Landing out in downtown Copenhagen

I wanna tell you a story about the coolest alternate landing area I ever had to use, which as a consequense ended up embarrasing the Royal Danish Guard - yes the guards who look after the Queen...

Helicopter tandem exit over Copenhagen. Photo by: Juan Mayer

During the 2017 Swoop Freestyle FAI World Championships I was operating this cool little urban DZ in the middle of the Capital of Denmark - Copenhagen. We took tandems up in an AS350 helicopter from a nearby naval base and landed them in the middle of the city, in a park.

We had done quite a few tandems there already, and were up on the last load for the week, and were headed to the competition afterwards.

Tandem masters who read this will know that once in a while you get a client who is just as broad across the shoulders as they are tall, and of course weigh a bit more than usual. Well Well this was my man! Nothing I haven't done before. So up we go.

The first tandem went out and I opted for a go around in the helicopter since conditions were tricky.
Pilot gave me a thumbs up and I moved us to the door. The client´s feet went out over the skid of the chopper, and I tried to check the spot. This was the moment I realise that if I leaned out to check the spot, we were going. He was heavy, and shoulders and head was blocking my view. The helicopter-door was fragile so I couldn't hold us back by grabbing the door. So I looked at the pilot to verify the spot. Through the noise he gave me a "spot is just where you want it cheif" kinda look and I thought to myself: "Well he has been right on the mark the whole week", so there we went.

Swoop Freestyle FAI World Championships in Copenhagen.

I tell you, tandems out of a helicopter are fun! Air speed is low, so not much relative wind to fly the exit on. And because of the feet on the skid, there is a bit of extra energy and momentum. So we did a couple of rolls before being belly to earth. As we rolled out and I was waiting that extra second to make sure we were stable before throwing the drouge, the client´s shoulders now sat a bit lower and I could look down. At the same time as my hand reached for the drouge, I thought to my self "What is Amalienborg (The Queens palace) doing out here by Assistens Kirkegård (Cemetery)?!"
My head was doing calculations to try and make sense of the picture. My full-face helmet blocked out all noise as that sinking feeling hit my stomach, you know the one you get when you know something is really wrong.

In freefall with a tandem over Copenhagen.
Intended LZ is the park in the bottom left corner Photo by: Juan Mayer

Now I have never lived in Copenhagen, and never spent too much time there, but one of my greatest interests besides skydiving, is history, and therefore I know quite a bit about how Copenhagen came to be, including the different castles, palaces, churches and old defence structures. And looking down in freefall, something just didn´t add up. After about 10 seconds of freefall I opted to pull the drouge release, because I just realised that instead of flying a jumprun of 270 degrees, he had flown 180, and I was now way out of the wind sector.

Now of course when setting up a DZ in the middle of the Capital of Denmark, I planned a few outs that were also approved by the CAA, but one thing is to plan, another thing is to be in the situation.
Decision time was getting close, and I was looking at a few options for alternate landing areas.

Rosenborg castle where the Danish crown juvels are kept.
Basically a fancy jewelry box.

I quickly ruled out the big square in the middle of the Queen´s palace for obvious reasons. One being that I wasn´t really dressed for the occasion, and I thought it would be rude to intrude like that without an invitation. Secondly, it´s all concrete. Also the armed guards and lots of other people could make the whole scene messy.
The Botanical garden was better, but a lawn going uphill with trees leaning over it made it less desirable. Doable but complicated. Right next to The Botanical garden is Rosenborg Castle and military base - the castle is where the crown juvels are kept, and the base is where the Queen´s Royal gaurds live when on duty. In front of the base's main building is a big lawn. It is all behind fences and armed guards, but ideal for landing a 330 sqft. tandem with a heavy wing-load.

So I told the 2 meter tall-and-the-same-across-the-shoulders client in front that there had been a slight change of plans concerning our destination. I would have loved to tell about how when the castle was build, it was out in the country side, and the city since has swallowed it up. And that the crowns kept at the castle are closed on top and has a globe or cross above it to symbolize that only God stood above the crown, and that since 1849, no monarch has been crowned in Denmark - but I was a tad too busy planning the landing around building, masts, trees and guards to act tour guide.

The arrow marks the spot.

The tandem canopy I was flying had a rather flat glide, so a deep sink surge over the line of tall trees was in order to park us on the lawn and coming to a stop before the 4 story tall building. Also on the lawn was large steel plates covering a temporary ditch running across, cars, busses and trucks parked on the sides along with approximately 100 soldiers attending a first-aid course. I was thinking to myself that the CPR they were practising as we came in to land was probably not going to be needed, but just in case - nice to know they were prepared.

However as we swooped across the lawn and came to a stop around 5 meters before the steel plates, I realized that they were in no way prepared for attack from above and behind. Out of all the soldiers attending the first-aid course, the men guarding the entrance of the base, and officers and other men walking around that day, not a single one saw us, and for around 2 minutes nothing happened. I would have thought that 10 seconds after touchdown I would have to answer to at least two rifles/men and our untimely arrival could have been the plot of an action movie where two bad guys come to steal the codes for the nuclear bombs.

After I had gotten my clients´ first reaction from his pretty unsual first skydive, I shut off the cameras and picked up the canopy. Then, finally I saw the inevitable - an angry and fast walking officer coming our way. He asked - not so kindly - what I thought I was doing, and if I knew where the h*** I was. I proceeded to apologise and tell him that we didn't mean to intrude, but that I ran out of options. Either we landed on his nicely placed lawn, or in through the front of one of the many busses on the boulevard just outside the fence. Since we did not look like the typical stereotype terrorist, he was inclined to believe us and started calming down, the bloodvessels in his temple slowly looking less like they were going to burst. After 5 minutes the guards finally came over. I guess they wanted their share of excitement too. First think they ask for is ID...
As always a small casual talk about skydiving can turn around most bad vibes, and after explaining to them what we were doing, what went wrong and about the AFF programme, they left me, the client and our new friend the officer. He insisted that I delete all pictures and video (bugger) and proceeded to help me call my brother and my girlfriend who were both doing ground-control at the intended landing area. They were worried sick! Turns out seeing a family member disappearing behind towers, embasseys and a million other tall and big buildings in the middle of a busy capital is not something that calms you down!
Happily reunited and about to present my ID which of course I do not usually jump with, we could leave. As we walked through the gates, I couldn't help but think that a piece of advise was in order. So I told him that they might need to train a bit more on the situation where the enemy attacks from behind.

I'm not saying this is how he looked, only that I felt our visiting
hours at the military base was coming to an end with the last remark.