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AFF Accelerated Freefall training, comprising freefall jumps of forty seconds or longer, accompanied by a qualified jumpmaster.
AGL Above Ground Level. Altitudes are in reference either to Ground Level or Sea Level (MSL). Skydivers always use AGL when referring to altitude.
Airspeed Speed of a flying object through the air.
Altimeter Device indicating altitude.
Base Core around which a formation skydive is built. Can be a single person or a group.
Body position Freefall body posture.
Boogie Gathering of skydivers.
Bounce To land at unsurvivable speed. Also to frap, or go in.
Box man A neutral, face-to-earth body position in which the arms form right angles at shoulder and elbow, and the legs are spread at about forty-five degrees from the long axis and bent forty-five degrees at the knees. Generally considered the ideal position for formation skydiving.
Brakes The brake lines of the canopy are also steering lines. Used together, they slow the parachute. Used independently, they result in a turn.
Break off To cease formation skydiving by tracking away from the formation prior to deploying the canopy.
Burble An area of low air pressure above a descending skydiver caused either by them in freefall or by their canopy in flight.
Call Time remaining until you are to board the aircraft or jump out of it.
Canopy Another name for parachute.
Crabbing Canopy flown at an angle sideways to the ambient wind, resulting in a path across the ground that is sideways as well as forwards.
Creep Practising formation skydiving sequences while lying on a creeper.
Creeper A board with wheels on which a skydiver lies to simulate freefall manoeuvres.
Cut away To release the main parachute. Standard emergency procedure prior to deploying the reserve.
Dirt dive Skydive rehearsed on the ground.
Drogue In a tandem jump, a drogue parachute is released shortly after exiting the aircraft to reduce the speed of descent. It is later used to deploy the main canopy.
Dropzone/ DZ Skydiving landing zone.
Exit weight Total weight of jumper, equipment and clothing.
Fall rate Speed at which a skydiver falls. Matching fall rate is essential to successful formation skydiving. This is done with jumpsuits, weights and body position.
Flare To pull down the brakes of the canopy, thus increasing the angle of attack and reducing the descent rate.
Floater Skydivers who leave the plane before the base are called floaters since they must use a slow fall rate to get up to the base. Floating also refers to an exit position outside the plane.
Formation 1) A freefall skydiving formation of more than one jumper.
2) A flight of more than one jump plane.
Freestyle Acrobatic individual skydiving.
FS Formation Skydiving. Skydivers attempt to go through a predetermined sequence of freefall formations.
GPS Global Positioning System.
Grippers Handholds built onto formation skydiving jumpsuits to make the suits easier to hold onto.
Hand deploy To activate a canopy manually by deploying the pilot chute as opposed to pulling a ripcord.
Harness/ container Webbing/fabric holding main and reserve canopies to the skydiver.
Heading Direction in which the aircraft, skydiver or parachute is facing.
Hook knife Small knife carried in jumpsuit or on rig to cut lines or webbing.
Jump run Flight path taken by the jump plane.
Jumpsuit An overall designed for skydiving.
Main The primary canopy.
PLF Parachute Landing Fall. A technique used to minimize injury during rough landings, a PLF distributes the landing shock along feet, calves, thighs, hips and shoulders.
Reserve Auxiliary parachute carried on every intentional parachute jump.
Rig Slang for the entire canopy, including main and reserve canopies and the harness/container.
Rigger Someone who is qualified to pack and check the rig.
Ripcord Deployment system on all reserves and most student parachutes. The ripcord is a piece of cable with a handle at one end and a pin at the other. When pulled, the pin comes out of the closing loop holding the container shut, and the pilot chute is released.
RSL Reserve Static Line. A backup device for automatically deploying the reserve if the skydiver cuts away. Only effective in malfunctions where the main canopy is at least partially deployed.
RV Rendezvous.
Skygod Skydiver whose ego has grown faster than his ability.
Stall When the angle of attack becomes too high to sustain lift.
Steering lines The lines that run from the steering toggles to the trailing edge of the canopy.
Stering toggles Handles attached to the ends of the steering lines.
Swoop 1) To dive down to a formation or individual in freefall.
2) To aggressively approach the landing area in order to produce a long, flat flare and exciting landing.
Tandem Two skydivers share a rig, one of whom is in a separate harness that attaches to the front of the other harness.
Terminal velocity The speed at which drag matches gravity, resulting in a constant fall rate. Generally terminal velocity for formation skydiving is 120–135 mph.
Track Body position that creates a high forward speed. Used to approach or veer away from other skydivers in freefall.
Wave off Before deployment a skydiver makes a clearly defined arm motion to indicate to others nearby that he is about to open his canopy.
Wing loading The weight a canopy can carry in relation to its surface area.
Wuffo Slang for a person who doesn’t jump.
Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Copyright
Also by Andy McNab
Characters
Dropzone
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Glossary