On Feb 19, 3:28 pm, Sally W
wrote:
At 19:54 19 February 2007, Andy wrote:

On Feb 19, 1:48 am, Sally W
wrote:
and some fantastic footage of one following down the
presenter who had made a tandem parachute jump from
a balloon - at 150mph or more

I'd be amazed by that too. Did they forget to deploy
the drogue
chute?

No, two people jumping in tandem have a higher terminal
velocity than one on their own though I might have
the wrong speed. The instructor most certainly *did*
pull the rip-cord - this was not a static line jump
and they did land safely!

Two in tandem would fall faster than one.That's why a tandem has a
drogue that's deployed immediately after leaving the airplane. I
imagine the drogue deploy could be delayed from a balloon but I never
jumped balloons (yet). With the drogue out a tandem has a similar fall
speed to a solo jumper. Approx 115mph I think.

Anyway, I didn't mean to detract from the story. Jumping with a
trained Hawk would be quite a thrill!

Andy