Parachute Landing Training Area

USA / Georgia / Fort Benning South /
 landing strip, skydiving
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Controlled descent towers used for Airborne training. Also known as Umgawa Towers. The idea is to replicate the last 10 or so seconds of parachute descent and landing during an airborne drop.

Snuffy gets hauled up with his chute expanded inside a cone-shaped frame with a single point lift at the top. When he hits the coupler at the tip of the tower arm, the frame locks into the coupler and releases the chute. Snuffy (if he knows what's good for him) then immediately does his best slip maneuver away from the steel, prepares for landing and hopes the wind hasn't shifted.

The sand is nice and soft for pain-free PLFs, but any shift in the wind tends to blow people into the steel, requiring a time-consuming procedure in which a Sergeant Airborne is hauled up via Private-powered rope and harness to rescue poor Snuffy, who is hanging a hundred feet in the air by his chute and by that point is probably wishing he joined the Navy. For this reason the towers are now mostly only used to demonstrate chute malfunctions with dummies.
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Coordinates:   32°21'27"N   84°58'12"W

Comments

  • ugh, umgowah, we gonna jump the free towah!!! AIRBORNE!
  • These towers originated at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. They were purchased by the U.S. Government and moved to Fort Benning. See the following website. http://www.internationalchimney.com/webmodules/casestudy/dtl_CaseStudy.aspx?id=47
  • Hilariously accurate description. Dude clearly earned his 2 Papa here at some point. Exactly how it went for me in '03. Dummy malfunction demos ("pay the f**k attention, Airborne, or that'll be you!") and maybe 2 or 3 drops on Tower day before a guy went into the steel (on a windless day, no less), followed by the ridiculous procedure described above, which consumed a couple more hours and ended the whole procedure. Not really sure why they bother anymore. Doesn't really teach you anything important. Most jump deaths and injuries are from drops during unsafe (windy) conditions and canopy entanglements. The drop towers don't help with either one.
  • Yes, there is no reason to have fun. Like this description. Apparently, he suffered there.I warn you - teaches nothing. = Aleksandr. Russia
  • At an altitude of 80-100 m parachutist prepares for landing and take proper landing position of the body: - Strictly on the face of the wind; - Legs joined at the knees and feet together and, depending on the wind speed, brought forward, and in calm weather - positioned almost vertically, half-bent knees; - Feet parallel to the ground ...
  • Even in the heat, I prefer jumpsuit... = Aleksandr. Russia
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This article was last modified 12 years ago