a historic low...

300

poornachandra

“300”. This is not about the valiant king Leonidas and his brave band of 300 Spartans who spearheaded the legendary Greek stand against the Persian Army of Xerxes at Thermopylae, in 480 BC. This is also not about the brave French Captain Teullier and his 300 gallant Chasseurs Laotiens (Laotian Light Infantry) who bravely held the garrison of Muong-Khoua for thirty-six days against heavy assaults of the Viet-Minh in May 1953. This is more recent landmark on the timeline, dating back to 2002. This is about another band of brave men in Maroon, and their act of courage which has its own historical significance in the annals of India’s Airborne, the common thread with the earlier historical incidents being the number 300.

It was the summer of 2002, during OPERATION PARAKRAM, when the Indian Army mobilized and the subcontinent was on the verge of another war. The fanfare which heralded the friendship with our American counterparts and the joint Indo-US Army Exercise BALANCE IROQUOIS had just begun to fade away. Quite a few of us proudly wore the US Airborne Wings on our uniforms and recounted the experience of training with the famed Green Berets and jumping from the MC-130 “Combat Talon” aircraft. In the midst of training for a war looming on the horizon, I came to know that trials were to be conducted with the GQ Low Level Parachute (LLP) in order to study the feasibility of carrying out operational jumps from a low altitude. It was to be really low at 300 feet above ground level (AGL). The good news for me was that they needed a field officer (meaning atleast a Major) to be the trial team leader and that no one was chosen yet. As a static line jumper or a “Wind Dummy” as our American friends called one, I was slowly logging jumps to reach the figure of fifty and was looking forward to wearing the small yellow wings on my uniform. The trial was the chance to do something special and also reach my goal. So I literally and figuratively jumped at the opportunity and got myself nominated by volunteering. Soon I met and acquainted myself with my team, twelve paratroopers from 6 PARA. I called them my Daring Dozen.

In due course of time, I was summoned to the Headquarters of the Parachute Brigade to meet all the big and important people who briefed me several times about how important my task was. I was to use the best of my judgment and be ultra-careful towards ensuring the safe conduct of the trials. I nodded obediently and hoped to the heavens that these people should eventually let me jump from the designated low level, and not call off the whole thing citing high risk. I met more people, this time Air Force personnel from the Paratroopers’ Training School (PTS), to work out the modalities. Seven Parachute Jump Instructors (PJIs) including the Chief Instructor (CI) were to participate with us in the trials.

We started on the mats at the PTS training hangar, with what was called the Intensive Ground Training Phase. There was physical training and practice of regular drills, with special emphasis on a good exit and correct landing drills in keeping with the requirements of low level jumps. It was rigorous activity, but fortunately lasted only two days on 04 and 05 July 2002. We were acquainted with the parachute and the packing was demonstrated to instill confidence and infuse faith that the combination of cloth and strings would bring us down safely to the ground.

Someone told our team that “GQ” meant “Good Quality”. It sounded unconvincing and prompted me to do some research on the parachute. It came from a company called Irwin-GQ. In 1919, Leslie Irvin made the world's first free-fall parachute descent in the USA and established a European factory for the mass production of parachutes in England in 1926. At about the same time, James Gregory and Sir Raymond Quilter, the “G” and “Q” in the name, foresaw the need for widely available and dependable parachute systems for aircrew and formed GQ Parachutes in 1932. Irvin-GQ was formed in June 2001 from the merger of Irvin Aerospace Limited and GQ Parachutes Limited. For over 75 years, these two companies have been world leaders in the supply of parachutes and safety and survival equipment to the international military and aerospace markets. The LLP was designed to allow fully equipped airborne troops to carry out massed parachute tactical assaults from jump heights as low as 76 meters / 250 feet. With a maximum all-up weight (AUW) of 160 kilograms, it has a rate descent of 5.9 meters per second / 19.5 feet per second. The reserve parachute was cleared for the same height, but with a faster descent rate of 6.9 meters per second / 22.6 feet per second. These statistics and the fact that the parachute was in service with several armies in the world, made everything look safe and sound. After all, we were to jump from 50 feet higher than the ceiling, and had about 15 seconds to land.

But did anyone else do it before? Jumps from 600 feet AGL were successfully done during a joint exercise by our army in Seychelles. The PJIs told us that they had done 500 feet AGL. It was said that the manufacturer’s test jumper successfully demonstrated the capabilities of the parachute from 300 feet AGL. But then, someone added, he landed in water, and was insured for an obscene amount of some thousands of British Pounds! All this talk prompted me to find out more.

Studies indicate there are two ways to evade enemy air defenses: drop really low (below 250-500 feet) to evade radar detection or very high to evade enemy small arms and missiles if it is no longer possible to surprise the enemy. This includes every item of airborne force equipment and not just paratroopers. Most of the lines-opening-first T-10 model parachutes are not reliable under 500 feet. During WWII, American paratroopers were able to jump at extremely low altitudes due to the T-4/T-7's canopy-and-lines-at-the-same-time opening sequence. Despite a severe opening shock, the paratroopers of the 1950s and 60s were able to jump as low as 143 feet in training, and 250 feet in actual combat. This reduced the time under canopy and the wind blowing paratroopers far apart from each other. Smaller dispersion area of the paratroopers on the drop zone is a vital merit of a low level drop. A more recent low-level combat jump using military parachutes was from around 130 meters, when US paratroops invaded the Caribbean island of Granada in 1983.

The GQ LLP parachutes are made from the same heavy-duty nylon as conventional military parachutes. But instead of the usual dome shape, they look more like jellyfish, with tucked-in rims, and they capture air more effectively. The British introduced the GQ LLP in order to come down to a training height of 650 feet and an operational height of 250 feet. In September 1994, eight jumpers from the parachute test team at Britain's Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) in Boscombe Down, Wiltshire attempted a unique, low-altitude descent. They jumped from an altitude of just 75 meters - lower than Big Ben but higher than Nelson's Column. The jump was the acid test for the then newly introduced GQ LLP, and capped a decade of work trying to create a parachute that allows paratroopers to descend safely from aircraft flying below the gaze of enemy radar. From exit to full inflation, it took around 4 seconds, leaving around 30 meters of descent with a full canopy in the 75-metre drop. The entire descent took 10 seconds. To avoid the possibility of serious injury, the test jumpers made the drop over a lake in the south of France.

Armed with all that knowledge, I led the Daring Dozen into the jump phase of our trial. During this phase, we carried out live and dummy drops in a graduated manner beginning from 06 July 2002. Initially, the jumps were done from 950 feet and 800 feet AGL to perfect the drills and build up confidence. These jumps were done with equipment and both by day and night. When the drop height was lowered one more step to 700 feet, we shed our equipment but jumped even by night. Then it was 600 feet. Jumps from 500 feet and lower were preceded by dummy drops. We made sure the dummy was as heavier than our biggest team-member, just to see how fast he came down!

Eventually, we reached the target height of 300 feet. Now, we were seeing trees rush past under the plane and people looking almost their actual size when we stood at action stations. A more serious matter for concern was the pendulous swing imparted to the jumper after deployment of the canopy. At heights below 400 feet, sometimes the swing does not subside fully, within the available time under the canopy. There was a risk of injury in the event of an improper landing during the swing. Winds increased the risk. Still, we were upbeat and ready to go. But the flyers had to be sure of their part, with all the aircraft system constraints and restrictions on low level flying with respect to the AN-32. Several sorties were flown, with the Commanding Officer of the squadron himself at the reins, and we were all set to go after the Air Headquarters cleared the low level flight.

On 24 July 2002, the dummy dropped on our behalf from 300 feet in an 8 knot wind, and reached the drop zone in 11 seconds. It was then the turn of flesh and blood paratroopers. We waited for good weather conditions, and the winds slowed down to 6 knots on 29 July 2002. Just to be sure, and also to be the first, two of our instructors from PTS jumped, and it was a safe descent. There was no hesitation of our part, but we had to watch from the ground for once. Finally, on 30 July 2002, eleven of us and four PJIs stood at the ramp and looked at the familiar but magnified surroundings of Malpura whizzing past below us. A loud “Chatri Mata Ki Jai” preceded the “Yellow On”. On Green, we jumped from 300 feet AGL into a 5 knot wind. There was just enough time to do the customary 1000-2000-3000-4000 count, look up to feel reassured at the sight of a beautiful open canopy, and look down in the “Sakht Para Position”. Then it was touchdown and roll. The heavier ones made ground in 13 or 14 seconds, while I got an additional second, being a light-weight. Safe and elated, we congratulated each other at the landmark achievement. We had created history! The significance of the moment combined with the adrenalin rush, took me to a new high. Or should I call it a new low! To add to my joy, I crossed a personal milestone of fifty jumps enroute to this major landmark. The Daring Dozen had done it with the trademark enthusiasm of the Paras and no back up of big money insurance. They are the first and till date the only ones in India to have done the low altitude jump.

Throughout the trials we never had any high-twist situation or any emergency requiring the operation of the reserve parachute. The instances when jumpers encountered a few twists, remedial action was taken without significant loss of time or height. Thanks to the training imparted by our dependable PJIs, all was well because it ended well. “300” was a success story with 192 happy landings made in about three weeks’ time. This noteworthy story is not known to many even in our Airborne fraternity. It was a task to be accomplished and the same was successfully done, only to be forgotten amongst many greater endeavours in history. Hopefully this retelling of this small but significant tale will help.

2007