Falling Art

– For us these classes at 25 BKPow are of large value. In Belgium, to do akin exercises, we request to rent civilian tunnels, but there are restrictions on use. We can't, for example, fly in a tunnel with equipment. Here, the training is very akin to the conditions during the actual jumps from the aircraft – said Colonel Jonathan Verstraete of the Belgian Training Centre for Paratroopers.

Even a fewer tens of kilos of spatter

Officers tried their forces in the aerodynamic tunnel, wearing parachutes, oxygen tanks, but besides another equipment, including backpacks, weapons or equipment, specified as skis. They floated for a fewer meters to later exercise their position at the air rush. The velocity of the soldier falling after jumping from 4000 m is about 200 km/h. The duration of this flight phase is little than a minute. In the 25 BKPow simulator, a one-time exercise session lasted 2 minutes. Instructors trained with loads, including weapons.

– A soldier can wear an additional equipment weighing up to a fewer twelve kilograms. These are combat parachutes, tanks, weapons, oxygen equipment and another equipment. These elements have irregular shapes, they are arranged differently, which can affect stableness during the flight, and the safety of the paratrooper depends on it," explains Major Orłowski. He adds that the aerodynamic tunnel, in which the 25 BKPow soldiers have been practicing since 2013, allows them to train under controlled conditions, regardless of weather, without having to fly. “Since we usage a simulator to exercise, it is simply safer, and the soldiers later feel more assured during actual jumps,” added the officer.

Falling alone and group

The invited guests together with Polish instructors practiced flights on the simulator with and without the additional load. They floated in the air alone and in pairs, even the 3 of them. – If you are a master in an aerodynamic tunnel, you will besides be a master in the air during real jumps. Why? due to the fact that the tunnel is bound by walls, so you gotta keep a unchangeable position so you don't collide with them. There is no specified regulation in the air, so it is simply a very good school – Captain Vladislav Marusek of the 53rd Regiment of designation and Electronic Combat of the Czech Republic admits.

NATO Tunnel Training participants, in addition to exercises in the simulator, besides held classes for AFF instructors (Accelerated Freefall), i.e. free fall, dedicated, among others, to how to conduct specified training, to insure a soldier who gives his first jumps, to respond in an emergency. NATO Tunnel Training was held in 25 BKPow for the first time. The organizers are already announcing another edition next year.