Static Line Parachutes

Jump a full stick out of a moving helicopter. THE JUMP Sit in a passenger seat of a helicopter wearing an unused parachute and a hint appears. Press JUMP and you go from your seat to hanging under a blooming canopy in one motion, moving with the aircraft. It works at any airspeed, because you are never falling: the jump is a straight transfer from the seat to the canopy. BAILING OUT Leaving the aircraft any other way, ejecting from a crew seat or walking off the ramp, gives you no automatic canopy. Press JUMP in the air to open one. That works when you are slow; at real airspeed the game cannot seat a falling jumper into a canopy, so the chute comes out but cannot catch you, and a hint tells you so. From a fast bird, jump from the seat. A pull the game refuses outright, no canopy at all, also says so on screen instead of doing nothing. SLIP TO STEER A round canopy is not steered, it is slipped. Hold A or D, or push the stick left or right, and the canopy slides that way without turning, up to a brisk walking pace at full deflection. Slipping costs lift, so a held slip comes down a little faster. Enough to pick your field and miss the tree line, not enough to fly cross country. CREW SEATS DO NOT JUMP The jump key does nothing in a pilot or crew seat, so a pilot cannot leave the aircraft unmanned by brushing it. Crew who need out use the normal exit and open by hand. LANDING An ordinary arrival costs nothing and a heavy one still breaks legs. The jump ends cleanly: you are set down, the jump state clears, and the canopy is removed instead of standing in the field. THE FIELD CLEANS ITSELF Bags left in the world are removed after five minutes used, ten unused, and never while a player is within 50 metres. Canopies orphaned by a disconnect go after three minutes. For persistent servers, where a few mass drops otherwise leave a field of bags for good. FOR OTHER MODS Since 1.2.0 the parachute component offers an airdrop API: a mod can put a standing player u...