AMENDMENT TO THE FORWARD I WROTE ON JOHN PIERSON'S SAVIAC PARACHUTE STORY

It has been brought to my attention that I made an error by describing the High Performance SAVIAC free fall parachute as the SAVIAC Mk2 when it should have been called a Tactical Assault Parachute or TAP. The parachutes we were supplied with were all made by PISA in South Africa, hence my confusion as well as a dimming of the memory. The SAVIAC Mk2 was in fact a normal SAVIAC Static line canopy modified to double blank gore and fitted to a free fall harness. We also carried out a few trial jumps with the SAVIAC Mk2 canopy as a static line parachute and it worked well in both instances. The SAVIAC Mk2 (double blank) was used on a few operational jumps on very dark nights by some of the less experienced Selous Scouts. On a number of occasions a large chemical light was attached to the apex of the box parachute and the glow was easily seen and followed from above. This was the preferred method used by the Selous Scouts. The SAS used a flashing light shining up. Both methods worked. I apologize for any confusion and hope this has made the blog more accurate. Thanks Kevin Milligan and Ian Douglas for keeping me straight. Derek de Kock