Test parachutists jump to conclusions

  • Published
  • By Christopher Ball
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) --  It has been said there is no good reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.  But a small cadre of Airmen here have a very good reason to do so -- saving lives.

They don’t wear the maroon beret of the Air Force pararescue troops.  They are members of the 418th Flight Test Squadron’s test parachutist program, the only program of its kind in the Air Force.   They conduct developmental test and evaluation on all Department of Defense aerodynamic deceleration systems.

Master Sgt. Donald Wing, program superintendent, said the team concentrates on all personnel parachute systems, aircraft ejection seat systems, associated life support subsystems and aircraft platform certification. The team has five survival, evasion, resistance and escape, or SERE, specialists; one life support technician; and three jumpers from the 412th Operations Support Squadron’s SERE section.

“We’re here to test anything that might get jumped, bailed or ejected out of an airplane,” Sergeant Wing said.

Some of the team’s current tests include evaluating the Joint Strike Fighter’s ejection system and testing a gross weight increase for the C-17 Globemaster III.

To do test and evaluation on these systems, the jumpers must maintain proficiency as test parachutists, which means they have to perform a minimum of 150 jumps per year.

“As a test parachutist, we have to be some of the best parachutists in the forces,” said Tech. Sgt. James Wright, NCO in charge of test parachutist operations. “Not only do we test parachute equipment, we also evaluate pieces of equipment and the equipment used to conduct tests. We have to have our skills at the top level, and we have to do things over and over again.”

While there are dangers involved with the job, Sergeant Wing said jumpers must be confident that a piece of equipment is going to work before they put their lives in jeopardy. That includes running new items through test parameters before parachutists actually jump with them.

“We’ll do drags with a parachute or attach it to dummies and throw it out of an airplane first,” Sergeant Wing said. “We’ll do that from numerous angles and airspeeds, trying to encompass anything that might come up.”

The jumpers also have backup chutes to get to the ground safely if anything goes wrong.

“At times it’s a ball. At times it’s kind of scary,” Sergeant Wright said. “You’re not going to force anybody to be a jumper. You must have the desire, a love to do it. And when you get into jumping, you realize some aspects are quite fun. It’s one of those things that gets your heart racing. But there are also tense moments. Sometimes parachutes don’t work properly; sometimes they twist up.”

Sergeant Wright said he recently had one of those tense moments, when his parachute malfunctioned and he had to cut it away and rely on his reserve chute.

“We have procedures for going to our reserve parachute,” he said. “If a parachute malfunctions, training takes over. You follow procedures, take care of business. Then when you get on the ground, you have time to think about what might have happened.”

Sergeant Wing said the jumpers have to maintain currency with more than 10 types of parachute systems.

“Because we’re jumping with a variety of new equipment during a test, we also have to be able to tape or film what’s happening in the air. That’s where our advanced freefall skills come into play,” Sergeant Wright said. “If we’re filming, we have to be in the right place at the right time. We have to practice when to exit. If somebody exits too soon or too late, you’re not going to get it on film.”

Life as a test parachutist is never boring, Sergeant Wing said.

“There’s always something new coming down the line. Something can always be done better; something’s always getting approved,” he said.