More People Whose Takeoffs In A Plane Do Not Equal Their Landings In A Plane

To open the show after the lunch break, the US Army Golden Knights demonstrated why they are one of, if not THE, best parachute teams in the world.

First they dropped in a paratrooper with streaming the US Army flag.

 

The Golden Knights were not content with merely demonstrating how your landings can fail to equal your takeoffs.  

They decided to demonstrate how your landings via parachute can fail to equal the number of parachutes you started with.

They did this by deliberately fouling a chute and cutting it away.

Step One: Foul up a perfectly good chute:

Step Two: Cut off the main chute and watch it floating away:

Step Three: Deploy the reserve chute.

He landed faster using his reserve rather than the main chute, due to it being a smaller size, and quite likely also due to the additional weight from carrying a couple big brass ones.

He then nonchalantly landed right on the mark like it was just another day at the office.

Next was a jump of two jumpers who deployed the chutes together while staying connected almost all the way to the ground.

They disconnected seconds away from landing and each made a perfect landing.

The final jumper carried the Michigan flag to earth.

That was one heckuva impressive display of skill, precision, and daring by the Golden Knights.

Knights In Shining Parachutes - The US Army's Golden Knights

You don't need to fly a plane to wow the crowd at an air show. You can also impress by jumping out of a perfectly good working aircraft.

The US Army's parachute demonstration team, the Golden Knights certainly impressed.

The Knight's Fokker transport at altitude with the door open and ready for paratrooper deployment:

Jumper #1 is out:

Good chute:

And landing dead center of the landing zone for a perfect precision landing.

One was good, so next they decided to double the fun with a tandem jump.

Again a perfect landing right in the center of the landing zone.

Then the rest of the team jumped and did a formation parachute demonstration:

Again, they all landed perfectly in the landing zone in a remarkable display of control and precision.

That was a very impressive display of what a team with nothing more than parachutes, hard training, and a lot of guts can do. A great and thrilling demonstration.