Casio hopes that these advertisements featuring smokejumpers will help them sell watches. The one above has only music in the sound track, while below you will hear the narrator extolling it’s virtues in Russian. At least I think it’s Russian.
Using smokejumpers to sell a watch
What was wrong with getting out at 1000 feet AGL with a eight foot static line? Technology?
BLM and USFS Ram Air smokejumpers all use an AAD (automatic actuation device, I think that is the the proper terminology). After streamers are thrown at 1500 feet to determine wind drift, the aircraft climbs to 3000 feet for ram air exits. The pilot tells the spotter when the airplane is level and stabilized at 3000 feet. This information is relayed to the jumpers who set their AAD which will activate during the jump if certain conditions are met and it has not been deactivated by the jumper. Upon exiting the airplane a drogue parachute is deployed by a static line, the jumper is require to pull the “rip cord” to deploy the main canopy or the AAD will do it. See a photo of the drogue deployment and proper body position here, http://fireaviation.com/2015/09/22/forest-service-to-transition-to-ram-air-parachutes/
You know, they are going to read this and remove you from the target audience for these types of commercials, don’t you…
When did the smokejumper quit using static lines?
They didn’t.
BLM Jumpers in the Great Basin and Alaska use the Ram-Air system that is not static-line deployed. Counts on the Jumper to pull the “rip cord” Several fatalities have occurred with this system.
No, BLM jumpers use a static line that deploys a drogue chute. The jumper then pulls the drogue release handle to deploy the main. I believe there have been three fatalities with this system, and two with rounds.
The aircraft appears to be N52FW a DHC-6-100 registered to KAPOWSIN AIR SPORTS LTD in Shelton WA.
It appears to be a Twin Otter but not the normal jump door. The jumper is in a free fall pose and I do not see a static line. That is not a smokejumper.
And, the people you see in this commercial and in crime dramas and hospital shows are not firefighters, law enforcement officers, or doctors. They are actors. The producers hope that you can suspend disbelief for 20 seconds or 60 minutes.