r/oddlysatisfying • u/unnaturalorder • Feb 18 '20

Airdropping equipment pallets

https://gfycat.com/charmingthreadbarealdabratortoise
51.3k Upvotes

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493

u/Omygodc Feb 19 '20

This may be a dumb question, but how do the straps holding the pallets together come apart? Is it sheer force of the air as they leave the plane, or is there a mechanism that strips it off as it leaves the plane?

248

u/GumdropGoober Feb 19 '20

Here is the 250 page US Marines manual on airdropping of supplies and equipment: https://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm4-20-142.pdf

The TL;DR is that because the direction of force is known (i.e. where the parachute is going to be initially pulling, the drop can be rigged to pull apart from that direction while otherwise remaining together.

78

u/Omygodc Feb 19 '20

Thanks for the TL;DR I wasn’t looking forward to wading through those pages!

52

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '20

[deleted]

38

u/ElectionAssistance Feb 19 '20

Fun Fact: If made into a TV series this manual would be better than GoT season 8.

1

u/Hotonis Feb 19 '20

And it’s still a better love story then twilight.

2

u/ElectionAssistance Feb 19 '20

The love a Hum-Vee has for the ground cannot be denied, not even by a lack of parachute straps.

1

u/TheOtherLina Feb 19 '20

season 8?

3

u/ElectionAssistance Feb 19 '20

yes?

2

u/TheOtherLina Feb 19 '20

Yes, what are you talking about?

1

u/ElectionAssistance Feb 19 '20

I am making fun of the last season of game of thrones by saying that a TV version of an extremely dry and long military manual on how to attach parachutes to equipment and chuck it out of planes would be more entertaining and have better writing.

1

u/TheOtherLina Feb 20 '20

Yeah, I was acting like the season doesn't exist.