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jmowreader

(52,870 posts)
7. It's not if you're doing relative work like they were
Fri Dec 12, 2025, 11:19 AM
Dec 12

I went through the Fort Campbell Sport Parachute Club's new-skydiver course in 1983. They started you on static line, and you exited at 3000 feet. Once you had at least five static line jumps and your instructors thought you were ready, you went to 3000-foot "hop and pops" - exit the aircraft and immediately open your main canopy. After at least five hop and pops, if your instructor thought you were ready you would do five-second freefalls, and those were at 5000 feet exit altitude.

If you're making formations in the sky like this crew was, you really want to exit as high as they did so you have time to form up and break away before you reach opening altitude.

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