Bailing Out

[Music] one day last spring lieutenant Wesley J butch McCorkle ran into some unusual flying condition [Music] the question arose should he bailout [Music] what to do meanwhile of course McCorkle was rapidly losing altitude the situation presented but one opportunity failing out why did he visit me fear of using the parachute dates back five century [Music] ever since it's been mentioned by the artist Leonardo da Vinci men have shown reluctance to employ the device [Music] [Music] falling through space is one of the basic fears of mankind like many other flyers in this crisis McCorkle delayed acting he tried to escape his fear by hiding in the false security of his cockpit until the grim reality became alarming he had the bailiff suspicion of the parachute began with the first successful descent July 3rd 1785 in France the great pioneer balloonist jean pierre blonde chard pass the honor to his intrepid associate [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] unlike fearless Alphonse our man McCorkle was timid about hitting the silk he was afraid of getting hurt afraid it wouldn't open and afraid of landing that mccorkle's the McCorkle perish the thought before it perishes you and then he remembers for the Navy pilot who jumped correctly from a high enough altitude a parachute has never failed open when he checked it out McCorkle knew he could trust that chute to open his guarantee was the packing data card proving that the parachute had been inspected and freshly packed all he had to do was check that the pins were in place and were safety tied of course McCorkle knew he had to wear his chute and harness exactly as prescribed properly fastened and snugged up tight otherwise like for instance with blue stripe things could happen such as throwing undo strains on the body but McCorkle had followed regulations and now he recovered his confidence just in the nick of time which was high time to get out while the getting is good after all he was not on a picnic McCorkle followed the recommended procedure first he did his best to slow the plane down then he opened his canopy and began to disconnect his radio cord and his oxygen gear he would have plugged in his bailout oxygen bottle if he'd been on oxygen last of all he opened his safety belt and threw back his shoulder straps where they could not tangle with his parachute harness then he put his goggles down even though he knew he'd probably lose them first thing and turned to face his chosen side of exit taking care to stay down out of the slipstream and remembering that if he put his foot on the edge of the cockpit his spring would raise him too high into the slipstream this wasn't going to happen to McCorkle because of his ground training where he had learned the right technique he placed his hands on the side of the plane ready to pull himself out at the same time shoving with his feet powerful fast and low and going straight out and down this way clearly missing the tail surfaces and twelve and until he was well clear of the plane and below freezing and oxic altitudes when he laid eyes on that ripcord grip took hold up tight he took the opening shot easy there was just one more little problem landing fortunately McCorkle had plenty of experience as a boy jumping off the old wood ship where the force of landing was equal to that of hitting the ground in a parachute it learned to come down lightly relax now McCorkle faced the direction of his drift preparing to land on land that had been a water landing he would have released his harness as soon as his feet were wet but McCorkle landed on good old real estate like glean nimbly completely relax he didn't have the trouble this lass had with her umbrella and the strong large wind he could collapse his chute by pulling on the lower rises well done McGuirk oh nothing really [Music]