10 unique parachute jumps that you didn’t even know
The most restless
Worked in two systems and were able to pull 20 jumps per day? Cool, well done. Inhabitants of the St. Petersburg dropzones nervously swallow tears, but we know that Moscow parachute jumps in this sense are much better organized. At Kolomna Aerograd in the season and a hundred climbs a day is not the limit. However, until the record of American Jay Stokes, we are all so far away. In 2003, he hit the Guinness Book, making 534 jumps per day! It is clear that the whole drop zone worked for the record – several aircraft at once and a whole army of stackers. Moreover, the guy set it twice – at first in 1999 he jumped 476 times, but he was circumvented by Mike Zeng, having thrashed exactly 500 jumps in 24 hours. So I had to update my own result. By the way, no one wants to dilute the chain of English-language achievements with Russian names?
The lowest
This is only far from skydiving comrades can impress with height. But we know that the lower the more difficult. The Englishman Terek Spencer, however, was not going to set records, but fate turned out that way. The Second World War ended, on April 19, 1945 his plane was shot down in the Wismar Bay region in Germany. The pilot used a parachute at an altitude of about 9-12 meters. From serious injuries he was saved by landing on the water. It is unlikely that anyone will ever be able to record this record, not just beat it, but repeat it.
Most respectable
Be proud that your child of five, six, seven (underline necessary) jumped in tandem with an instructor? The kid, of course, was very lucky, but in our time this is not such a rare thing. And children, as a rule, easily subscribe to any adventures. Whether it’s people aged. Try to hit a jump on, say, father? Not to mention my grandfather. But the grandson of the American George Moyz did it. As a result, grandfather became the oldest first-time pupil in the world, jumping on his 97th birthday. In the role of the tandem master was the very grandson.
The longest
And again distinguished military pilots. Frankly: have you ever thought that it is too expensive to pay for a single minute of free flight? Well, there under the dome for a couple of minutes … still not enough! In general, even if it seemed, never talk about it with William Rankin from the USA. July 26 (just on the Day of the paratrooper) in 1959, the engine of his F-8U fighter failed. It was at an altitude of just over 14 thousand meters. Having made the only possible decision – to jump with a parachute, the pilot fell into a thundercloud with powerful updrafts. As a result, he was on the ground only 40 minutes later, with decompression, frostbite and in the forest, from which he got out on foot. But then he wrote about this book The Man Who Rode the Thunder. Literally – “The man who saddled the thunder.”
The most mi-mishny
Skydiving with dogs, cats and, as it turned out, children today will not surprise anyone. Only Google gives out on request “the dog jumped with a parachute” 19.5 thousand videos. Whether it beavers! Moreover, the poor fellows didn’t have to dangle comfortably under the belly of an experienced tandem instructor, but like refueling airborne troops-on round equipment, by ourselves! But it was like that.
Immediately after the war, people began to actively develop the impenetrable forests of Idaho. Drained swamps, built cities. And all would be fine, but for centuries the beaver population living here began to degrade – the animals settled in the basements, ate in the garbage. Scientists looked for a plot of virgin forest for rodents, but the trouble was – there was no way to get to it by land. Then it was decided to throw the beavers on parachutes, but there was a snag: too strong boxes they could not open after landing, which threatened death, and too thin, on the contrary, were gnawed on the plane. I had to organize a series of experiments, the hero of which was a beaver nicknamed Jeronimo, who made at least a dozen jumps. As a result, the optimal design of the box was found and in 1948, 76 animals landed on a new place of residence.
Most massive
It’s not without reason that the Aerograd Kolomna Parachute Club is considered the best in Russia. What kind of records, both national and international, were not set here. But the most massive leap in history was made in Bangkok. In 2004, in honor of the 72th birthday of the Queen of Thailand (among Buddhists, this date is considered to be round since it completes the sixth 12-year life cycle), 672 parachutists from 42 countries of the world jumped simultaneously. They did not collect any formations, they jumped “only” from 2,000 meters from six aircraft — not sports, but ordinary passenger ones. But without incident it still could not have done. According to the organizers, all this landing was supposed to land on the lawn in front of the royal palace, but because of the strong wind many had to be removed from the surrounding trees.
The most forgotten
“Imagine that, say, at an altitude of 3,000 meters you leave the plane, and then pull out the ring, the same as a parachute, but instead of a silk dome, wings will open behind your back.” Does it resemble anything? That’s it.
We are used to considering inventors…
