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Demonstration jump of the military emergency egress parachute.

Military free fall at Boca Chico, FL

Break off altitude

Main and reserve pilot chutes are spring loaded. They deploy at the same time and become entangled. Reserve bridal goes over the nose of the main canopy, passes through the suspension lines, and wraps around behind me and my risers. Reserve stays in its D-bag and dangles below me to my right.

Pulling the reserve D-bag up between my legs allowed 4-6 feet of slack to pass up to the reserve bridal. My main canopy inflated a little more and took a heading towards the ocean with a slight left turn.

Pulling the reserve bridal in an attempt to seperate it from my main pilot chute did nothing but collapse my main parachute more. Three attempts at this and I gave up.

I used my rear risers to steer back to the DZ. I didn't want to unstow my brakes out of fear that it would make a bad situation worse. It was flying (with a limp) and it was controllable, why risk changing that?

Using my rear risers to steer I managed to make it to the DZ with enough altitude to make my last turn that put me on final.

The image is dark but you can tell just how F'ed up the situation was.

The PLF really wasn't needed but I was going through all of my emergency procedures. Of the four jumpers on this load I was the second closes to the target. I don't know if that was through luck or skill but atleast I have the rest of my life to debate over it.