drifts off into the woods.
You compute for the winds...and the air goes dead as the a/c approaches on final.
The winds have been calm the entire time you've been preparing the DZ...and all of a sudden pick up for no reason just as the first jumper exits the a/c.
You compute wind direction...and damn if they don't begin to swirl or change direction coming out of some friggin canyon or such once the jumpers are out (happend to us near Heber Canyon, UT).
Time of day and a jumper or two hit a thermal...and off they drift into the only copse of trees for 20 miles around.
And then there's AWADS...and you never know what you'll see until you break through the clouds at 200' AGL. Surprise.
It's a calculated risk - and s**t happens...and I still miss it all. 
Richard 
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
|