#HTE

POV Footage of Navy SEALs Parachuting Into a Football Stadium

The Leap Frogs is the nickname for the U.S. Navy Parachute Team, a volunteer group of active-duty Navy SEALs and their lesser-known SWCC (Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen) compatriots. The Leap Frogs conduct public outreach for the Navy by conducting precise jumps into public events, like the following:

I was surprised that the jumpers can actually hear each other whilst in the air. It is crazy how close they are able to get to each other without getting their chutes entangled. The POV footage doesn’t quite make it clear what they’re doing, but seen from afar their “three stack” maneuver looks like this…

…and when their legs are entangled, they’re doing what is known as a “downplane” maneuver, whereby the two chutes are pulling in opposite directions.

With a single jumper, a downplane situation—whereby both the main chute and the reserve chute are accidentally deployed—results in falling a helluva lot faster than you ought to and is often followed by funeral arrangements. I suppose the Navy jumpers are trained to do it because the increased falling speed confers a tactical advantage.

The jump shown in the video above was conducted last month at the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium.

Via Reddit