The Yorkshireman
Well-Known Member
It is a gimmick to be honest, the chute is just a regular BASE chute with high vis colours and a logo.I meant it more along the lines of it being a better type of chute for people who currently base-jump as the canopy opens a lot earlier, cant see it ever being used for the purpose in the article lol
The reason why it opens sooner is because of the BASE chute having much much shorter ropes and the canopy is much much lager surface area, also the jump is 'static line'/'cute assist' meaning the pilot chute is all ready out/pulled at the point of exit, the guy stood behind the jumper on the balcony has hold of his pilot chute and lets go for him when his main chute opens removing the need to manually pull.
You can actually just hold the pilot chute in your hand and throw it in the air as you jump and it will do the same thing.
This vids explain it better than I can in words, lol.
[video=youtube;QtuG2P-YCDk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QtuG2P-YCDk[/video]
The technique is usually used for jumps of 100m or lower.
I've thought about taking a chute on plane journeys as my hand luggage just in case though, but then if something fucks up at thousands of feet would they really open the door to let you jump to your safety or would they expect you to go down with the plane like everybody else!?