Public Affairs, Volume 63, Number 51
Serving the community of Edwards Air Force Base California www.edwards.af.mil - www.facebook.com/EdwardsAirForceBase
July 8, 2016
Edwards jumpers test parachute deployment
By Kenji Thuloweit 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
Testers from Edwards headed down the 215 Freeway to Perris, California, June 14-15 to qualify a direct-deployment method for the RA-1 parachute system. The RA-1 is the military equivalent of the commercial Raider/Intruder system that is manufactured by Airborne Systems. The parachute system was designed for static line, ripcord and bottom of container (BOC) deployment configurations. “When the Army did developmental test on the RA-1 at Yuma Proving Ground a few years back, they did not test BOC deployments,” said Jacob St. Germain, 418th Flight Test Squadron, Airdrop engineer. “The Air Force, in particular Guardian Angel, desired the BOC configuration to maintain the capability they had with previous parachute systems like the MC-4. Our goal was to perform an initial assessment of the BOC deployment configuration of the RA-1 system and qualify it to proceed to operational testing.” Guardian Angel is comprised of Combat Rescue Officers, pararescuemen, Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape specialists dedicated to the Air Force core function of personnel recovery. The BOC modification to the RA-1 was a pocket added to the bottom of the parachute pack to stow the pilot parachute, which is deployed into the free airstream to deploy the main parachute. To initiate deployment,
parachutists remove the pilot parachute by hand and deploy it off to their side, it then pulls the main chute free. Both BOC and ripcord are freefall deployment methods. In both cases, once the pilot parachute is inflated behind the parachutist, it should pull the main canopy deployment bag from its container. The suspension lines should feed out of stows on the deployment bag until fully elongated, at which point the deployment bag should open and release the main canopy. “Since the pilot parachute is deployed directly into the freestream air, it should inflate more quickly and reliably than a ripcord. Most parachutists tend to prefer this method for that reason,” St. Germain said. “With the ripcord deployment method, pulling the ripcord initiates the deployment of a spring-loaded pilot parachute into the air behind the parachutist. The risk with this method is that the pilot parachute is released into the stagnant pocket of air known as the ‘burble,’ which develops behind the parachutist. If the pilot parachute spring doesn't provide enough force to clear the burble, you could end up with pilot parachute hesitation malfunction. At best case this results in a significant increase in altitude loss; at worst case it could mean a cutaway.” St. Germain added that operational testing of the RA-1 in the BOC deployment configuration was scheduled to begin June 26 so the 418th FLTS had to test quickly and a C-12 Huron could not be
See Parachute, Page 2
On target Airmen from the 416th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron prepare to load an AIM-120 missile onto an F-16 Fighting Falcon in Hangar 1600 June 24. Two crews competed in the 2nd quarter weapons load competition June 24. One working on an F-22 and the other on an F-16 Fighting Falcon. The 416th Aircraft Maintenance Unit “Falcon” loaded one AIM-120 guided missile and one GBU-31 bomb onto their F-16. The 411th AMU loaded an AIM-120 missile and one GBU-32 bomb. The objective is to load both inert weapons onto their aircraft with speed and precision. Another weapons crew is planning to compete with the winner scheduled to be announced this week. (U.S. Air Force photo by Kenji Thuloweit) http://issuu.com/desertwings/docs/current