Sport Parachuting

Reading audio



2004-5-11

VOICE ONE:

EXPLORATIONS -- a program in Special English by the Voice of
America.

(THEME)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to jump out of an
airplane with only a large round piece of material to keep you safe?
Well, today, you will find out. I'm Shirley Griffith. Ray Freeman
and I will describe the activity known as sport parachuting.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

Excitement fills the early morning
air as you arrive at the little airport for your lesson in sport
parachuting. First you learn to recognize and name each part of the
parachute. You also learn what each part does.

The excitement builds as your teacher describes each step of the
jump from take-off to landing. He tells you what to do in an
emergency. Again and again, he explains the need for safety.

By early afternoon, you have completed the schoolwork. Now it is
time for your first jump. As you put on the equipment, you probably
begin to think, "Do I really want to do this?" You are excited, of
course, but a little afraid, too.

VOICE ONE:

The teacher inspects your equipment. Nothing is loose. Nothing is
broken. He asks you questions about safety. Finally, he smiles and
says you are ready.

Then you, two other students and the teacher climb into a small
airplane. The pilot makes sure everyone is sitting down and that no
one else is outside near the plane. The plane's engine starts. The
pilot moves the plane to the end of the runway. Moments later, you
are climbing into the sky.

The door of the plane has been taken off so you can get out more
easily with all the parachute equipment. Without the door, the
engine noise and the wind are very loud. Talking is almost
impossible. So you sit there and think about everything you have
learned. You go over each step for a successful and safe jump. You
try to put the fear out of your mind.

While you are thinking, your teacher and the pilot are working.
The teacher leans out the door, watching the ground far below. With
one hand he points toward a spot in the sky above your landing area.
When the teacher is satisfied that the plane is flying toward the
right place, he shouts:

VOICE TWO:

"Jump-run!"

VOICE ONE:

This means you are getting close to the jump area. When the plane
reaches it, your teacher tells the pilot:

VOICE TWO:

"Cut the engine!"

VOICE ONE:

The pilot slows the plane's engine. Then the teacher points at
you, and says:

VOICE TWO:

"Sit in the door!"

VOICE ONE:

Still fighting your fear, you sit in the doorway, with your legs
outside the airplane. Then, you get the next command:

VOICE TWO:

"Climb out!"

VOICE ONE:

You reach out and hold the wing support. When you have a good,
tight hold with both hands, you slide out of the plane using its
wheel as a step. When you reach the right position, you step off the
wheel.

Hanging by your hands, you look at your teacher and nod your
head. You are ready and waiting for his final command. You look down
at the ground, nine-hundred meters below your feet. The wind from
the plane's propeller feels heavy against your chest.

Then your teacher shouts:

VOICE TWO:

"Go!"

VOICE ONE:

You let go of the wing support and fall away from the plane. You
throw your head back, arms out, legs apart, as you learned. You fall
face forward toward the Earth below.

The sound of the engine and the scream of the wind disappear
immediately. There is only silence. You feel you are moving...but
not falling.

Quickly, a line tied to the plane pulls the parachute from its
pack. The lines of the parachute and the stiff straps of the
parachute harness gently pull on your shoulders and legs.

You look up. The big, colorful
parachute is now fully open above you. You look at it carefully to
make sure it is not damaged. Reaching over your head, you hold the
left and right steering lines. You pull the left one and begin a
slow, smooth turn to the left.

VOICE TWO:

You still have no feeling of falling. You seem to hang in the
air. There is no longer any feeling of fear. Yet your heart is
racing with excitement. You look around. You can see for many
kilometers. You look down between your feet. You can see people,
cars and buildings. They look very small.

For a few moments, you enjoy the view and the silence of your
first parachute jump.

VOICE ONE:

Too soon, it seems, it is time to prepare for landing. You watch
the landing area and move toward it by pulling on the left or right
steering lines. You aim for the soft sand in the center of the
landing place.

Suddenly, the ground is moving quickly toward you. You bring your
feet together and bend your legs at the knee. You reach high into
the straps above your head. You keep your eyes straight ahead. You
hit the ground, gently, it seems. And, as you learned, you roll on
your side to the left and come back up onto your feet.

You gather up your parachute, being careful not to cross the many
lines. Your first sport parachute jump has been safe, successful and
great fun.

VOICE TWO:

The idea of the parachute is almost as old as man's dreams of
flight. The first known parachute designs were drawn by Italian
artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci as early as
Fourteen-Ninety-Five. However, there is no evidence that Da Vinci
ever built a parachute.

About two-hundred years ago, Louis-Sebastian Lenormand of France
invented a kind of parachute to save people at the top of tall
burning buildings. Historians say he jumped safely from a building
in Montpellier, France, using his small device.

The first man to use a real parachute was Andre-Jacques Garnerin.
In Seventeen-Ninety-Seven, he parachuted from a balloon six-hundred
meters above the city of Paris.

VOICE ONE:

There were more and more parachute designs after the invention of
the airplane. Early planes often crashed. Fliers needed a safety
device that would let them escape from a falling plane. Parachutes
saved many of their lives.

Parachutes became so dependable that military leaders believed
they could be used to get soldiers to a battlefield quickly.
American General Billy Mitchell tested the idea in
Nineteen-Twenty-Eight. Six soldiers jumped by parachute from an
airplane. When they landed, they set up a machine gun. The test was
a complete success. And the parachute became a useful military tool.

In the past thirty years, parachuting has become an exciting
sport. It became popular when young men who learned to parachute in
the military wanted to continue jumping when they returned to
civilian life. Today, parachuting is enjoyed by men and women, young
and old.

VOICE TWO:

There are many kinds of sport parachuting. One of the most
interesting is skydiving.

Jumpers leave the airplane as it flies more than
three-thousand-meters above the ground. They fall for about one
minute before opening their parachute. They use their bodies, and
the air that rushes past them, to control their flight while
falling. They can speed up or slow down. They can turn left or
right. They can turn over completely.

People who like to skydive say they can do anything an airplane
can do, except go up! Those who jump say skydiving is as close as
man will ever come to free flight...like that of birds.

VOICE ONE:

Today's parachutes are very different from the device Leonardo Da
Vinci designed five-hundred years ago. They come in many different
shapes and colors.

One of the most popular is shaped more like a rectangle than the
traditional circle of old parachutes. This one works much like a jet
airplane. It forces the air that passes through it to the back.
Large openings in the back can be opened or closed to steer it.

Some of the most modern kinds of parachutes give jumpers much
more control over where they float. Jumpers can fall gently down. Or
they can travel forward, while falling, at speeds of forty
kilometers an hour.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program,
EXPLORATIONS. Your narrators were Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman.
Our program was written and produced by Paul Thompson. Listen again
next week at this time for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice
of America.


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