Ford made another mental note, too, because besides not knowing about the rifle, he knew even less about the engines and landing gear on Devil Dragon. He’d also be jumping in pretty light on basic military survival gear, inserting himself illegally into China, with near zero gear, via a parachute. This wasn’t the time for Wu to play I have a secret. Upon further thought, he’d definitely want to know before he left U.S. soil for planning purposes.
The ramp on the C-130 remained down, touching the ground, even after the rest of the Team was on board. Engines were still going, light black exhaust trailing and blowing with force out the back, and then dissipating down the flight line. Ford and Tosca boarded last, and were eyed by the Niagara loadmaster. The loadmaster was busy talking into his headset microphone, most likely busting their chops due to their unique looking wing suits. Ford could only imagine what the loadmaster was telling the rest of the Herc crew about how funny they looked. The loadmaster pointed to the two last positions near the doorway since they were heading out first, signaling that was where to sit.
Today's military free-fall operation was the perfect training ground for Ford’s mission. It was also a typical SEAL Team jump that they used to deploy quickly and quietly, compared to a complete conventional static line jump that the Army would most likely conduct. The Army has a chute that opened up as soon as they departed the side door of the aircraft, and usually performed the procedure by having hundreds of jumpers out the door in the same time window, over a lengthy drop zone of a mile or more.
The Niagara C-130, using “BISON 82” as their callsign, took off and departed from the runway on the way up to altitude. BISON 82 climbed and climbed, taking about 30 minutes for them to get to altitude and cruise awhile, especially so the aircrew could complete their checklists up front between the pilots, flight engineer, and navigator. Just as important, they needed to get their aircrew oxygen going, too.
As the navigator gave the pilots a solid approach to the insertion point over the Suffolk, Virginia drop zone, the flight engineer ran the checklists for decompression and oxygen, among other things, to prepare the Herc for the jump. The flight engineer then signaled to the loadmaster over the intercom headset to lower the ramp. Between the noises, freezing temperatures, smell of exhaust and kerosene-like fuel, in addition to the rush of outside air, all communication between the jumpers and the loadmaster was done by hand and arm signals. The teammates did have intra-team radios, but were not connected to the aircraft. Because of the two separate missions going on with the wing suit training and the tactical jump, and that Ford would be doing the real mission solo, Ford and Tosca had no radios.
The loadmaster signaled to the jumpmaster SEAL in charge of all the jumpers, to verify that their helmets were fastened, to unbuckle seatbelts, and double check personal oxygen. Ford and Tosca gave the signal back for "OK" with their hands, which was done by touching their thumb and finger. The loadmaster gave the two-minute signal as well. At this point, the jumpers unplugged their oxygen hoses from the aircraft oxygen system, then to their personal oxygen tanks.
Then, the loadmaster raised his arm up into the air, which told the jumpers they should stand up, which they did. A few more seconds went by. The loadmaster then raised his arms straight out with his palm up at the shoulder level, then touched his helmet. This told all the jumpers to move to towards the rear of the aircraft. Some shuffled because of their heavy packs and gear, while Ford and Tosca moved somewhat effortlessly because they weren’t hauling anything but themselves. They were also sitting in the far rear of the Herc, closest to the ramp.
BISON 82 was bringing them near the insertion point, and Ford and Tosca stopped at the hinges of the cargo ramp. The rest of the SEAL squad, complete with their packs, Zodiac boat, rifles, ammo, communication gear, and other strange tactical items Ford had never seen before, all moved towards the rear of the plane. Ford could not hear much because of his helmet and earplugs, but did hear some of the SEALs yelling out of motivation just in back of him.
This was always the point when Ford had butterflies in his stomach. It never prevented him from jumping, but it was more of a nervous excitement. His neighbors and friends, ever since high school, always laughed and criticized him for jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. This was the moment, though, and he was ready. Ford said under his breath that they must be seconds away now, but it seemed like days.
Upfront in the C-130 cockpit, the navigator was talking with the pilots on to the proper insertion point. Giving them one or two degree heading changes for accuracy, the navigator was verbally telling the pilots to come left, or a little right, and verifying their altitude and airspeed. At just the precise moment, the navigator gave the command to the copilot to flip the light.
“GREEN LIGHT!” yelled the navigator.
“ON!” replied the co-pilot. The copilot reached his right hand over to his right console, and flipped the silver toggle switch to the on position, putting in motion a series of events that could not be reversed, even if tried.
Ford and the other jumpers could not hear any of the BISON flight crew, but stared intently at the light system above the ramp, waiting for the red light to change to green. It was all Ford and Tosca needed to see. Green light! This was it!
“GO! GO! GO!” yelled the jumpmaster and loadmaster, and off the ramp they went.
Ford and Tosca leapt off the back of the ramp and into the thin, freezing air. Ford’s arms were extended out and slightly to the rear, as his wing suit material under his arms filled up with air. His legs were spread apart, too, with the same airflow that forced them open. The wing suits had a large piece of material between their feet which helped bend back their legs slightly at the knees that looked like webbing on a duck’s feet. Their bodies were in the position of a belly flop contest participant hitting the surface of a swimming pool. Ford and Tosca were freefalling, fully separated from the C-130 and literally flying like an airfoil through the air. They both fell straight down initially, and then climbed for a few moments above the height of the aircraft as their wing suit aerodynamic foil acted like the wing on an aircraft, creating lift. This extra lift was what provided a wing suit flier to move through the air laterally like an aircraft wing, rather than fall straight down like a standard jumper.
The SEALs and Ford, falling from BISON, could not be seen from the ground, nor detected by an aircraft or ground radar system. For the purposes of OPERATION WHIRLPOOL, this was the perfect insertion method. Until their parachutes opened, they would not be seen by ground observers, villagers, or the pilots of a friendly or enemy aircraft. It was the perfect silent entry.
Using an altimeter to determine their height above the ground using air pressure, which was worn on their right wrists, it closely resembled a large and bulky watch. On their left wrist was the GPS based navaid. Both altimeters were set up with alarms for chute opening at 3,500 feet. This would provide the rapid descent they were seeking, the lateral glide path for the insertion, as well as the minimal parachute time just gliding through potential bad guy territory.