I dont know if I have posted this before but will put it up anyway.. Our jump training in SA was all at 800-1000ft from Dakotas with 2 jumps from a Hurc.. One jump was a night jump for a total of 10 jumps to Qualify… We returned home and had to do 2 training jumps at New Sarum, our local jump school, to adapt to a slightly different way of in aircraft drills and hookup… I was number 6 in my first jump and tossed out the door as drifter my second and last qualifying jump… Looking at my old log book we jumped out of that old Dak all over the country – My 24th jump was the most memorable and one that will never be forgotten – It was in the OP Thrasher area in the Shaduku TTL.. I must first explain how the Dak pilot gets an accurate jump height as at 500ft you don’t want mistakes.. One of the G Kars lands in the DZ and takes an altimeter reading which he passes on to the Dak Pilot… We had a hell of a twisty run in to the DZ – I was number six out the door and was watching the ground through the door as we approached the DZ… I couldn’t believe how low we were – when the green light went on we were sucked out the door in our normal speedy fashion – I looked up at my chute opening in front of me and found myself standing on the Ground… One guys chute (Meesus) didn’t develop properly and he went feet first through a thorn tree with his chute catching on the branches and he was gently deposited on the other side.. Realizing there had been a monumental F/up in the drop I dumped my kit and started checking the guys out.. Believe it or not – not one guy hurt – many scratches and bruises but that was normal – Most of us jumped in shorts, T shirts and Vellies so the odd bump was inevitable – The Boss in the K Kar was shitting himself as he had seen the jump and dispatched 2 G Kars to start ferrying the bodies and injured out – he really thought we would be mostly dead… The poor Tech jumped out the chopper and ran up to me with wide eyes and asked if we were OK – I told him we were a little rattled but would be ready in a few minutes… I put my kit back on and radioed the Boss and reported we were all OK and would be ready in a few minutes… The Boss left us for 5 minutes and then started ferrying us in to Stop Groups and we had a very successful contact.. The enquiry when we got back to camp and the Blue Jobs (Air Force) were most apologetic.. I had a full beer in my hand all evening – The stuff up occurred when the DAK pilot put the wrong QNH reading on his altimeter… The height we jumped at – 175ft and no casualties… the lowest ever recorded OP jump with no casualties…
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 10:26:45 +0000
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