D. B. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, the hijacker told a flight attendant he was armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, the hijacker instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. About 30 minutes after taking off from Seattle, the hijacker opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. The hijacker has never been found or conclusively identified.
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.
High-altitude military parachuting, or military free fall (MFF), is a method of delivering military personnel, military equipment, and other military supplies from a transport aircraft at a high altitude via free-fall parachute insertion. Two techniques are used: HALO and HAHO.
Wingsuit flying is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just free falling. The modern wingsuit, first developed in the late 1990s, uses a pair of fabric membranes stretched flat between the arms and flanks/thighs to imitate an airfoil, and often also between the legs to function as a tail and allow some aerial steering.
Drop Zone is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by John Badham, starring Wesley Snipes, Gary Busey, Yancy Butler, Michael Jeter, Sam Hennings, Luca Bercovici and Kyle Secor. When a U.S. Marshal has to break up a drug smuggling gang, he has to take to the skies. Drop Zone was released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on December 9, 1994.
Bill Booth 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.
The United States Army Airborne School—widely known as Jump School—conducts the basic paratrooper training for the United States Armed Forces. It is operated by the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 507th Infantry, United States Army Infantry School, Fort Moore, Georgia. The Airborne School conducts the Basic Airborne Course, which is open to troops from all branches of the United States Department of Defense, Reserve Officer Training Corps, and allied military personnel.
Accelerated freefall (AFF) (known in Canada as progressive freefall, and in Finland as Nova (NOpeutettu VApaapudotus, a literal translation) is a method of training for skydiving, 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), allowing one to reach a higher terminal velocity than normal.
The United States Army Parachute Team, nicknamed the Golden Knights, is a demonstration and competition parachute team of the United States Army. It consists of demonstration and competition parachutist teams, drawn from all branches of the U.S. Army. Members must demonstrate excellence in parachuting.
The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper is a 1981 American crime thriller film about infamous aircraft hijacker D. B. Cooper, who escaped with $200,000 after leaping from the back of a Boeing 727 airliner on November 24, 1971. The bulk of the film fictionalizes Cooper's escape after he landed on the ground.
Similar to skydiving, space diving is the act of jumping from an aircraft or spacecraft in near space and falling towards Earth. The Kármán line is a common definition as to where space begins, 100 km (62 mi) above sea level. This definition is accepted by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), which is an international standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. The United States Air Force uses 50 mi (80 km) to award astronaut wings.
The Parachute Association of South Africa (PASA) manages the sports of parachuting and skydiving in South Africa on behalf of the South African Civil Aviation Authority.
The Australian Defence Force Parachuting School is an Australian Army unit part of the Defence Special Operations Training and Education Centre (DSOTEC) that provides training in parachuting techniques, develops parachute doctrine and techniques and conducts trial-evaluations of parachute systems and associated equipment. The school is based adjacent to HMAS Albatross, Nowra, New South Wales.
Parachuting and skydiving is a method of transiting from a high point in an atmosphere to the ground or ocean surface with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes.
The Esquadrão Aeroterrestre de Salvamento (EAS), known by its nickname Para-SAR, is a Brazilian Air Force special operations search and rescue squadron, based in the city of Campo Grande.
Guy Manos is a former world champion skydiver and multiple world record holder, as well as a screenwriter, film director, and stuntman. He is a graduate of the University of Miami Film School.
Norman Albert Kent is an aerial cinematographer and skydiver best known for his aerial videography in films such as Cutaway, Drop Zone and Terminal Velocity.
Nicholas John Piantanida was an American amateur parachute jumper who reached 123,500 feet with his Strato Jump II balloon on February 2, 1966, flying a crewed balloon higher than anyone before, a record that stood until Felix Baumgartner's flight on October 14, 2012.
Rachel Thomas is an Indian skydiver. She was the first Indian woman to skydive from 7,000 ft over the North Pole on 20 April 2002, to commemorate 150 years of the Indian Railways.
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.
