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Introduction to Parachutes By Mike Vaughn and Bonnie Richardson Parachute History: Leonardo da Vinci created the concept circa 1485. Fauste Veranzio jumped from a tower in Venice in 1617. Jean Pierre Blanchard used one in the first emergency jump in 1785 when his hot air balloon exploded.
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Introduction to Parachutes By Mike Vaughn and Bonnie Richardson
Parachute History: • Leonardo da Vinci created the concept circa 1485. • Fauste Veranzio jumped from a tower in Venice in 1617. • Jean Pierre Blanchard used one in the first emergency jump in 1785 when his hot air balloon exploded. • Parachutes used to be confined to carnivals, circuses, and daredevil acts. • Captain Thomas Baldwin developed a harness for the parachute in 1887. • The concept of folding or packing the parachute in a backpack-like container was created by Paul Letterman and Katchen Paulus in 1890.
The first jump from an airplane is claimed by both Capt. Albert Berry and Grant Morton in 1911. • Freefall jumps were conducted in 1917 at the parachute testing and training center at Wright Field by Leslie Irving and Floyd Smith, who also developed the rip cord.
Interesting Fun Fact! • A parachute is also called a MAXIMUM DRAG DECELERATOR. It helps lower a person to the ground safely!
The word: PARACHUTE • Parachute comes from the French word para, protect or shield, and chute, to fall. • Therefore, parachute actually means “to protect from a fall.”
Parachutes Uses • Parachutes are used in the military for airdrops and for paratroopers. • Parachutes can be used for food drops, and for drops that involve supplies, medicine, equipment, etc.
Smokejumpers are firefighters who parachute to remote areas to build firebreaks. • There are parachutes attached to the Space Shuttle booster rockets. They are recovered after falling to the ocean.
Drag racers use them to help the car stop after crossing the finish line at very high speeds. • Fighter jets have ejector seats in case the pilots have to eject during combat, or if they cannot regain control of the aircraft.
Skydivers jump out of planes for fun!! And if they did not have parachutes, they could not survive the trip!! • Gliders are similar to parachutes and have a handlebar. Some gliders are motorized.