Re: HAHO

["Gareth Livergood" <garethlivergood@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Ok, I've got a question. It's not really about HAHO I guess, because the
> altitude the person would jump out of the plane is about 30km ;)  I know
> that there are parachutes developed for these heights, so I mainly want to
> know what the temperatures would do to a person in normal business
> clothing. And how big such a chute is.
>
> Arclight
>
    First, I am going to assume that you mean 30000 feet not 30 kilometers
(30km is about 120000 ft., a guy jumped from a balloon near that altitude,
but he was wearing the equivilant of a space suit and still the trip nearly
killed him).  The temp at 30000 is around -40 to -60* F.  I don't know the
specifics of survival at those temps, however frostbite and worse are a very
seriouse concern.  The water vapor in your lungs could freeze if breathing
in that cold of air.  The tears could freeze, skin freezes near these temps.
These temps can be encountered in the arctic and antarctic and sometimes
furthur south into southern Canada and the Dakotas during nasty winters.
Survival is tricky on the ground, at altitude, in a 120mph freefall.
    I don't know any specifics of the HAHO parachutes, except they would be
the parafoil style and probably oversized, other than that I don't know.
>
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