Better Parachute

When an Army paratrooper steps out into space, he knows that the sudden blossoming of his parachute will rattle his bones, strain his joints, and for a breathless moment, make him feel like the popper on a bull whip. At worst, an opening shock snaps a paratrooper so violently that he blacks out, sometimes even causes heavy objects such as hand grenades to burst right through the pockets of his sturdy jump suit.

As airborne forces have adopted faster troop planes, the opening shock has become more & more of a problem. At the Army's Airborne Center at Fort Bragg, N.C. this week, the Army Field Forces are testing a new parachute which may all but eliminate it. The new T-10 chute has a canopy two feet larger (30 feet) than the chute now in use (which slows the rate of descent) and, instead of being circular, is shaped like a soup bowl with an extended skirt around its edge (which cuts down on the pendulum-like motion of the parachute).

But the big difference between the two chutes is the new way of packing, which eliminates most of the opening jolt. Several paratroopers who have jumped with the new chute claim they actually had to look up to see whether or not it had opened. Reported one happily: "It's like coming down on a featherbed."

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