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Bill Booth | |
|---|---|
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| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Engineer, inventor, entrepreneur |
Bill Booth (born 1946 in Coral Gables, Florida) [1] is an American engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur in the skydiving equipment manufacturing industry. His invention of the 3-ring release safety device has enhanced skydiving safety. He founded the companies United Parachute Technologies and Complete Parachute Solutions, which had 150 employees as of 2015. [1]
Bill Booth began skydiving in 1965, and in 1972 started a skydiving equipment company based in a Miami garage. [1] In the late 1970s, Booth made two skydiving inventions. First he invented and patented the Hand Deploy Pilot Chute System. Later, he invented the 3-ring release system. [2]
The company's first harness/container system was the Wonderhog in 1974. This was followed by the Wonderhog Sprint and in 1980 by the Vector. The U.S. Skydiving Team wore the first Vectors at the 1981 World Meet. The Vector II followed six years later.
In 1983, Booth received the Parachute Equipment Industry Association Achievement Award. The Federation Aeronautic International awarded him the 1984 Gold Medal for outstanding achievement in parachute safety design.
Booth's invention of the 3-ring release safety device enhanced skydiving safety. The device allows the rapid release of the skydiver's main parachute in the event of a malfunction. As of 2020, all sport skydiving equipment and some military systems employ the design. [3]
He also invented the pull-out and throw-out pilot chute. [4] A pilot chute is a small parachute used to extract and deploy a main parachute. The throw-out approach replaces the spring-loaded pilot chute which was released by a rip-cord. The throw-out system allows the skydiver to deploy his or her pilot chute directly into the air stream. Other inventions include the Skyhook RSL [5] [6] safety device and the "Sigma System" for tandem drogue release.
Booth founded The Relative Workshop, a sport skydiving equipment manufacturer that introduced the WonderHog harness/container system. The WonderHog was so named because of the 'piggy-back' design with the reserve container located above the main container on the back of the skydiver instead of the belly-mounted reserve seen on earlier systems. The Relative Workshop has changed its name and is now called United Parachute Technologies.
Booth was also instrumental in obtaining FAA recognition of the tandem jump as a means of teaching skydiving. From 1984 to 2001, tandem skydiving was possible in the U.S. only as an "volunteer experimental test jumper" under exemptions to FAA rules, due to the "one person, two parachutes" definition of parachuting. [7]
United Parachute Technologies sells the Vector 3 and Vector 3 Micron Harness/Container system. The latest[ when? ] versions incorporate innovations like magnetic riser covers, a spectra ripcord and the Skyhook RSL system.
'Booth's rule #2', which states that "The safer skydiving gear becomes, the more chances skydivers will take, in order to keep the fatality rate constant" is often attributed to him. This is an example of risk compensation. [8] [9]
BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend safely to the ground. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antenna, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). Participants exit from a fixed object such as a cliff, and after an optional freefall delay, deploy a parachute to slow their descent and land. A popular form of BASE jumping is wingsuit BASE jumping.
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who can exit from an aircraft at height and descend safely to earth.
A drogue parachute is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly-moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute. Vehicles that have used drogue parachutes include multi-stage parachutes, aircraft, and spacecraft recovery systems.
The 3-ring release system is a parachute component that is widely used by sport skydivers and military freefall parachutists to attach the two risers of a main parachute to the harness that bears the load under the parachute.
CYPRES is an acronym for Cybernetic Parachute Release System. It refers to a specific make and model of an automatic activation device (AAD), a device that automatically activates a parachute under certain circumstances. A CYPRES is designed to activate the reserve parachute at a preset altitude if the rate of descent is over a certain threshold. The manufacturer of the CYPRES is Airtec.
In skydiving, an automatic activation device (AAD) is a dead man's switch consisting of an electronic-pyrotechnic or mechanical device that automatically opens the main or reserve parachute container at a preset altitude or after a preset time.
A malfunction is a partial or total failure of a parachuting device to operate as intended. Malfunctions may require a skydiver to cut away their main parachute and deploy the reserve parachute.
A pilot chute is a small auxiliary parachute used to deploy the main or reserve parachute. The pilot chute is connected by a bridle to the deployment bag containing the parachute. Pilot chutes are a critical component of all modern skydiving and BASE jumping gear. Pilot chutes are also used as a component of spacecraft such as NASA's Orion.
Tandem skydiving or tandem parachuting refers to a type of skydiving where a student skydiver is connected to an instructor via a harness. The instructor guides the student through the whole jump from exit through freefall, piloting the canopy, and landing. The student needs only minimal instruction before making a tandem jump with the instructor. In the United States most skydiving centers and clubs require that you be 18 years or older to skydive whereas in other countries the minimum age can be lower or higher. This is one of three commonly used training methods for beginning skydivers; the others being Static line, Instructor-assisted deployment (IAD), and Accelerated freefall (AFF) (k).
The Skyhook is United Parachute Technologies version of a Main-Assisted Reserve Deployment system (MARD), a safety feature on skydiving parachute systems. It builds on the concept underlying an ordinary reserve static line (RSL), which uses the force of the departing main parachute to open the reserve parachute compartment after the malfunctioning main parachute is cut-away, by further using the force of the departing main parachute to extract the reserve parachute out of the reserve compartment. This greatly decreases the time, and hence loss of altitude, required to fully open the reserve parachute.
Cut-away is a skydiving term referring to disconnecting the main parachute from the harness-container in case of a malfunction in preparation for opening the reserve parachute. The 3-ring release system on parachutes allows a rapid cut-away in the event of an emergency.
A reserve static line, occasionally called a Stevens Lanyard, is a device that automatically opens the reserve parachute container when the main parachute is cut-away. The RSL is a lanyard connecting one or both of the main parachute risers to the reserve ripcord.
Accelerated freefall (AFF) is a method of skydiving training. This method of skydiving training is called "accelerated" because the progression is the fastest way to experience solo freefall, normally from 10,000 to 15,000 feet above ground level (AGL). In static line progression, more jumps are required to experience freefall, but the jumps are less expensive for the student as one instructor can dispatch multiple students per load and students are initially dispatched from lower altitudes. Under accelerated freefall, one or sometimes two instructors are dedicated just to one student.
Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes.
A ripcord is a part of a skydiving harness-container system; a handle attached to a steel cable ending in a closing pin. The pin keeps the container closed and keeps the spring-loaded pilot chute inside. When the ripcord is pulled, the container is opened and the pilot chute is released, opening the parachute. On tandem systems the ripcord releases the 3-ring release system anchoring the bridle to the harness-container, allowing the parachute to open.
CharlesBroadwick was an American pioneering parachutist and inventor. Speaking about Broadwick, an executive director of the U.S. Parachute Association, Ed Scott, said "just about all modern parachute systems" use ideas Broadwick developed: "an integrated, form-fitting harness and container system nestled on the back." Broadwick also developed the static line, a line from a parachute to an aircraft that pulls the parachute from its pouch. Static lines are still used today, for instance by paratroopers and novice skydivers. U.S. Army Warrant Officer Jeremiah Jones commented, "[Broadwick] is like the grandfather of paratroopers." In addition, Broadwick demonstrated parachute jumps at fairs and taught and equipped famous female parachutist Tiny Broadwick.
A closing pin is a curved piece of stainless steel metal used in the sport of skydiving. The pin is sewn onto the bridle, which is a 7- to 10-foot-long piece of nylon webbing connected to the pilot chute. The closing pin passes through the closing loop and in doing so, secures the main container of a skydiving rig, keeping the parachute from deploying prematurely. When the pilot chute is thrown out by the skydiver and catches air, it pulls the closing pin from the closing loop and allows the main parachute to be released from the container and inflate.
H. Truesdell Smith—known variously as "H. T. Smith", "Henry Truesdell Smith", "Harold Truesdell Smith", or "Daredevil Smitty" but best known as "Smitty the Jumper"—was an American exhibition parachutist and skydiver of the 1920s and 1930s. He made periodic returns to skydiving starting in the late 1950s, jumping in every subsequent decade until his death, becoming widely known as "the oldest living skydiver", a title he claimed until his death in 1995 at the age of 96.
Luke Aikins is an American professional skydiver, BASE jumper, pilot, and aerial photographer. He is the first person to intentionally dive from mid-tropospheric altitude and land safely without a parachute or a wingsuit and the second skydiver to intentionally jump and safely land without using a parachute.
A Main-Assisted Reserve Deployment (MARD) system is a skydiving safety device for parachute systems. While there are many variations, the operation and intended outcome for each is the same: open the reserve parachute container and extract the reserve parachute's deployment bag using the jettisoned main canopy. A MARD builds upon how a Reserve static line (RSL) safety device works and in most circumstances, MARDs incorporate an RSL.