When deployed, these oscillations damp out and the parachute achieves a forward velocity which may be steered into the wind to minimize ground relative velocity or to avoid collisions. Click here for a larger image. These aircrew members find themselves flying a military aircraft in what is equivalent to an aircraft engine-out emergency situation, having, at best, only received minimal training in its flight, and that under benign conditions at the beginning of their career.
Subsequent training is limited to infrequent procedures training while suspended in a harness.
Compared to operational paratroopers or smokejumpers , training to proficiency is particularly critical because in emergencies there are no options on critical factors such as time of day or night, wind maximums or weather, and on landing terrain or hostile forces. Flight simulators have been adopted by the military and commercial aviation communities as standard and essential training methodology for all conventional aircraft. Recent experience has shown that canopy control simulator training can occur simultaneously with standard recurrent suspended harness training, with little or no schedule impact, while providing an incentive which helps overcome previous objections due to discomfort from the harness during training. One of the most important results of simulator training is the increase in aircrew's self-confidence in using their emergency parachute equipment when necessary. This decreases the natural tendency of personnel in an emergency situation to want to stay in an aircraft even beyond the point when procedures and good judgement would dictate otherwise.