The canopy skirt caught air, opened, inflated the canopy fully, and
the parachute and its 'weight' descended. The ground crew tracked the
parachute visually to estimate where it would land.
Ground crew work was not dull. I remember how we spread out along
an aircraft's line of flight as it neared the drop zone, observed the chute
ejection and canopy opening, and the dummy swinging in an arc
underneath. There were times during low altitude drops when ground
crew had to move fast to get out of the way. As soon as we thought that
we knew where the parachute would land, we'd run toward it and, as soon
as we got to where the parachute landed, jump on and pin down the
dummy, haul in one (preferably two) of the webbing straps (risers), spill
air from the canopy, and get it all together with the least possible damage
to the parachute-and ourselves.
There were times, even on a relatively calm day, when a gust would pass
across the field and re-inflate the canopy before we got to it. A partially
inflated canopy in a gentle breeze can drag a 120-pound dummy along
the ground faster than ground handlers can run.
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