markp@valid.UUCP (Mark P.) (01/27/86)
This past weekend, on the occasion of my 4th static line, I had the wonderful experience of landing about half a mile from the DZ. Seemed to arise from a combination of the winds being in the opposite direction at 4000' as they were on the ground, a slow exit, and my complete inability to spot the DZ from the air (although I had a radio). Anyway, I'm still really confused as to how I had so much difficulty orienting-- after all, it WAS a pretty panoramic view and it isn't THAT hard to spot an airport! Does anybody have some perspective into why this happens? (I hope experience improves :-) ) Any anecdotes regarding major quality misses would be appreciated. Mark Papamarcos ..hplabs!pesnta!valid!markp
pablo@uw-june (David Cohn) (01/31/86)
On my first jump I had a similar experience: They hadn't dropped a WDI in a while and the winds had shifted so that jump run was going *downwind*, which makes the plane passs the spot more quickly. Additionally, I was slow to get out of the plane. Beyond even that, I had line twists, so while my 'chute was flying straight away from the drop zone, I was busy spinning around underneath it trying to get myself straightened out forward. Urgh. Orientation from the air is something humans aren't hardwired with. It *does* take practice. It helps if you havee a major landmark to look for regardless of orientation. Once you know appx. where, it's easier to figure out which direction. Incidentally, that first jump was at Otay Lake in CA, 2 miles north of the Mexican border. I got alot of cute comments as I returned from my long walk from the south. skies call, -pablo
kas@hp-pcd.UUCP (kas) (02/01/86)
I can't offer any real advice on spotting the airport, but I think that
after you've made a few more jumps and had an opportunity to view the airport
from a variety of different angles, it will become easier to find. Just start
to memorize major landmarks in the region which are easy to spot from the air.
An anecdote: When I first moved to this state (OR) I had already been
skydiving for several years, and consider myself to be an accomplished spotter.
I got good at it because I got tired of having other people spot me halfway
into the next county. Anyway, when I went to the local DZ, I let other people
spot because I didn't know the area yet. On one load, though, I somehow got
"volunteered" to do the spotting (because I was near the door, I guess). When
we got to altitude, I looked out the door -- and the airport was nowhere in
sight. I looked at the pilot quizzically and shook my head saying, "where
the hell are we?" He kept saying we were right over the airport, but I couldn't
find it at all! The pilot had us on jumprun, and wondered why nobody was
climbing out yet. I kept telling him I still didn't see the airport, and I'll
be damned if I'm getting out until I do. Well, he finally banked the plane
sharply and pointed down and behind the airplane. Sure enough, there it was,
about a mile behind us! I told the pilot to do a 180 degree turn, which he
did, and we all piled out on a downwind jumprun (which I compensated for, of
course). The pilot was mad at me for the rest of the day, thinking I was some
sort of jerk. From that experience, I learned to find the airport by first
locating a huge log pile next to a lumber mill. The airport is next to it,
but is rather hard to see from higher altitudes because it is very small and
has a narrow dirt runway.
As far as the winds aloft, you will very often find that the upper winds
are going different directions than the ground winds. That is why it is
important to open the parachute at about the same altitude that the wind drift
indicator was dropped (typically 2500-3000 feet). The more you deviate from
that, the more error you will encounter. If you are doing static-line jumps
from 4000 ft, your jumpmaster should have dropped a WDI from 4000 ft. When
you start making delayed free-falls, the jumpmaster will put you out at an
appropriate altitude such that you will (should) open at about 3000 ft. Many
times I have seen students who are supposed to make a 10-sec free-fall pull
the ripcord after only 4 or 5 seconds. This puts them into "uncharted"
territory, and they're lucky if they don't run into some funny winds on the
way down. Soooo...when you start those free-falls, try not to get pull-happy.
*
/ \
|---/---\---| Ken Scofield C-9355
| Gone | Hewlett-Packard PCD
| Jumpin' | Corvallis, OR
|-----------|
{ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kasdmeyer@ti-csl (02/03/86)
/* Written 11:11 pm Jan 26, 1986 by markp@valid.UUCP in ti-csl:net.rec.skydive */ /* ---------- "Way off" ---------- */ This past weekend, on the occasion of my 4th static line, I had the wonderful experience of landing about half a mile from the DZ. Seemed to arise from a combination of the winds being in the opposite direction at 4000' as they were on the ground, a slow exit, and my complete inability to spot the DZ from the air (although I had a radio). Anyway, I'm still really confused as to how I had so much difficulty orienting-- after all, it WAS a pretty panoramic view and it isn't THAT hard to spot an airport! Does anybody have some perspective into why this happens? (I hope experience improves :-) ) Any anecdotes regarding major quality misses would be appreciated. Mark Papamarcos ..hplabs!pesnta!valid!markp /* End of text from ti-csl:net.rec.skydive */
wanttaja@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ronald J Wanttaja) (02/10/86)
> This past weekend, on the occasion of my 4th static line, I had the > wonderful experience of landing about half a mile from the DZ. Seemed > to arise from a combination of the winds being in the opposite direction > at 4000' as they were on the ground, a slow exit, and my complete > inability to spot the DZ from the air (although I had a radio). Anyway, > I'm still really confused as to how I had so much difficulty orienting-- > after all, it WAS a pretty panoramic view and it isn't THAT hard to spot > an airport! Does anybody have some perspective into why this happens? > (I hope experience improves :-) ) Any anecdotes regarding major quality > misses would be appreciated. Cheeeze, you folks should learn to jump in North Dakota. At the place I took my first jump (and only jump... I was taking aerobatic instruction at the time, and wanted a choice if I didn't learn right), the terrain was typical East ND: wide open prarie, nearest line of trees (shelter belt) two miles away. SOP was to drop first-timers well in the middle of the square-mile section... a half-mile walk from *anywhere*. Ron Wanttaja (ssc-vax!wanttaja) Just visiting from net.aviation
kas@hp-pcd.UUCP (kas) (02/21/86)
Visitors are welcome from net.aviation any ol' time...
Just thought I'd pass on another "long walk" story...only this one had a
happy ending (i.e., a ride showed up; therefore, this probably doesn't count).
Many moons ago when I was a new jumper in Arizona, our DZ purchased a
"new" airplane -- a '44 Navy Howard (sp?). Nice plane for jumping. Anyway,
the pilot took it around the block a few times to get used to the "feel" of it,
but he never had a full load in it. After he was "checked out" in that air-
craft, we were all eager to be on the first load. I got lucky(?) and was one
of six chosen. As we were passing through 2000 feet, he initiated a turn, and
the plane began to wallow unnervingly. Taking no chances, the pilot yelled
"Get out!", and so we hastily exited. The DZ was out in the middle of the
Arizona desert, and we were miles from it (or anything else, for that matter).
Fortunately, there was a road not too far away, so we all headed for it.
After landing and fieldpacking our gear, we started the long trek back, but
fortunately someone at the DZ had seen us exit and sent out a truck to get us.
It turned out that nothing in particular was wrong with the plane, but
the pilot found out the hard way what the minimum airspeed was when making a
turn with a full load. Apparently, the plane was on the verge of a stall,
but when we exited, it behaved just fine again. Sigh...
*
/ \
|---/---\---| Ken Scofield C-9355
| Gone | Hewlett-Packard PCD
| Jumpin' | Corvallis, OR
|-----------|
{ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kasmiller@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (02/28/86)
I'd hate to see this notesfile disappear for lack of traffic, so I'll add to the notes on "way off" dives. This one day was particularly windy, with gusts up to 25mph. It was starting to get cloudy, but we took off hoping to jump through the holes before it got any worse. By the time we got to altitude (I was spotting) the holes had gotten much smaller, such that I had no idea where we were. Central Illinois is covered with corn and soybean fields; they all pretty much look the same. We flew around for 5-10 minutes, with both the pilot and our instructor peering out at the brief glimpses of ground. Finally, the pilot saw a section of railroad track he thought he recognized. Pilot: "I know where we are. I'll get you to the spot." (we fly on for few more minutes. he finally cuts the engine.) Pilot: "This is it. Get out here." (I start my climb out) Instructor: "Are you sure this is the right place?" Pilot (with grin): "What do I care? I'm not getting out." I didn't worry about it too much on the way down. After all, with the amount of farm land in the area there are few hazards, and I trusted the pilot. I eventually landed in a field almost two miles *downwind*. It was a lot of fun. Sometimes unexpected events are the ones you enjoy the most. A. Ray Miller Univ Illinois