Yedigöller Milli Parkı - Türkiye Seyahat Acentaları Birliği

paraşüt ile ilk atlayışı 1885 tarihinde Amerikalı
Thomas Baldwin yapmıştı. Paraşütün açılmasını
kolaylaştıran ve giderek otomatik hale getirenler
hep Amerikalı mucitler oldu. Hayalin zirvesindeki
atlayışı gerçekleştiren de yine bir Amerikalı,
ABD Kara Kuvvetleri’nden Yüzbaşı Albert Berry
olmuştu. Yüzbaşı Berry uçaktan paraşütle atlayan
ilk insandı.
Savaş zamanlarında paraşüt
Askeri amaçlı paraşüt ilk defa gözetleme ve
topçu tanzimi için sabit balonlara çıkan gözcüler
tarafından kullanıldı. Birinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası
paraşütün pilotlar için vazgeçilmez bir can yeleği
olduğu gerçeği ortaya çıktı.
İkinci Dünya Savaşı’na doğru gelindiğinde uçak
hacimlerinin büyümesi, süratlerinin artması
ve teknolojik ilerlemeler paraşütün kullanım
alanlarını genişletti. İkinci Dünya Savaşı patlak
verince paraşüt askeri amaçlarla kullanılmaya
başlandı. Havada süzülen yüzlerce paraşütlü asker
görüntüleri, savaş görüntülerinin en heyecanlı
anlarıydı artık.
Sonrasında paraşütle yere silah, mühimmat, araç
ve ikmal malzemeleri atılması devri açıldı. Derken,
uçakların yanı sıra jetler gündeme geldi. Pilotların
gerektiğinde olağanüstü bir hıza sahip jetlerden
atlayabilmesi için bir tür paraşüt sistemine sahip
“fırlatma koltuğu” fikri geliştirilip hayata geçirildi.
1960’ların başından itibaren paraşütçülük
önce spor, sonra da “adrenalin” peşindekilerin
eğlencesi haline geldi. Parasoli ve yamaç paraşütü
gibi çeşitleriyle her yaştaki insanın deneyimine
sunuldu.
Elbette insanoğlu hayal etmeye devam ettikçe
öyküde bir “son” olmuyor. Olmayacak. Paraşüt
madem sıradan insanların bile ulaşabileceği bir
araç... Artık hedef “daha yüksekten atlamak”.
Uzaydan atlayan adam
Şimdilik “en yüksekten atlayan” kişi, Avusturyalı
ekstrem sporcu Felix Baumgartner. Üstelik
kırılması çok zor bir rekora sahip. Son
denemesinde kendini 39 bin metreden boşluğa
bıraktı. Çok kısa bir sürede 980 km hıza ulaştı.
40 saniye boyunca da 1342 kilometre süratle ses
hızını geçti. Ardından paraşütünü açtı. Yaklaşık on
dakika süren yolculuğu internetten yedi milyon
kişi canlı olarak izledi. Ve Baumgartner insanlığın
uçma hayalini olağanüstü boyutlara taşıyan kişi
olarak tarihe geçti.
or somewhere in the Far East. For example, historical
documents indicate that Abbas Kasım İbn Firnas, the
Arabian inventor who had lived between 810-887 AC,
used an instrument resembling a parachute. One of
the most important models resembling the modern
parachute belongs to Leonardo da Vinci. In 1485 he
made drawings looking like a parachute but never put
them into practice.
Whereas some drawings made by the Italian, Fausto
Veranzio, far surpassed Vinci’s workings. As a
matter of fact, parachutes and wings have often been
confused with each other during this particular page
in history. Recall that the real aim of humankind, as
we stated in our title, was to be able to fly like birds.
Therefore, humans first imagined flying before thinking
about landing after soaring in the skies. Turks and
Istanbul appear on a completely different page in this
imagination. Of course it is due to a legendary inventor
named “Hezarfen” or “a man with 1000 skills.” In
1632 after jumping down Galata Tower with the wings
that he himself made, Hezarfen Çelebi succeeded in
landing on Üsküdar Doğancılar Square. Murat IV, the
Sultan at the time, watched this awful experience,
overcome by fear. First he awarded him with one
purse of gold. Then, after unfortunately lending an ear
to his men’s nonsensical remarks, he exiled Hezarfen
Çelebi to Algeria instead of promoting him. Because his
retinue one day told him, “Who knows what else a man
who can fly can do?”
In the meantime, Europe had been undergoing a period
of rapid research and development. Day by day, the
designs they used were getting close to present day
designs and the altitudes were becoming greater. A
Frenchman, André Jacques Garner, was the first one to
carry out the most serious experiments.
Garner made his first jump from a balloon piloted
by his brother. He jumped from the balloon with a
parachute that also resembled a balloon. And what’s
more, the height was 700 meters. This experiment,
carried out in Paris in 1797, was considered to be “the
first parachute jump” in history.
Garner never gave up his passion. Furthermore
Jeanne-Genevieve Labrosse, his spouse, made history
as the first woman to jump with a parachute owing to
the jump she made in 1799.
Advances took place rapidly during the course of
a thousand years of history. The first jump with
a parachute that could be opened with a cable
system was done by an American, Thomas Baldwin.
Americans were always the inventors whose gradual
advances enabled parachutes to open more easily and
automatically. The man who performed the jump at the
top of the imagination was again an American, Captain
Albert Berry from the US Army Air Corps. He was the
first man who made a successful jump from a airplane.
Parachutes in wartime
Military parachutes were used for the first time by
observers climbing to the permanent balloons in order
to observe and sort out artillerists. In the wake of
World War I a parachute was an indispensable life
jacket for pilots. Towards the end of World War II, the
growing of aircrafts’ size, their increased speed, and
other technological innovations caused the parachutes’
area of usage to spread. When World War II broke out,
parachutes started to be used for military purposes.
The most exciting moments of war coverage in those
days were films and pictures of hundreds of soldiers
gliding through skies hanging from their parachutes.
And then a new era began in which guns, ammunition,
meals and supplies were delivered by parachute to
troops on the ground.
After World War II, jet aircraft came to the forefront
in military aviation. The idea of an “ejection seat”
consisting of a sort of parachute system that
enables a pilot to exit from his jet with extraordinary
speed, when necessary, was developed and put into
production.
During 1960s, parachuting first became a sport for
people who are after fun or an adrenalin “rush”. Some
variations, such as paragliding and parasailing are
now practiced by people of all ages.
As human beings continue to imagine, we won’t likely
find an “end” to this story. Since the parachute is a
device that an “average Joe” can easily afford, we’ll
see jumps from higher altitudes and maybe even from
outer space.
The person who jumped from “the highest place” for
now is Felix Baumgartner, an Australian extreme
sportsman. He is the holder of a record that will be
very hard to break. In his last attempt, he threw
himself into the air from a height of 39 thousand
meters. In very short time, while in “free fall”) he
reached a speed of 980,000 kms per hour. He
surpassed the speed of sound (1342 km/h) during
40 seconds, and then opened his parachute. This
very exciting journey, lasting about 10 minutes, was
watched by 7 million people live on the Internet. And
Baumgartner has passed into history as a person who
carried man’s dream of flying to extraordinary lengths.
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TÜRSAB DERGİ | HAZİRAN 2013 51