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My Q-Face posted:Normal winds above 20kts are generally not fun, I've caught a 25kt+ tail wind which sucked. I opened about 600m west of the landing area and in the process of doing post-opening housekeeping (that is; stowing the slider, loosening the chest strap, leaning back and sitting in the leg-straps, and pulling the brakes) which took less than 30 seconds, I was 400m east of it. I was blown a full kilometer from my opening point before I even had full control of the canopy. I couldn't make any headway to get back to the holding area, and had to fly a bad pattern, entering my cross-wind leg early and at an angle. Fortunately the winds died at 150 feet, so I was able to make it, but I almost didn't. Ah so that's a hop 'n pop thanks. You mentioned having to spot winds shifting dramatically at different altitudes how do you go about that? Do you have to observe the cloud movement like you said you do sometimes at 10000+. What kind of areas do you generally jump in? I understand it's obviously going to be fields but does the area have to have a minimum space to allow for errors/emergencies like when you where blown 1km off the landing point.
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Mar 23, 2014 18:39
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Thrasophius posted:Ah so that's a hop 'n pop thanks. You mentioned having to spot winds shifting dramatically at different altitudes how do you go about that? Do you have to observe the cloud movement like you said you do sometimes at 10000+. What kind of areas do you generally jump in? I understand it's obviously going to be fields but does the area have to have a minimum space to allow for errors/emergencies like when you where blown 1km off the landing point. The DZs I've been to usually are in more remote rural areas with plenty of out-landing areas available. Not always, but usually. Empuriabrava Spain and Alvor Portugal in particular are both adjacent to vacation towns and are fairly built up, but they still have good out landing areas. In every case, your DZ should have maps and satellite views of the DZ with landing areas and hazards marked, along with possible out-landing areas marked. Always get a DZ brief from the S&TA or the DZO before you start jumping there. When I get a chance, I'll find and post sat views of the different geography of the DZs I've jumped at. You can learn to spot things that way, so if you're staying near the DZ, you can decide for yourself whether to bother going down, but generally a decent DZ will be tracking winds using instruments on the aircraft, weather stations and ATC reports, so you can usually check with them. If things look borderline or questionable, they might have the pilot take a test run before letting anyone but the most experienced TMs go. Generally the winds changing direction above 5000ft isn't an issue you need to worry about, it more affects how the pilot will fly the jump-run, and possibly the exit separation between jumpers. It's only when it's far more severe at exit altitude than opening that it gets hairy. Even then, a good check before takeoff, a good spot before exit and situational awareness in freefall will keep you from getting too screwed up. Like I said, the DZ will monitor that stuff and usually won't fly if things are too hairy. My Q-Face fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Aug 3, 2014 |
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Mar 23, 2014 19:18
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My Q-Face posted:It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground. That's really well said. I've never heard that before, I like it. My Q-Face posted:You can learn to spot things that way, so if you're staying near the DZ, you can decide for yourself whether to bother going down If you look up in the sky and you see either 1) 100% cloud cover or 2) 0% cloud cover, the conditions at your local DZ probably aren't very good. When I started jumping I would always fly down to the DZ when I saw blue sky only to realize there's no clouds because the 20+ mph winds all blew them away. Scattered clouds is usually a good indication that you may have a decent day to jump.
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Mar 23, 2014 21:46
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DreadNite posted:Unless you have a weird malfunction, it's pretty hard to release your reserve and main at the same time. Lots (if not all) of parachutes are rigged so that when you pull your reserve, your main gets cutaway. That's why you have a cutaway handle, then your reserve handle to follow. You'd have to pull your main, then reserve (because something was going wrong ofc) without pulling the fat red handle on your right first. This is called an SOS setup and it isn't common. Some dropzones use this setup on student gear, but not all. I've never seen a licensed jumper with one, nor would I ever want to jump one. Thrasophius posted:Oh so oxygen requirements depend on location got it. It depends on altitude MSL (mean sea level). We set our altimeters to AGL (0 == you are on mother earth). O2 is required from 16k MSL iirc. If you are a smoker or in poor health you might get hypoxic lower than that. 2 outs are a long discussion, for now. I wouldn't worry about it. Thrasophius posted:What are the kind of conditions where you'd say "gently caress that" to going on a jump? For example is there a wind speed threshold where you would cancel a jump? High ground winds, extremely shifting ground winds (heading shifting rapidly), turbulence, hung over, tired, dehydrated, etc. There are conditions that I'm comfortable jumping in skill wise, but won't. It just isn't worth the increased risk of injury.
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Mar 24, 2014 05:27
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When it comes to the jump being cancelled what happens then is your money held by the company and the jump set for another date or do you get a refund to come back in your own time?
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Mar 24, 2014 14:07
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Thrasophius posted:When it comes to the jump being cancelled what happens then is your money held by the company and the jump set for another date or do you get a refund to come back in your own time? Basically yes. Licensed jumpers don't usually have to "schedule" jumps like you might as a student or when doing a tandem. I usually show up, check my gear and then ask for a slot on the next plane taking off. I've done this up to 5 mins before it takes off. Most dropzones you'll have an account that either you can prefund, so they'll just deduct the cost of the jump ticket from that pool of money. You can also usually leave a credit card with the office staff and they'll charge your card for all of your jumps at the end of the day.
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Mar 24, 2014 16:29
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Oh hey, there's a skydiving thread again. I made an attempt at training last year. Didn't do too hot. 5 AFF jumps, 9 all told when you count tandems. I could not figure out how to relax in free fall. I wound up separating my shoulder during opening (maybe, it could have happened on exit) on that last jump. That was in September, and while my shoulder is recovered I've put on too much weight over the holidays to get back into it right away. Of course I'm not sure if my shoulder injury completely disqualifies me from trying to do AFF again. I still have a bit of tightness when my arm is where it would be in box-man flight. Any advice for overcoming the panic of free fall and relaxing in the sky? Ways to offset the half-hour-long trip to altitude where I tend to psych myself out? Anyway, I'm the guy who failed at the sport and didn't have the good sense to die in the process. Feel free to laugh at me.
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Mar 24, 2014 17:19
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IMJack posted:Anyway, I'm the guy who failed at the sport and didn't have the good sense to die in the process. Feel free to laugh at me. You have to think of it this way. You're the guy who actually had the balls to give it a shot in the first place. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said "don't be afraid to fail, you can't always win but don't be afraid of making decisions". What is the maximum weight you are allowed to be before they say you're too heavy to go on a jump?
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Mar 24, 2014 18:28
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IMJack posted:Oh hey, there's a skydiving thread again. For me it was remembering to smile, and breathe. If there is a tunnel near you that might help a bit. You're going to be scared, the trick is to be able to calm yourself and/or put it aside. Until I hit 100 or so jumps I still had butterflies first jump of the day. If you can't get past it, then ok. How did you do under canopy? If you did ok with that, then finding a drop zone that does static line training might be a better option for you than AFF. Your shoulder injury doesn't automatically disqualify you. Yoga is a hug help for flexibility. It's definitely something you need to talk over with your instructors though. Which arm? Thrasophius posted:You have to think of it this way. You're the guy who actually had the balls to give it a shot in the first place. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said "don't be afraid to fail, you can't always win but don't be afraid of making decisions". Max weight for students is going to depend on the dropzone and what they have for gear. No one likes putting students out first go at higher than like a .8 wing loading.
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Mar 24, 2014 19:05
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Tremblay posted:For me it was remembering to smile, and breathe. If there is a tunnel near you that might help a bit. You're going to be scared, the trick is to be able to calm yourself and/or put it aside. Until I hit 100 or so jumps I still had butterflies first jump of the day. If you can't get past it, then ok. How did you do under canopy? If you did ok with that, then finding a drop zone that does static line training might be a better option for you than AFF. I think I did okay under canopy. I could fly a decent pattern, and I managed one stand-up landing out of five attempts. Especially on that last jump with my shoulder not working, I am drat proud I managed to fly the pattern and land in the DZ using only elbow and wrist strength in my right arm. Granted I slid in, and I think I broke my tailbone, but I was able to stand up and walk back to the DZ building on my own. The biggest student rig my DZ has is a 260. Too small for my current weight. At least the harness fits my height; the first two AFF jumps I made, I was in a 240 with a harness one size to small for me. That sucked.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:11
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IMJack posted:My right arm. There is a chance I pulled out out of socket with my idiot strength when I reached for my handle that last time. Ouch. I don't think you are out of the running. I know a girl who jumps pretty regular and has issues with her right shoulder. She has to be a little careful and wear a brace. So you haven't said anything I don't believe you can't overcome.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:24
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Tremblay posted:Max weight for students is going to depend on the dropzone and what they have for gear. No one likes putting students out first go at higher than like a .8 wing loading. The Max single canopy size is 300 sq.ft, which puts a 260 lbs. jumper with 40 pounds of gear (and the larger rigs weigh probably 30-35 lbs alone) at a wing load of 1. I think 250 might be the max for beginners, but I'm not entirely sure. IMJack posted:Any advice for overcoming the panic of free fall and relaxing in the sky? Ways to offset the half-hour-long trip to altitude where I tend to psych myself out? No laughing here. You tried and want to try again. Heck, if you'd tried it once and decided it wasn't for you, few people would laugh. If you bought all your kit brand new before you even got your license, and then gave up the sport a few jumps later, everyone might laugh, but then you deserve it. Anyway, you hurt yourself, you haven't failed at the sport. Look around at the other people during the ride to altitude and force yourself to smile at them. Even if it's the most awkwardly forced smile ever. Everyone will understand why, and most will smile back or make funny faces, or just close their eyes and go back to listening their music. At some point, forcing yourself to smile, try to think of something really funny and you'll find yourself relaxing a bit. It doesn't necessarily work thinking of something funny without first forcing the smile.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:34
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My Q-Face posted:The Max single canopy size is 300 sq.ft, which puts a 260 lbs. jumper with 40 pounds of gear (and the larger rigs weigh probably 30-35 lbs alone) at a wing load of 1. I think 250 might be the max for beginners, but I'm not entirely sure. Eh, I know we have a rig kicking around with (iirc) a firebolt 330. Really depends.
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Mar 24, 2014 20:59
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My Q-Face posted:Look around at the other people during the ride to altitude and force yourself to smile at them. Even if it's the most awkwardly forced smile ever. Everyone will understand why, and most will smile back or make funny faces, or just close their eyes and go back to listening their music. At some point, forcing yourself to smile, try to think of something really funny and you'll find yourself relaxing a bit. It doesn't necessarily work thinking of something funny without first forcing the smile. This is probably the most accurate statement about getting rid of butterflies that i've ever heard. Just remembering this about the rides to altitude make me want to get back into jumping so bad. Things like this prove it's an exhilarating experience that not many people share.
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Mar 24, 2014 21:14
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Wind-noise: Do you wear ear-plugs or listen to music or anything? Funny story when I did my tandem for my 24th birthday and I have stretched lobes. I forgot to take them out before the jump just in case they were blown out instead, so the entire freefall I had this odd flapping noise in my ears, and this insistent tapping on both sides of my head as the plugs slapped into me constantly. It was a little distracting.
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Mar 25, 2014 04:40
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crowtribe posted:Wind-noise: Wear ear plugs on the plane, I take them out before exiting.
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Mar 25, 2014 05:13
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crowtribe posted:Do you wear ear-plugs or listen to music or anything? I've never worn them, but I learned to leave my helmet on until the last few thousand feet. I only take it off to put my goggles on at the two minute call. It's tight fitting enough to block out the engine noise.
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Mar 25, 2014 10:48
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My Q-Face posted:I've never worn them, but I learned to leave my helmet on until the last few thousand feet. I only take it off to put my goggles on at the two minute call. It's tight fitting enough to block out the engine noise. How often do you find your ears popping because of the rapid descent or do you prepare for that somehow?
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Mar 25, 2014 12:06
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Thrasophius posted:How often do you find your ears popping because of the rapid descent or do you prepare for that somehow? Some people's ears pop a lot when skydiving and some don't. For me, it has only happened a couple times and I just cleared it like you would an airplane descent or underwater equalize.
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Mar 25, 2014 18:29
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re: ear pressurization You learn this during pilot training: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver I do it after I'm under canopy re: max wind conditions the dropzone I did my AFF at shuts down the entire airport for a minimum 1 hour at 25 MPH
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Mar 26, 2014 01:00
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Thrasophius posted:How often do you find your ears popping because of the rapid descent or do you prepare for that somehow? I occasionally feel it on the climb if I had a stuffy nose that morning, and I've definitely had my ears get clogged up during/after the jump, but I've never had them pop during the descent. I don't know if it's because of something I've done unconsciously while I'm occupied with other things in freefall, but usually I don't realize it until I'm on the ground.
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Mar 26, 2014 12:24
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Did my first *real* solo on Friday @ Hollister. Did two more after that. The third jump was the last load of the day, right around sunset. Decided to do a high pull (8000). Because it was the last load the pilot went a little above 16,000, it was definitly below freezing. You could tell the oxygen was starting to get a tiny bit thing, I've never been able to see my own breath so clearly. I didnt have any gloves on and thought I was going to freeze into a brick during freefall. Pulled at 8, had a toggle line hosed up with some of the lines on my canopy (first malfunction I've had like that), made sure I had control and then was able to fix it after a minute or so, was a really weird twist. Def due to the pack job. Sunset high pulls though. Extremely beautiful. Recommend.
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Mar 31, 2014 22:21
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http://www.skydivemag.com/article/fly-it-forward Pretty cool stuff. Today may have been the first day they ran the full 222-way for the world record, but they haven't posted about it yet. Have any of you been a part of big-ways, 50+? Stories!
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Apr 1, 2014 05:51
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DreadNite posted:http://www.skydivemag.com/article/fly-it-forward No, but one of my Irish drinking buddies is part of that one. I've done two 6-ways and neither went very well.
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Apr 1, 2014 19:37
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mitztronic posted:Sunset high pulls though. Extremely beautiful. Recommend. yup!
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Apr 2, 2014 03:02
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Back in the air. So six weeks ago, in late February,I managed to have a reserve ride and lost my freebag. Since it was down anyway, I had my rigger do a reline on my main while waiting for the new parts to come in, so it was like jumping all new equipment when this weekend finally rolled around. Many of the DZs in Germany are opening up to go full time again,and for many, the season kickoff was this weekend. I have to say, between the reserve ride and the long wait I definitely had a return of the fear when it came time to jump again. Five jumps on new lines later, and I was ready to go with other people again, and it's like the reserve ride never even happened. I did manage to lose my slide catcher mid jump though...
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Apr 7, 2014 07:53
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Dumb question time: What happens in the extremely unlikely even you get a bird caught in your chute? Could/would it ever happen?
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Apr 11, 2014 05:48
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crowtribe posted:Dumb question time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ9R8aChRUU
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Apr 11, 2014 17:23
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What piece of equipment is it that's beeping in the beginning of the video?
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Apr 11, 2014 18:12
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Thrasophius posted:What piece of equipment is it that's beeping in the beginning of the video? Don't know. I'd say it was an audible altimeter, but that's a paraglider, not a parachutist. Slightly different dynamics going on, not the least of which is his forward speed and descent rate aren't very high. For what it's worth -and I'm not saying it couldn't happen- the sound of a chute opening is quite loud, and the wind-noise of it cutting through the air is more than a paraglider's, so I would imagine it warns birds off a lot better than floaty there. Would not like to find out though.
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Apr 11, 2014 18:52
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Sounds like a variometer, which is basically used to measure vertical speed- it's used for gliders to find lift.
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Apr 11, 2014 21:39
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I think that bird has seen better days... Sweet video link.
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Apr 13, 2014 05:56
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Got my A-License last weekend. 
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Apr 19, 2014 07:41
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Mux posted:Got my A-License last weekend. Excellent!  http://youtu.be/oiXaT_1I-vwGreat work. If you got a copy of the video feel free to share!
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Apr 19, 2014 22:44
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My Q-Face posted:In every case, your DZ should have maps and satellite views of the DZ with landing areas and hazards marked, along with possible out-landing areas marked. When I get a chance, I'll find and post sat views of the different geography of the DZs I've jumped at. To talk about Spotting your jump and planning your approach, and because I finally got around to it, here are some sat views of the DZs I've jumped at with landing areas marked. Some are deceptive, what looks green and flat from the sky could end up being hedges, deep corn, or worse: an Orchard with wires strung up everywhere that you can't see until you have no other outs. Speaking from experience, I had to do a Tony Jaa/Jackie Chan through a small gap in some 7 foot high apple trees held up with fence wires about three feet apart to keep from being decapitated once. That could have been a bad bad day. If you don't know the area but have to put down, it's best to look for brown earth so you know it's not potentially hazardous vegetation. So here are the DZs I've jumped at, landing areas are marked in Orange. The first few are the ones in the more built-up areas. Empuriabrava, one of the best in Europe:  To give you an idea, every time you see a straight green line on one of the fields around there, it's a fence line or a tree line, or both. There are apple orchards and olive orchards and horse paddocks everywhere. But this is what it looks like from higher up, so you can see the appeal of jumping there:  This is Zell Am See, which does offer Tandems from time to time, but doesn't really have Skydiving on a regular basis. Occasionally there will be a Pink Boogie here, with the Pink Skyvan coming down from Czech Republic.  Zell sits right in the middle of a valley, surrounded by several mountains which are approximately 3000 meters high, and is a very popular tourist destination in the Summer and Winter. The Airport sits just outside of the main town, but right in the middle of all of the mountains. It wouldn't take much to track from the release point into a very bad situation (And your Audible and AAD aren't going to pop based on altitude above ground level). Having said that, it's amazing to be in freefall and be below the mountain tops, and to look out at the two minute call and still see mountains out of the windows of the plane. To give you an idea of how built up it is:  The last of the built-up areas I've jumped was Skydive Algarve:  Algarve's landing areas are deceptively large, which is good because pretty much everything outside of this picture is built-up. Most of the rest I've been to are fairly rural. There's the Irish Parachute Club, with its massive Bog just over the trees from the landing area:  If you really wanted to go Bog hunting, you could probably find all kinds of helmets and cameras and other cut-away gear in there. And in Germany in particular the DZs tend to be well removed from built-up areas:   This one is notable because it's one of the few that is open in the winter, but it's also where I had my Reserve Ride. What you can't see from this picture, is that outside of that one patch of trees, it's pretty much farm fields for miles and miles around. Guess where my reserve pilot chute and freebag went...  You also have a really nice view of the Alps from altitude.
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Apr 21, 2014 11:27
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Is anyone able to give any insight into the licensing system used in Australia? I'm struggling to find information on the Australian Parachute Federation website that outlines it clearly. From what I can see, you do the AFF (1-9) for your A license, then complete your B-Rel (?) for your B license, then a Star Crest to jump with more than 10 people, but beyond that all I can see is a reference to licenses A, B, C, D, E, F and no other information on say, Wingsuit, Canopy-Relative or anything. Is there an infographic anyone may be able to provide similar to the British system chart in the OP specific to Australia?
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Apr 23, 2014 04:23
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Is there any reason you choose a particular field to land in considering how many there are in one picture or is it simply a matter of permission? I assume you have a tracker on your reserve if you're having to try and find it from time to time?
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Apr 23, 2014 13:35
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Thrasophius posted:Is there any reason you choose a particular field to land in considering how many there are in one picture or is it simply a matter of permission? I assume you have a tracker on your reserve if you're having to try and find it from time to time? One field belongs to or has an agreement to be used by the DZ as the designated landing area. They are well marked with landing direction and wind direction indicators which you can see clearly from the sky before beginning your approach. They're also usually quite well maintained, flat and obstacle free. All jumpers use the same field with the same traffic pattern to ensure a safe approach and landing. All of the other fields are potential out-landing areas in the event that you cannot make it back, but are not maintained for the purposes of landing a parachute, and as such may have uneven or hazardous terrain and have obstacles such as rocks, roots, hedges and gopher holes, which could cause injury on landing even if everything else goes right. Realistically, you could choose any of them, provided that you are skilled enough to put your chute down safely in the available area. When you realize that you cannot safely make it back to the designated field, you make the decision for which alternate landing area you can safely get to with enough room to fly a safe approach and stick with that one. That's also a decision you need to make early, especially in the event of a bad spot (that is, the aircraft was too far away from the designated landing area when you exited, or you tracked way off course and did not open reasonably close to the holding area). You don't want to wait until you're at 1000 feet/300 meters to realize you cannot safely get back to the landing area. You need to keep in mind the wind direction (which you would have checked before you went up), and which is the most free of obstacles such as fences or livestock, and consider that when choosing which landing area you can safely reach. Legally, you have the right to land anywhere in an emergency, even on private property, because as an unpowered "aircraft" your first obligation is to land safely. As to the tracker, I considered getting one of those flat gps tracking tags to mount on different parts of the rig, but the company could not guarantee that the tags would survive immersion in water, or being stored for long periods of time (six months or more) in a confined space without either the adhesive material or potential battery leakage affecting the parachute material or function. As much as I'd like to find my stuff if it got stolen or lost, I'd hate to have to pull my reserve handle only to find out mid-air that my reserve pilot chute had a chemical burn in it, or that the adhesive stuck parts of my reserve chute together and it won't open anymore. crowtribe posted:Is anyone able to give any insight into the licensing system used in Australia? I'm struggling to find information on the Australian Parachute Federation website that outlines it clearly. I don't know a lot about it. All the few Aussie skydivers I know have either USPA or BPA licenses. I will try to find some detailed information for you. My Q-Face fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Apr 23, 2014 |
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Apr 23, 2014 14:40
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How often are you able to land in the designated field? It's all well and good saying here is where you should land, but with unpredictable factors like the wind I imagine it's easier said than done.
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Apr 23, 2014 15:34
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Thrasophius posted:How often are you able to land in the designated field? It's all well and good saying here is where you should land, but with unpredictable factors like the wind I imagine it's easier said than done. The wind is usually very predictable, and it's actually quite easy: The pilot lines up the jump run over the holding area/landing area, so you're always jumping out almost right above where you're going to land. When there's more than a slight breeze, the pilot will adjust the jump run so that the wind carries you back to the landing area. For example, if the wind is coming from the west, he will drop you a bit further west. As the licensed parachutist, you have the final say in whether you're lined up properly and in the right spot, not the pilot. Of all of the "out" landings I've had, only one was not self-induced. (And in the 60-odd jumps that I've had since taking a canopy piloting course, I've had no out landings. Even when I had to use my reserve, I was still able to get back to the student landing area pretty easily). Of the 165-odd jumps I've done, I've only landed properly "out" twice. The first time (non-self-induced one) was because of an extra long run by the plane. Even that was a little bit my fault because I should have looked at the exit lights and done a spot check on the ground before jumping out, instead I just watched the guy before me go and then counted to ten. The second was during my canopy course and was because I was doing eyes-closed canopy work with my back to the wind and ended up over the next town before I realized I was drifting (Even then, I almost made it back). Other than that, I've had a fair few short or over-shoot landings at my regular DZ (the second-to-last picture with the arrow and the red/orange box), but in those cases I just ended up in the next field over to the designated LZ, not somewhere in the boonies.
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Apr 23, 2014 15:59
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