Parachute jumps
Do you think these jumps were as good as the one in the movie "Fandango"?
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Primitive is right.
I made a couple of hundred jumps back in my 20's. By the time I started, the rigs were a lot smaller and lighter (with nice square canopies, main and reserve).
Once while the reserve in my own rig was being repacked, I had the opportunity to jump a "Crossbow" rig, like they used in the movie. Being 5'2" I had the distinct feeling of being strapped to the underside of a falling safe. It had a long-line PC (Para-Commander) packed in a sleeve, took forever to open. Often you could fall 1000 feet from the time you pulled until when you got under canopy. I still cringe when I watch them open.
For its time Gypsy Moths was superb. MUCH better than the Fandango scene (which was still great BTW)
RIP Carl Boenish. He was one of the best.
Teresa
http://MermaidLady.com
Teresa has me beat by 60 or so jumps - I ended up with only 136, from 1972 to 1980, but...
The rigs they jumped in the movie were Pioneer Piggyback systems (not Crossbows) with, as she mentioned, Para-Commander main canopies.
I jumped an identical Pioneer "pig rig" a couple of times, and it WAS pretty heavy. The reserve chute container was permanently mounted on top of the main container in this system, all worn on the back (instead of the reserve being clipped to the chest). The idea was to present a "clean" front, to better facilitate flying during freefall. Because the reserve was mounted on top of the main, a main canopy malfunction with the Piggyback system mandated a complete cutaway of the main, so the reserve wouldn't tangle with it on opening. You couldn't pull, grab, and throw out the reserve canopy to deploy alongside a partially-deployed main and ride them both down, which was the standard procedure with a chest-mounted reserve. The heavy Pioneer Piggyback system was a state-of-the-art design at the time of the film (1968-69), but smaller, lighter piggyback reserve/main rigs have been the modern-era skydiving standard for years now.
My personally-owned main canopy was the one Burt Lancaster's character regularly jumped in the movie -- the black Para-Commander with the multicolored apex and rear panels, which was nicknamed the "Church Window."
There's absolutely no comparison between the many professional jumps in "The Gypsy Moths" (fantastic) and "Fandango" (ONE goofy jump, for comic relief).
I've only made two parachute jumps, both static line, in my entire life, but I thought Gypsy Moths was some of the most accurate and realistic parachute photography that I've ever seen.
I made my two jumps in 1971, and by today's standards, the equipment I used would probably be viewed today as being somewhat primitive. On both of my jumps I used a military T-10, 32' dia. canopy. VERY RELIABLE!!! Loved it.
One of my favorite shots in this movie is when one skydiver cuts away from his fully opened parachute and free-fell. This is an emergency procedure that can be used in case the main parachute malfunctions. That way the reserve parachute won't get tangled up with the main canopy.
This might be a good movie to show to skydiving students.