C130 Reference Jumps. Airbus DS-France-Belgium Cooperation

Israel López Herreros, Airbus Defence and Space, Spain

Abstract

One important capability of a new tactical aircraft is the ability to dispatch paratroopers
simultaneously from the side doors. It is required to analyse the centerlining tendency and resulting
paratrooper interactions during simultaneous dispatch. From Airbus DS point of view it is essential to analyse
this effect in a well know A/C, accepted by the nations, in this case the C-130 has been selected as the reference AC.

To quantify the paratrooper interactions, a series of paratrooper live jumps were performed on a C-130 and
the trajectories of these jumps recorded.

It has been a clear international cooperation where Belgium has provided the C130 aircraft (crew included)
and parachutes, France has supplied the parachutists, drop zone and the cinetheodolites and finally Airbus DS has provided the different analysis methods for paratrooper interactions investigation.

This document mainly contains the methodology used to calculate the paratrooper trajectories using
photogrammetry techniques and image recognition. The images generated in this test are provided from two
cinetheodolites located on ground. Advantages and disadvantages will be discussed with respect to the tests
carried out with onboard cameras.