ON TOUR: Visit to TacAirOps San Diego, CA

On our trip through the states before the SHOT SHOW 2018, we also made a stop at TacAirOps. This is where the American elite trains everything you can do with parachutes. The company has a lot to offer and is therefore quite interesting for European units.

Just outside of San Diego is the headquarters of TacAirOps (Tactical Air Operations). Nestled between some hills, you enter the premises via a large parking lot.

Owner of TacAirOps is Jeff Bramstedt, a former Navy SEAL. He has made it his mission to offer the best possible training in everything related to parachuting with his company.

The area has a spacious landing area for the jumpers and a runway for smaller aircraft.

In the various building complexes, visitors will also find a Gear Store for the civilian part of the skydiving school. Under the name Skydive San Diego, any parachute enthusiast or professional can book appointments and take advantage of the services offered. When Special Forces train, normal operations are of course closed to prevent unintended images or information about personnel/equipment from falling into the wrong hands.

Currently, three aircraft with side exits are available for training at the headquarters. During our visit, these were constantly taking off and landing, so the sky is usually full of skydivers.

Also present were members of the "Leap Frogs", the Navy SEALs' precision parachuters. Patterns with smoke and aerial acrobatics included.

While waiting for our guide, we could watch the activities in peace. It was very interesting to see the different landing styles: from steep approaches with immediate landings to leisurely descents.

A Leap Frog on final approach...

... with a jump into the target area.

Here we see a whole group of jumpers conquering the lightly cloudy sky.

In front of the landing area, there is enough space for training (here you can see a trainer with a practice jump), for packing the parachutes, or simply for breaks between jumps.

A special highlight for us: one of the trainers is from Germany and can explain the different parachutes and applications to us in the mother tongue.

This takes place in a large training room, where there are also interactive terminals for training for each participant. Here we see a classic Static-Line set on the dummy, whose exact function is explained to us.

Static Line is known from many movies: the jumpers are hooked into a steel cable attached in the aircraft and jump out of the plane at a low altitude. The goal is to get as much personnel out of the aircraft in as short a time as possible and keep it exposed in the air for as little time as possible.

We are immediately shown this at the practice tower. The parachute is put on, the jumper swings the last meters before landing and then rolls off.

This dummy is equipped for HALO night jumps. HALO stands for "High altitude low Opening" - exit at high altitude and open the parachute as late as possible. The jumper needs an oxygen device to be supplied with air at high altitudes.

If you want to see the whole thing in three dimensions, here is our bonus video:

The instructors at TacAirOps are mostly former members of the Special Forces, United States Parachute Association, and Military Jumpmasters - all highly experienced and professional personnel.

We make a detour to the nearby airport. Here Bram (Jeff Bramstedt) shows us one of the two large aircraft housed in hangars there.

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