Paratrooper drops… Campaings.

[Flyboy]

Oops, sorry Don. You're right.

And Pawa -- thanks for the been-there-done-that perspective. I've only done recreational jumps from a Cessna 182, getting out at 10 to 12,000 feet, and only a handful of those.

While even I can manage to land within a 10 meter box at the drop zone on a sunny summer afternoon, I know that's a world apart from getting out of a C-130 in the dark at 750 feet with 120 pounds of gear on your back. I have tons of manouever and steering time under the canopy that a paratrooper obviously does not.

Points well taken.

[Pawatwoop]

Yeah, the military chutes are made to get the lowest common denominator of trooper to the ground as quickly and safely as possible. They tend to just go down with extreemly limited steering ability.

I did some test drops last night. With 5 squads per plane, they averaged to drop one squad every other hex. So the stick spread over 10 hexes... Or 500m. That's a little short... But you can also figure in it's a 3-4 minute window with only 30-45 seconds in the air... So the other 2-3 minutes the trooper is hoofing it to link up with nearby squadies.