I was a civilian student sport parachutist in the late 80’s before square canopies were in widespread use. We used Vietnam-vintage ejector-seat round parachutes

I was a civilian student sport parachutist in the late 80’s before square canopies were in widespread use. We used Vietnam-vintage ejector-seat round parachutes that were modified to include a ‘double-L’ hole on the rear panels [0]. This created forward motion and gave some steerability, albeit at the cost of increasing the sink rate. We always landed with a parachute landing fall because the downward speed was a potential ankle-breaker. Basically you kept your feet and legs together, and as you came in the inevitable lateral motion automatically dragged you over sideways, and you could roll back on to your feet. I landed about 70 jumps, and by the time I stopped I could achieve good accuracy in low wind conditions (landing within a yard or two of a target after deploying at 2500 feet). [0] http://www.parachutehistory.com/round/combo.html http://www.parachutehistory.com/round/combo.html