alternatehistory.com

WI "...A..." had been invented earlier, would "...B..." have been approved?
If Tandem had been invented a few years earlier, AFF would never have been approved ..... as a method for training first jump students.
AFF was approved circa 1980 as the supply of Korean War surplus round parachutes dried up and progressive skydiving schools admitted that old military style training methods (heavy on negative reinforcement) no longer fit 1980s sports psychology practices (heavy on positive reinforcement).

20 years later, tandem dominates the first skydive market to the point that many schools now refuse to teach AFF to first-timers. Later in the training cycle, is still acknowledged as the second best way to teach freefall skills.
Nowadays, indoor vertical wind tunnels are acknowledged as the best way to teach basic freefall skills. The first civilian wind tunnel opened circa 1980, but was as crude as most other prototypes.
WI wind tunnels had been perfected by 1980?
Would AFF or tandem jumping ever get approved?

WI the Sterling submachine gun was perfected earlier? Would STENs have been made in significant numbers?
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