dmeyer@ti-csl (02/04/86)
> Although I *loved* freefalling, once I was under canopy I tended > to get nervous. The old pros at the drop zone would tell me not to worry > about it when I had an end cell closure or when the wind knocked the > canopy around a little, but I couldn't help imagining it collapsing > with 100 feet to go. Once while making a 180 degree turn downwind, the > wind gusted and the canopy appeared to be shrivelling up. I was still > on radio at the time, and the instructor yelled at me to turn back into > the wind. I also ran across someone who, on her second jump, stalled > her canopy on final approach and broke her leg. > Am I crazy for having "gear-fear" *after* I've got a good canopy, > or are there some real malfunctions that can occur on the ride down? > > --- Jim Curl > --- San Jose, California/ Jim, The other responses to this are all valid, but I wanted to add a note. In general, your square will not do unexpected things if you are jumping in nominal wind conditions -- which would be light and steady breezes. In those conditions, your canopy will only do what you tell it. But if you are up there on a windy or gusty day, then indeed you may have some unexpected turbulence that can shake you around and (temporarily) collapse your canopy. Ofcourse, on those windy days, you really ought to stay on the ground and play hacky-sack or something, but if you are up there, I recommend not farting around too much with fast turns and deep brakes, etc. The last 500 feet, you ought to slowly turn into the wind and put on about 50% brakes. This will dampen the effects of your canopy's tendency to surge or collapse after changes in wind speed due to gusts. Yes, definitely watch out for objects upwind on windy days -- they can cause ALOT of turbulence -- enough to cause real trouble low to the ground. And, following directly behind and above another canopy will put you in some turbulence which is dangerous if you are about to land (however, following directly behind another canopy at your level will not put you in any turbulence -- but you still have watch out for where he goes). Now, this may all seem a bit negative, but the positive side is that all these things are measures that need to be observed when preparing to land. Up high, do what you want. Even if you get extremely radical, like front riser spirals, or getting into a stall and then totally releasing your toggles, you will experience great fun, and your canopy will alway re-inflate. The most you will see is the end cell not popping out, which as you've heard is no big deal. Closed end cells will always pop back out by slowly increasing your brakes. In any case, doing these thing up high is VALUABLE experience for you to get to know your canopy better so that you know how it will react in various situations -- which comes in handy when you ARE close to the ground -- and when (if) you start looking into CRW. That reminds me of how much fun it is to (up high) go into a full stall and then letting go of those toggles. Your canopy will ZOOM ahead FAST such that you can see the horizon over the back of the canopy -- and there will be a little slack in the lines as you drop back under your silk. This is also sometimes accompanied with a little pee-pee in your pants. Lastly, don't learn to be a low-bird hot-dog. It really disturbs me to see some of these guys do 180 turns at 50 feet and just barely swing out and flare in time to land. I have watched about 4 skydivers break both legs pulling that or similar low-bird stunts. That's almost as clever as attempting to land next to your car in a crowded parking lot. Some of those guys pull it off -- but some don't. ========================================================================= Dane Meyer Texas Instruments D-6078 ARPA: ==> DMEYER%tilde%ti-csl CSNET: ==> DMEYER@ti-csl USENET: ==> {convex,ctvax,texsun,rice}ti-csl!dmeyer VOICE ==> (214) 995-5665
brent@poseidon.UUCP (Brent P. Callaghan) (02/07/86)
Thanks for your comments on flying squares Dane.
I've got just one comment on that.
I've heard of at least one instance of a jumper-induced
malfunction of a square. I think it happened at the World Cup
RW meet in Z-hills. The jumper was fooling around up high
with deep stalls, flying backwards etc. While pitching the
canopy forward the pilot chute flipped over the leading edge and
wrapped around some lines. The canopy was distorted enough to
be unflyable and the result was a cutaway.
I've noticed in backwards flying that my pilot chute dances
around the leading edge. I still enjoy flying backwards,
but I'm careful not to pitch the canopy violently just
in case.
If you have a long pilot chute bridle I would advise avoiding
violent stall recoveries and flying backward below cutaway
altitude (for me that's a grand).
I think a good riser spiral or downplane is the best way
to get pee in your pants :-)
--
Made in New Zealand --> Brent Callaghan
AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft, NJ
{ihnp4|mtuxo|pegasus}!poseidon!brent
(201) 576-3475kas@hp-pcd.UUCP (kas) (02/11/86)
...speaking of low-bird hot-dog stunts, that reminds me of an incident
I witnessed at last summer's USPA Boogie. I probably told this story, but
it's worth reiterating for it's educational value:
A "hot-dogger" decided to land right next to one of his buddies, who was
about 20 feet lower. Just as the buddy was flaring for touchdown, the hot-dog
cranked a 180 degree turn right into his buddy's wake. When his canopy hit
that turbulent air, it went completely limp, and he and it hit the ground with
a thud from about 15-20 feet up. Needless to say, he did not get up and walk
away. I don't know the extent of his injuries, but I know they carted him off
in an ambulance.
The bottom line is, if you don't try to fight the laws of aerodynamics
(or common sense), you don't need to worry... just have fun, but do it high!
I too endorse Danes' recommendation to do the pee-pee-in-the-pants trick.
You'll be numb with fear the first time you try it, but it will give you an
appreciation of just how fast that canopy can reinflate and get flying again.
It all happens very fast. Just do it high!
*
/ \
|---/---\---| Ken Scofield C-9355
| Gone | Hewlett-Packard PCD
| Jumpin' | Corvallis, OR
|-----------|
{ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kaseli@cvl.UUCP (Eli Liang) (02/17/86)
In article <41800061@hpcvlo.UUCP> kas@hp-pcd.UUCP writes: > >(or common sense), you don't need to worry... just have fun, but do it high! > > I too endorse Danes' recommendation to do the pee-pee-in-the-pants trick. >You'll be numb with fear the first time you try it, but it will give you an >appreciation of just how fast that canopy can reinflate and get flying again. >It all happens very fast. Just do it high! > > * > / \ > |---/---\---| Ken Scofield C-9355 > | Gone | Hewlett-Packard PCD > | Jumpin' | Corvallis, OR > |-----------| > {ucbvax!hplabs, harpo, ogcvax}!hp-pcd!kas ...at least until I stalled mine at about 1500' (in a big way) and suddenly discovered things can sometimes go wrong. A couple cells on one side refused to re-inflate again sending me into a spin (a mae west i guess) until steady tugging finally did the trick. I think I almost did pee-pee-in-the-pants that time... -eli -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eli Liang --- University of Maryland Computer Vision Lab, (301) 454-4526 ARPA: eli@cvl, eli@lemuria, eli@asgard, eli@mit-mc, eli@mit-prep CSNET: eli@cvl UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!cvl!eli