Smart Snap Hook

U.S. Army mass tactical airborne operations occasionally experience the accidental towing of a parachutist due to improper parachute deployment and/or entanglement with the static line. This event often goes undetected for long periods of time after the affected jumper has left the aircraft. This can result in serious or fatal injury of the towed parachutist or subsequent jumpers who make contact with the towed jumper. We have demonstrated the ability to reliably monitor the load on a standard snap hook so as to detect a towed jumper and rapidly issue a visual alarm. During Phase I, testing of our prototype Smart Snap Hook demonstrated its ability to reliably detect the towed-jumper condition, without requiring structural modification of the standard snap hook. During Phase II, we will refine this prototype through iterative design, laboratory testing, and flight testing. The result of Phase II will be a technologically mature Smart Snap Hook that is ready for high-volume manufacturing and introduction into the Army inventory.