It's Raining Men: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"We're the ''Flying Elvises''! Utah chapter!"''
|''[[Honeymoon
Simply put, people falling from the sky, or at least a great height, then landing safely, at least for them. This is accomplished in [[Real Life]] via parachutes or gliders, but in [[Speculative Fiction]] it can be done through [[Powered Armor]], [[Jet Pack]]s, [[Drop Pod|special pods]], or [[Applied Phlebotinum]] - or, if you're indestructible, a "hard drop" using only the ground to break your fall. Usually an airplane is involved, but balloons, cliffs, a [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]], a tall building, or even a [[Floating Continent|magic castle]] will do.
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* The SF novel ''[[Footfall]]'' had a mass paratroop drop by invading aliens who looked like small two-trunked elephants.
* ''[[Honor Harrington|The Shadow of Saganami]]'' makes a big plot point out of a massed drop of [[Powered Armor|power-armored]] [[Space Marine|Royal Manticoran Marine Corps]] heavy company on a suspected terrorist hideout. They've dropped from the shuttle, though, not from the orbit, and used tethered countergravs, so it was actually very close to [[Real Life]] paradrop.
* In the ''[[Dragonlance
* [[John Ringo]]'s ''
** The drop described here is actually treated in a realistic way. The paratroopers need to do an undetected HALO jump, so a stealth bomber is a perfect way to deliver them. The issues of oxygen and the cold are dealt with; the paratroopers are wraped in enough foam wrap to make them fill a bomb rack slot (make them thick enough for the bomb clamps) to protect them from the cold, and they are on supplemental oxygen at the HA part of the jump. Yes, rule of cool is a major factor, but it was treated realisticly.
* [[John Scalzi]]'s ''Old Man's War'' has the elite "Ghost Brigades" landing on an occupied planet through an orbital skydive. Scalzi described how their nanotech works to keep the heat from re-entry from reaching the cocooned trooper.
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* ''[[A Miracle of Science]]'': [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos118.html "Is this a common thing for Martians, re-entering without a spacecraft?" "Actually, it's never been done before."]
* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'': The [[Alt Text]] in [http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/17p37 this strip.]
* ''[[A Beginner's Guide to the End of the Universe]]'' has a bunch of people descend while using the protagonist itself, who is wearing [[Not Quite Flight|gravity-defying armor]], as a parachute. [
* In ''[[Looking for Group]]'' Richard simply [https://web.archive.org/web/20171013093627/http://www.lfg.co/page/457/ dumped bones] that reassembled into skeletons. But later there were gnomes (and one dwarf) [https://web.archive.org/web/20171013091323/http://www.lfg.co/page/659/ on hang gliders].
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** [http://tinyurl.com/3swrrk Fallschirmjäger] were used in the invasions of [http://tinyurl.com/5xej9q Norway], [http://tinyurl.com/4rfksb France], [http://tinyurl.com/46mv64 Crete] and [http://tinyurl.com/46mv64 Greece], and in [http://tinyurl.com/4qk4zy Operation Stösser] during the Battle of the Bulge.
** [http://tinyurl.com/4ldnko Operation Greif] during the Battle of the Bulge had English-speaking German soldiers paradropping behind Allied lines to perform sabotage missions. [[Cry for the Devil|(It failed).]]
***Parachute insertion of operatives was effectively done by the Allies too. The concept in fact had a more reliable success rate than mass drops some of which were successful but some disasters. It was a common way to get cadre agents and supplies to the resistance.
***Of course you can't reverse-parachute when debrief time comes. So secret airfields were actually maintained [[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines|behind enemy lines.]]
* There's also plenty of this in modern warfare, of course. [[wikipedia:HALO jump|For example]], '''H'''igh '''A'''ltitude '''L'''ow '''O'''pening deployments, which are designed to get recon troops inside enemy territory undetected.
* Old Joke: The commander went to the assembled men and laid out the mission: ''"We need to precisely insert a team of commandos deep behind enemy lines. To avoid German radar we'll have to fly low and fast, no more than 200 feet off the deck. It will be dangerous and some of you may not survive the jump, so we need 20 men. Anyone who wishes to volunteer, take one step forward."'' A slim handful stepped forward, all Green Berets. The commander was disheartened until a grizzled sergeant whispered to him. "Parachutes will be provided!" he announced, and the rest stepped forward.
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