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The Skydiving Handbook - Chapter 6 (Canopy Performance)

Your square parachute is the result of two decades of design refinement. Like a glider, it can fly straight and level or turn, slow down, spin, and even stall. As the pilot, where you land and how you land is totally up to you. Practice, combined with a clear understanding of how your parachute works, will allow you to land softly, exactly where you want to, every time.
When your parachute is inflated, the pressurized air filling the tailored cells causes it to take on a wing shape. A parachute has a fixed angle of incidence, built into it by the length of the lines. The "A" lines in front are shorter than the "D" lines in back, causing the wing to point slightly down. It essentially flies forward and down on the slope of the angle built into it. This angle causes it to fly about three feet forward for every one foot down, giving it a 3 to 1 glide ratio. In other words, on a calm day a parachute opened at 4,000 feet could fly a straight line distance of 12,000 feet before landing! The speed at which it flies is about 20 miles per hour forward and 6 to 8 miles per hour down when the canopy is in full glide with the control handles, called steering toggles all the way up. The toggles are also referred to as brakes, since pulling both down slows you down.
Pulling down on the right toggle pulls down the back right corner of the canopy, slowing it down and creating a turn to the right. At the same time, the slow side looses lift and the canopy points downward in the direction of the turn, increasing the vertical descent rate. One of the most important handling characteristics of parachutes is that their descent rate always increases in a turn! This phenomenon is by far the greatest cause of parachuting injuries. With this in mind, you must take care to always plan your landing so that you will not be forced to do any major turns below 100 feet. How slow or fast you turn is in direct proportion to how far you pull down the toggle, as is the change in your descent rate - fast in a sharp turn, slower in a mild turn.
If you pull down on both toggles simultaneously, the canopy's forward speed decreases. The slowest you can go is about five miles per hour forward. Generally you should fly your canopy as fast as possible - toggles all the way up. This is because the more air the wing has passing over it, the better it flies. In fact, in sustained deep brakes so little air passes over the wing that the descent rate increases significantly. You can even cause the canopy to stall, which means it gives up flying altogether. Normally student canopies have the control lines calibrated to make a stall condition difficult or impossible to get into. Whenever you jump an unfamiliar canopy, you should always do a series of turns and practice flaring (pulling both toggles down simultaneously) above 1,500 feet in order to acquaint yourself with its handling characteristics.
Why 1,500 feet? Your CYPRES automatic activation device that deploys your reserve in an emergency is calibrated to fire at about 1,000 feet. It may mistake radical maneuvers under a good canopy for a malfunction and could deploy your reserve if you are aggressively turning or stalling the canopy below 1,500 feet! This is not only dangerous, but expensive. Recharging the CYPRES and repacking the reserve costs $170. If the CYPRES fired because of your mistake, you are the one who pays!
Besides the canopy's handling characteristics, the parachute pilot must consider the surrounding conditions. Two variables are present to some degree on every jump; the spot and the winds. Let's take a look at spotting and how it affects you.
Imagine the simplest jump possible. Let's say you are going to exit the airplane at 3,000 feet and your parachute, instead of gliding, descends straight down. There is no wind. In such conditions if you opened directly over the target, you would land on it. If we add a ten mile per hour wind, the spotter would have to determine how far the unsteerable parachute would drift and plan for the jumper to open that much further up wind of the target. Now let's say he has three parachutists leaving at ten second intervals. He must plan the initial exit so that all three will land as close as possible to the target: the first would be short of the target, the second right on, and the third would be long.
In our case, the spotter is looking down from 12,500 feet, has to guess about the wind, and has only a rough idea of how long each group will take to exit. Fortunately square parachutes are maneuverable enough to compensate for the variables. As a novice you will usually leave late in the exit order which means that for you the spot will usually be long. This can be useful, because it means all you have to do is locate the landing area and fly towards it. As you do you can think about the wind line (remember chapter one) and check for other wind indicators such as wind socks, the shadows of clouds moving over the ground, smoke or dust, and the direction other parachutes are landing. You need to do this, because the wind is the second variable you need to think about.
On a calm day, your ground speed will be the same as your canopy's forward speed - about 20 miles per hour. But when there is any wind, it will affect your ground speed. If the wind is blowing five miles an hour, you are now in a river of moving air. You don't feel like your speed changes, because your air speed is the same. But your ground speed is not. Facing into the wind, or holding, your ground speed is reduced by five miles per hour. When you turn and fly with the wind, called running, you add the wind speed to your canopy speed, resulting in a ground speed of 25 miles per hour.



Test yourself:
1. When you are crabbing (flying at 90 degrees to the wind) in a 10 mile per hour wind, what will your path over the ground look like?
2. The slowest your parachute can go is about five miles per hour in full brakes. Flying into a ten mile per hour wind, what would your ground speed be?
Proceed to Chapter 7 (Landings)

By admin, in General,

Less Weight, Feels Great

Tonfly is well known for their camera helmets. Designed in Italy, built in Slovakia, their carbon fiber helmet designs are a bit different than everyone else.

When Giovanni Suzzi, president of Tonfly, offered up an opportunity to review his newest helmets, I was expecting them in the mail in two separate boxes. When UPS dropped the package at my door, I was certain an error had been made due to the lightness of the single package. I was shocked to find two helmets inside. These helmets weigh almost nothing, but yet are incredibly strong, solid, and as protective as any skydiving helmet I’ve ever worn.
“The helmets are made from a tighter carbon fiber weave,” says “Sonic” Bayrasli, exclusive distributor for Tonfly in the USA. “This contributes to a marginally higher cost.”
The 2X and 3X helmets are definitely a unique grade of helmet. The exceptional lightweight means less fatigue at the end of a long day of skydiving. This also allows for a thicker padding inside, thus quieting the helmet more than any helmet of the same class.
Both helmets sport an audible pocket over the right ear, made specifically for the L&B; Optima, Solo II, or Protrack devices. This unique pocket allows for external access without crowding the wearer’s head. There is also room for a second audible over the left ear, perfect in size for a Flysight (wingsuiter’s tool) or other standard size audible.
The ladder-strap chin cup provides for a secure mount. However, I discovered that if the chin cup isn’t reasonably centered in the ladder straps/on the chin, the release catches can easily be knocked loose. Equal tension on both sides of the chincup is fairly important for the most secure fit. As with earlier models of the Tonfly helmets, the 2X and 3X helmets use a carbon fiber chincup covered with a vanity cup emblazoned with the Tonfly logo. This vanity cup is available in many colors to match any custom color scheme a buyer might come up with.
Speaking of custom… Tonfly offers the 2X and 3X in all sorts of custom colors with logos put in place as designed by a buyer. I asked for some unique logos and color combinations and Tonfly was more than obliging.
Both helmets are designed for mounting a single camera on top. Neither helmet is designed as a helmet for both video and stills; these are made to be as light as possible. A Zkulls mounting ring is provided on both helmets (optional) along with a molded space for the GetHypoxic HypEye camera controller (optional). The 3X also provides a debrief port for the HypEye control/debriefing system (optional). This is very useful for team debriefs, viewing video immediately after a jump where a DV, HDV, or AVCHD camcorder is used and an HDMI cable isn’t available. This also means that the AV connector on the camera won’t need to be disconnected, thus saving wear and tear on the camera connector (a common point of failure).
Two very unique features set the 3X apart from it’s brother; the air pump system that allows the base of the helmet to conform to the wearer’s head, and a “crown” that allows the user to quickly shift the angle of the camera by as much as 15 degrees forward or back.
The air pump system is terrific for wearers with long hair; it makes the helmet ‘feel’ like a full face helmet in the way it contains hair. Those with short hair will appreciate the additional quiet that the custom conformation option provides. It takes 4-5 pumps to make the helmet tight against my head, and I have medium-length hair. The small air release nipple next to the pump provides an instant release of air, but in truth, it’s impossible to make the helmet uncomfortably tight, even with the air pumped as tight as the internal bladder allows.
The slotted mounting plate allows users to change the camera angle, albeit not instantly. This is very useful for wingsuit pilots or freeflyers. Wingsuiters will like the ability to shift a camera forward (angled more downward) which allows for easier capture of a formation in a vertical slot, and freeflyers will like the additional angles for flying close in small groups. Changing the angle of the platform requires a slotted screwdriver and a couple of minutes. It’s very easy. However, the screws are also extremely light weight, so use care when turning them so as to not strip their threads.
As mentioned before, the adjustable camera platform also provides access to the video debrief port found on the HypEye camera control system. On a personal note, I’ve found this feature invaluable not only because it reduces wear/tear on the camera AV port, but also because it allows for a very fast connection to both television and computer monitors (if equipped with a composite input).

Wingsuit students use Tonfly Helmets at Skydive Elsinore. Each is equipped with a custom-color L&B; Optima, courtesy of L&B.; Both helmets share the same chincup and ladder characteristics.
What I don’t like about these helmets:
The screws that hold the camera platform to the 3X are thin metal and easy to strip. Tonfly could address this by including a couple of extra screws/receivers with each helmet (they’re very difficult to find here in the USA).
The ladder straps on both the 3X and the 2X don’t hold as well as their older brothers in the CCM/CC1 realm.
What I do like about these helmets:
Super comfortable on the head. No pressure points anywhere.
Extremely lightweight (hence the “X” in their name, perhaps?)
Very strong. I’ve been knocked in the head by several students, one of them wearing boots sharp enough to chip the paint on the helmet, but I didn’t feel a thing. I was also hit by a newbie wingsuiter hard enough to cost me a battery, lens, and destroyed camera; one can only imagine how much of my skull was protected by this lightweight helmet.
The fit. I don’t know what Tonfly does exactly, but I appreciate the way this helmet fits. Students often comment on how much they love the fit of the helmet too. Mine is a size 59; it seems to be an average size.
The camera system on the 3X simply rocks. I love how it works, how it feels when I’m flying, and provides the angle I prefer with wingsuit students.
Quiet. The 3X is the most quiet helmet I’ve ever jumped. Read more of DSE's writing on his blog.

By DSE, in Gear,

Red Beans & Ripcords

Mike Marcon has written of a time in the 1960's when sport parachuting, or "skydiving," as it is called today, was just starting to come into its own as a sport. In the U.S., Europe and across the world, even in the Soviet Union, small groups of jumpers would gather at local airports and grass airstrips on the week-ends. The equipment they used was usually military surplus -- their aircraft, a mixed bag of smaller airplanes.
Mike's early days as a jumper took place mainly in the south, starting first in Mississippi and later, in Louisiana. Mike revelled in the sport as a young guy with nothing on his mind but jumping, girls and partying. He was the master of practical jokes. The characters he recounts in "Red Beans & Ripcords" are varied and slightly off-balance.
There was Major Goody who tried to kill a cat with home-made nitroglycerine, and Swartz who jumped with his dog. There were the first-jump students he trained and the jumpers who became his extended family. There were the ocelots kept as pets that terrorized the various visitors that visited his parachute center. There were outrageous drinking games and eating unbelievable amounts of a southern staple, red beans and rice. You'll roar with laughter at the story of "Eddy and the Body." And, through it all, there was Leon, the Cajun, his mentor and friend. You'll most likely hear the sound of Zydeco music in the pages of this book.
Mike Marcon resides in Virginia with his wife, Marianne. He has written professionally since 1984. He has been published by Random House, Prentice-Hall, and Hilltop Publishers. He also writes for many regional magazines and newspapers.
Today, he operates Marcon Publishing, helping new writers bring their words to readers worldwide. He is currently co-authoring another book to be debuted later this year. Marcon Publishing can be found on the internet here: www.mikemarcon.info

By admin, in News,

Contact Congress to Oppose User Fees for General Aviation

Among the discussions currently taking place in Washington, D.C., about reducing the deficit and finding new revenue streams is talk about imposing new user fees on general aviation. There has been similar talk in the past, but Congress squashed the idea. There’s not yet any formal proposal, but there are enough rumors from official sources that many of the general aviation associations representing pilots and businesses that operate aircraft have asked their members to contact their Senators and Member of Congress to oppose the idea. General aviation users already contribute to the aviation trust fund by paying a federal tax on every gallon of fuel purchased, and general aviation users want to stay with that method.
The basic idea of a user fee is to charge aircraft operators a set fee per flight. The charge could be anywhere from $25 to $100, and it could be assessed per takeoff or per radio contact with air traffic control (ATC). Skydiving operators—with multiple takeoffs each day and a requirement to contact ATC on each flight—would pay more than most operators; the cost of jump tickets would go up. A new fee could be aimed at jets only, or it could be aimed at all turbine aircraft, or all aircraft in commercial operation, or simply all aircraft. Regardless, if enacted, it is a sure bet that the fee would eventually increase and also be expanded to other users in the future. Adding insult to injury is that the FAA would have to create a sub-agency to track billing and enforce payment.
USPA joins our general aviation brethren in fighting the user fee concept. Please take action now to ensure that Congress rejects the user fee idea.
On the Senate website, select your state from a dropdown menu in the upper right corner to be directed to your two Senators’ contact information. On the House of Representatives website, enter your zip code to be directed to your one Representative’s contact information. A phone call is best, followed by an email, and even a fax; mailed letters take too long to arrive. In your contact, identify yourself as an aviation user, and explain how increased costs would affect your participation in skydiving—an FAA aeronautical activity. Ask them to reject the idea of new user fees for general aviation and to continue the collection of federal taxes on aviation fuels.
The above article was taken from a USPS news release: www.uspa.org

By admin, in News,

CALLING DAVE BROWN!!

He’s funny, he’s creative, a world champion, an instructor, he’s the best friend you never knew you had, he’s a gifted skydiver and businessman, and right now, he’s missing.
Most of the skydiving community is now aware that World-Champion skydiver Dave (David Roy Brown) Brown has been missing for nearly two weeks at the time of this writing. Dave recently began working at Skydive Moab, and was last seen at the home of Skydive Moab’s DZO, Clint MacBeth.
Searchers are scouring the canyons of Moab, but it is literally tens of thousands of square miles. The search is a difficult, arduous process in the worst heat the year has to offer. Your help is needed and appreciated. Keeping aircraft, powered paragliders, search ATVs, vehicles is an expense not easily managed. We're asking the skydiving community for any help they can offer.
Donations to assist in the search for Dave Brown may be made to: Dave Brown Search (PayPal)
At the request of Dave's wife, the timeline of this article has been removed.

By DSE, in News,

Is Speed Skydiving Boring

The Sensations
Speed skydiving in principle sounds like a high-octane, extreme discipline in skydiving. However, when you hear it’s a solo sport, you then think it “sounds boring”. But it is anything but boring and it’s for one simple reason; speed skydiving has a unique adrenaline-filled freefall sensation. It feels like those first few seconds of normal freefall where you accelerate rapidly, but throughout the entire speed skydive.
Speed skydiving is measured as an average over the vertical kilometer (from 8,858 to 5,577ft). That means if you do it well, you can expect to reach your peak speed at the bottom end of the measuring gate. Some skydivers say it is hard to quantify what normal terminal velocity is, however in speed skydiving it’s definitely more tangible. The sensation is of freefalling seriously fast and that’s slightly scary whilst giving you a big adrenaline rush!
Who Am I?
I jump regularly at Skydive Hibaldstow primarily doing FS team camera work and wingsuiting. Although I have never been on the International Speed Skydiving circuit or a speed skydiving training camp, I always try to attend the UK Speed Skydiving Nationals and seminars. I’m not a freeflyer and I’m not even the best speed skydiver, but I have been enjoying it for 9 years.
Doing It Well
Doing it well is another matter of course. I have never done an average of over 270mph, whereas Mark Calland (UK jumper) has been over 300mph unbelievably. Speed skydiving requires you to strike a 3-way balance between feeling the airflow on your body, making fine corrections and relaxing. Putting too much input in or being too ridged and it’s all going to go pear-shaped.
What to wear plays big part of getting a good average. Some speed skydivers like to wear bright red all-PVC spray on gimp-suits. Sorry but that is too kinky for me! If you can handle them, you can get some good speeds. Many more however prefer to wear a surfers rash vest and some jeans. The jeans help to smooth the airflow, provide some good stability and grip.
A Typical Speed Skydive
So let me describe a typical speed skydive. I get out of the aircraft between 12,000 to 13,000ft (the same altitude as the 8-way jumpers at nationals) and for the first 15 seconds, I slowly start to build up my speed by going into a progressively steeper and steeper track. After what feels like a long time, I begin to feel the air on the back of my calves. This is when I know I am now in the vertical airflow phase of the jump.
Around this point, I feel a sudden acceleration and I know I am passing the 200mph mark. It’s almost like I’m passing through a pressure wave and this is common amongst other speed skydivers. For extra speed, I try to flatten my arms by my hips and bring my ankles together.
Not long after, I pass through the opening gate of the measured kilometer. By then, I am already doing over 230mph. At this measuring phase of the jump, I’m concentrating on stability with every nerve cell in my body. Ideally, I’m trying not to make any inputs in at all. In fact, I’m trying to relax whilst balancing on what feels like a pinhead. Another sensation is like falling through an invisible narrow tube barely wide enough for my shoulders. I’m talking a lot about sensations in this article, but that is one of the big attractions to the discipline.
Being symmetrical is also very important. A slight hip twist, one leg in front of the other and I can expect radical oscillations. Simply relaxing often cures the problem and I can continue to job of accelerating away.
The final and most important part of the speed skydive is the deceleration to 120mph! I do this when I hear my two L&B; audibles beeping away inside my Oxygn fullface helmet. For those that don’t know, I’m completely deaf in one ear. So I pack them next to each other. You wouldn’t want to miss your beeps at those speeds.
Pulling out of a 250mph swoop is not as gruesome as it sounds. You simply arch your body slightly and you begin to peel out into a swoop. As the speed decreases, you then bring your arms in front of you to a normal flat body position. All this takes less than 4 seconds and this makes you realise how fast you were actually going.
Measurement
Once you land, you unclip the two L&B; Pro-Tracks (not the ones from your helmet) from you harness lateral straps and plug them into the Jump Track software, which produces neat and tidy graphs showing your performance. In competition, each competitor does 6 rounds and the average of their best 3 go forwards.
It’s exciting watching the scores come in and seeing your own progression. You would be surprised that being a fatty has little to do with going fast. I’m on the slim side and 2 out of the 5 worlds fastest recorded times have been by other slim built skydivers.
Safety
Having a premature opening of your parachute over 200mph is extremely dangerous. In preparation for a speed skydive, I take a fresh closing loop and shorten it to the point where I can only just get the closing pin in. In addition, I make sure I have two audibles in my helmet and I put gaffer tape on the edges of the visor of my full face.
There should be no more than three speed skydivers on a load to prevent traffic problems. The first and last part of the jump involve tracking and it’s possible to cover large distances quickly. Being able to keep a heading is vital.
The last thing is that your BOC spandex must be in good condition.
Summary
There are very few disciplines where you can feel how fast you are going and that makes it a real adrenaline buzz. Whilst it is a solo discipline, there is a lot of excited interaction and camaraderie between the jumpers at competitions as they evaluate each other’s jumps and acceleration graphs. You can take part without having to do lots of coached training camps. It’s definitely not boring!
Doesn’t covering a vertical kilometer in less than 10 seconds sound like fun?
More information:

1. Speed skydiving seminar at Hibaldstow

2. ISSA

3. Larsen & Brusgaard – Kind sponsors of the discipline

By admin, in Disciplines,

Saved By The Beep

Most of us agree that canopy control is the most important, and most difficult aspect of skydiving instruction. Within this broad objective is the ability to fly a safe and consistent landing pattern. This is crucial for everyone, from the highest level of experience down to the beginner. The clear necessity for improvement in this area has been demonstrated time and again with the unacceptable frequency of canopy collisions and low turn accidents that have plagued our sport for far too long.
General aviation has implemented many new technologies to assist pilots in navigation. These tools have enhanced aviation safety, and such devices are not considered crutches, but a necessary part of safe flying. Similar advances are now commercially available for skydivers as well, but many do not include these instruments in their safety toolkit; least of all for primary instruction methodologies. It is time for this to change.
Altitude awareness is not something that ends once the canopy opens. Knowing precisely how high we are throughout the approach and landing is vital for consistency, and many of the traditional analogue devices are unable to provide truly trustworthy data. The digital altimeters that are now widely available are accurate within ten feet or so, but they have one tragic flaw: the pilot must look away from the ground, and away from the traffic, in order to access the information.
Having water available does not guarantee that the thirsty will drink, and as altitude diminishes and stress level increases, visual altimeters are used less and less. As many high performance pilots have come to realize, audible altimeters are an incredibly powerful aid for heads-up access to the information that saves their lives. The time has come to utilize these tools for students and intermediate skydivers as well.
A pattern is a simply a series of invisible points in space, what some have come to refer to as "altitude-location check-points". With three or four ALC's, a canopy pilot can follow a preplanned path through space to a predictable landing point. When these ALC's are programmed into an audible device such as the Optima, with its impressive tolerance of + or - only ten feet, the distracting glances at a visual altimeter become mostly unnecessary. More importantly, I have found that my canopy piloting students who use such audible cues are more aware of their surroundings, and are far less likely to run into other canopies on the way to the target. Even more importantly, by having their eyes focused "outside the cockpit" so to speak, the canopy pilot learns exactly what the ground looks like at the various altitudes. Therefore, I have discovered, if there is an instrument failure in the future, they have "calibrated their eyeballs", and are aware when they are too low to execute a hard, descending turn.
Many instructors have grown accustomed to preaching the party line that relying on instruments for canopy flight is inadvisable. Although there is some merit to training our eyes to recognize key altitudes, simply trusting our inborn instincts is not an effective way to accomplish this goal. When a “flat-line” beep goes off in your helmet that marks 300 feet AGL, and you happen to be looking at the ground at the time, you immediately become a better canopy pilot. Furthermore, when you are focused on your surroundings, rather than a dial on your wrist, you are more likely to make the necessary course corrections that lead to the target. The primary reason for missing the target is, and always will be, failure to maneuver when a course correction is necessary. When you always know how high you are, and are observing your location in relation the target, you are far more likely to make the change that puts you in the peas.
The safety concerns regarding the use of audible devices for flying a pattern can be addressed with a few simple rules. The first rule is, if you don’t get the first beep, assume that the instrument has run out of battery life, or is improperly programmed. When the initial pattern beep comes, verify that this is in fact the altitude that you expected it to be by looking at your visual altimeter. If it is not, or you hear nothing at all, use your visual altimeter for the remainder of the jump, and sort it out on the ground. Above all else, your eyes are your default, and you can veto what the audible is telling you, or not telling you. If it doesn’t look right, put your parachute over your head and prepare to flare for landing.
There have been many technological leaps that have changed the sport forever, and audible information for canopy flight is proving to be one of the most profound. By knowing exactly how high we are at all times, we can act appropriately. We can relax more as we fly our approach, and enjoy the simplicity and joy of landing our parachutes without worry. Above all else, the reduction of the stress within each canopy pilot, both student and expert, has proven itself to allow for the full expression of skill that training has made possible. When we embrace such advances, we can more easily expand into the pilots we were meant to become.
BSG
Brian Germain is a parachute designer and test pilot, and runs canopy flight skills and safety courses all over the world. Brian has made over 14,000 jumps in his 25 years in the sport. He is also the host of the “Safety First” segment on SkydiveRadio.com, and the creator of many educational You Tube videos. Brian is the author of the widely popular canopy flight text The Parachute and its Pilot, as well as Transcending Fear, Greenlight Your Life, and Vertical Journey. His upcoming book entitled “Vibe Matters, emotion is everything” will be coming out later this year, along with the long awaited educational packing video “No Sweat”. His websites are www.BIGAIRSportZ.com and www.Transcendingfear.com and his YouTube channel is: www.youtube.com/bsgermain

By Deleted, in Safety,

Content Submission Guidelines

The intention of this document is to outline some of the primary guidelines that should be adhered to when writing or submitting content to dropzone.com.
All articles must be directly related to skydiving.


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Reviews
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Event Reports
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Press Release
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Image Guidelines: Images must be a minimum resolution of 800x600 with a recommended resolution of 1440x900. In either jpeg, gif or png format.
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General Information Article
General information articles cover just about every article that doesn't fit into the other categories. It can be thought of as the default category for articles. General articles would cover such topics as technical safety, buyers guides, advice and disciplines.
Example: Clean Up Your Turns
Interview Article
Interview articles are articles that consist in their entirety of interviews with relevant persons. This can be professional skydivers, gear manufacturers etc. Interview articles should clearly display the information of which person is being quoted, example


John: Who are your sponsors?

Mark: Well I recently got sponsored by...
Example: Troy's Senseless Acts and Others
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Review articles can be written for all directly skydiving related products, such things as gear, mounted cameras and skydiving mobile apps. Reviews must remain factual and free of bias. It will be expected that the reviewer will address and explain how he or she came to any conclusions when testing.
Example: Replay XD: Is it the New Generation of Skydiving Camera
Event Report Article
Event report articles are articles that are written about an event such as a boogie that was attended. It is important to note that this category differs from photographic based articles below, in that they are still primarily textual. Articles about events that are yet to occur, should be submitted as press releases.
Example: New German National Big Way Formation Record Set
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A photography based article differs from the other articles in that the focus is not so much on the text, but on the images provided. With that said, we still recommend providing at least 50 to 100 words about each image in the article. Images in this category should typically be of high quality.
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We allow the submission and publication of skydiving related press release articles. We typically seek to push out press releases as soon as we receive them, though may not be featured on the home page (depending on relevance and importance.)
Example: Press Releases

By admin, in Content,

Understanding your AAD

With all the recent issues that have been brought up by the Argus AAD ban by multiple container manufacturers, I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that while most modern AAD’s have a similar design, based on that of the CYPRES1 which was introduced in the early 90’s, they all have very unique differences, and these differences can cause major issues if you are unaware of them. Also, this is a good time to remind people about best practices to use if you have an AAD in your rig.
Because of safety concerns right now it looks like most container manufacturers have
at least temporarily prohibited the ARGUS in their containers, so this article predominantly relates to the CYPRES and the VIGIL. If the ARGUS is approved again for most containers, updated information will then be made available. Although not widely seen, there are also the FXC Astra (electronic with cutter), and the FXC-12000, an older bulky mechanical pin-pulling device. Introduced at the recent PIA Symposium, the MARS M2 from the Czech Republic and being imported by Alti-2, is another newcomer to the AAD market, which may be available sometime this year once the container manufacturers approve it for use.
All the modern electronic AAD’s currently on the market in their “Expert mode” work by activating a cutter that severs the reserve closing loop when the user is falling at or greater than a given speed (typically around 78 MPH or faster) and at or lower than a given altitude (typically around 750 feet). This cut closing loop should then allow the reserve to begin its opening sequence. This is all the AAD will do (cut the loop). If the reserve has been correctly packed, the cutting of the loop should initiate the reserve opening sequence, and hopefully a reserve canopy will open between 200-500 feet AGL (barring a pilot chute hesitation, etc).
KNOW YOUR EQUIPMENTAs always, consult the user manual for your specific make/model, and discuss any of your AAD questions with a qualified rigger. We are lucky to have SSK Industries, Inc., the US service center for CYPRES units located in Lebanon, Ohio, so please feel free to contact SSK for any CYPRES questions also.
The first major difference between AAD’s is “active” mode. This is the altitude above the ground that the AAD would allow itself to activate if the conditions were met for an activation. The CYPRES\CYPRES2 arms at 1500 feet AGL. The VIGIL\VIGIL2 will move to active mode at 150 feet AGL. Both of these have different rationale behind their decisions. While a CYPRES will not active if the airplane only gets to 900 feet and you have to do an emergency exit, a VIGIL moves into active mode at a lower altitude and this has caused issues when the door of the airplane accidentally opened which caused a pressure difference that triggered activation. Counterpoint to this for the VIGIL is if you exit at 1200 feet and hit your head on the tail the unit is already in active mode and is able to potentially fire to start the reserve activation sequence. (Note that CYPRES is armed if you climb to arming altitude, then descend lower prior to exit.) The CYPRES also disarms when it goes below ~ 130 ft. AGL. The VIGIL will also disarm at ~130 feet on the way down
A second major difference is in the shutdown timing. A CYPRES until has a hard shutdown at 14 hours after the startup sequence. This means even if you are on the airplane climbing to altitude or in freefall when that time is reached the unit will shut down. In this method of shutdown timing you must do a manual shutdown and restart of the unit if you are approaching the 14 hours since startup to ensure that the unit will remain active for any skydives that you are intending on doing. The VIGIL checks to see if it is at its “Ground Zero” altitude and if you are 150 feet or higher or lower than that altitude via pressure readings then the unit will remain on until you reach “Ground Zero” altitude again. This can cause an issue if you take your rig home and you live more than 150 feet above or below the field elevation at the airport since the VIGIL might remain on for days or weeks. Specifically this can cause issues if you are frequently traveling and leave the DZ at the end of the day and travel to a different DZ the next day since the unit might still be on and is using the altitude of the other airport as its “Zero” point. This could cause the unit to fire much higher or lower than expected. As a reference point Middletown Hook Field, the home of Start Skydiving is at 650’ MSL, Columbus (CMH) is at 815’ MSL, Indianapolis (IND) is 797’ MSL and Covington (CVG) is 896’ MSL. All of these areas may be at a large enough altitude difference that you may need to manually turn your VIGIL off when you leave the dropzone to keep it turned on until it is returned to Start Skydiving. Leaving the VIGIL on for extended time periods can lead to the battery going dead prior to the expected life of the unit or the unit failing to realize the difference in “Zero” altitude if you travel to another dropzone.
A third difference is the way that the altitude reference offset data is stored in the units.. If you are doing an offsite demo jump, or jump at a DZ with an airfield with an elevation different from the landing area, there exists an option that, if you know you are going to be landing at a location that is hundreds of feet higher or lower then where you are taking off from, allows you to adjust the AAD so it knows about that difference, so it still will activate at ~750 feet above the ground at the intended landing location. Because of the CYPRES automatic weather correction feature, it will re-zero itself on the way back to the take-off location, so it is necessary to switch it off and reset the DZ altitude reference prior to each jump at the remote airfield. At the end of the self-test procedure, CYPRES-2 displays the previously set altitude offset so that it can be easily selected again. The CYPRES(1) unit does not have a memory of a programmed offset and will forget the difference each time the CYPRES is turned off. CYPRES automatically tracks weather changes throughout the day, and if the airfield and landing site are nearby and at the same elevation there is no need to reset it every time you need to re-zero your altimeter. If you travel by car back to the DZ, or walk back from a different elevation after landing with your CYPRES, it is recommended to reset it (switch off/on). As the VIGIL does not automatically track weather changes in the same way, it will retain the offset information in its memory until you go back into the menu and change it back to zero even if the unit is shut down or it reaches its 14 hour point and shuts off. The upside is if you are frequently jumping at a location that involves needing to input an offset the offset is saved for you. The downside to this is if you program in an offset and forget to reset it you could have the unit activating incorrectly since it thinks it still needs the offset. The VIGIL also recommends resetting the unit if you travel with it in a car or walk back from a different elevation.
Yet another difference is the “Function” of the AAD. CYPRES units come in four versions that are easy to tell the difference of at a glance. CYPRES Expert units have a Red button, Speed units have a Red button that has SPEED printed on it. Student units have a Yellow button and a Tandem unit has a Blue button. Each of these models has unique activation parameters so refer to the user manual for specific information. A CYPRES-2 unit can be reprogrammed by SSK or the factory to change its functionality and it’s done at no charge. The VIGIL is a multifunction device that allows for the user to change it from “Expert” to “Student” or even “Tandem” in the startup sequence.) You do need to make sure the unit is in the right mode to get the correct activation parameters loaded. You can tell the mode the VIGIL is in by looking at the display once the unit is turned on and it will tell the currently active mode. Tandem Instructors especially need to ensure if the rig they are about to jump has a VIGIL installed that it is in the right mode since having the unit activate at the EXPERT or STUDENT parameters may not ensure the canopies will open in time to save your life.
There are additional differences so please read your User Manual to really understand all the details of your AAD. While we try to use the “Set it and Forget it!” attitude towards AADs, they are somewhat complicated devices that you need to understand the details of, so that you can properly use the unit if it is installed in your container.
Modern AAD’s since they were introduced with the CYPRES1 in 1991 have saved hundreds of lives. They have also caused issues and even fatalities when inducing two canopy out situations at times where jumpers have opened their main canopies very low or other complications. AAD’s have a very high success rate when needed but they are not 100% flawless either. Just by having an AAD installed does not mean that you are now perfectly safe. Many jumpers inform their friends and families that “I have this little device that will pull for me if I don’t” as a way of reassuring them around the dangers of skydiving. While it is true that having an AAD does increase your safety factor it is not to be relied on and the true risk involved in skydiving does need to be considered.
Reminder of Best Practices for use of your AAD no matter which brand you use:
1) Only turn your AAD on at the takeoff site, do not turn it on at home then drive to the DZ since it will think your home is “Zero Altitude” and may fire higher or lower than expected because of this.
2) If a “multimode” device, ensure the unit is in the correct “Mode” for the skydive you are about to do.
3) Notice any errors during the start up or during operations during the day and alert your rigger before completing another jump on the unit.
4) Be aware of the shutdown timing on the AAD and if needed turn it off before you leave at the end of the day. Also be prepared to reset the unit if you will be doing more than 14 hours of jumping (Night jumps especially are of note on this)
5) Only configure offset information into the unit if you are truly jumping at an altitude different than you are taking off from. Also be sure you know whether the unit retains the offset information or not.
CYPRES2 User Manual:
http://www.cypres-usa.com/userguide/CYPRES_2_users_guide_english.pdf
or
http://www.cypres.cc/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid;=89&func;=download&id;=182&chk;=5ca53a980b98700d976eb51f9e1fc9c3&no;_html=1〈=enVIGIL User Manual: http://www.vigil.aero/files/images/ENGELS___DP_JUN_2010.pdf

VIGIL SB on this topic: http://www.vigil.aero/files/images/Information_Bulletin___Airborne_Status_.pdfWith all the recent issues that have been brought up by the Argus AAD ban by multiple container manufacturers, I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that while most modern AAD’s have a similar design, based on that of the CYPRES1 which was introduced in the early 90’s, they all have very unique differences, and these differences can cause major issues if you are unaware of them. Also, this is a good time to remind people about best practices to use if you have an AAD in your rig.
Because of safety concerns right now it looks like most container manufacturers have
at least temporarily prohibited the ARGUS in their containers, so this article predominantly relates to the CYPRES and the VIGIL. If the ARGUS is approved again for most containers, updated information will then be made available. Although not widely seen, there are also the FXC Astra (electronic with cutter), and the FXC-12000, an older bulky mechanical pin-pulling device. Introduced at the recent PIA Symposium, the MARS M2 from the Czech Republic and being imported by Alti-2, is another newcomer to the AAD market, which may be available sometime this year once the container manufacturers approve it for use.
All the modern electronic AAD’s currently on the market in their “Expert mode” work by activating a cutter that severs the reserve closing loop when the user is falling at or greater than a given speed (typically around 78 MPH or faster) and at or lower than a given altitude (typically around 750 feet). This cut closing loop should then allow the reserve to begin its opening sequence. This is all the AAD will do (cut the loop). If the reserve has been correctly packed, the cutting of the loop should initiate the reserve opening sequence, and hopefully a reserve canopy will open between 200-500 feet AGL (barring a pilot chute hesitation, etc).
KNOW YOUR EQUIPMENTAs always, consult the user manual for your specific make/model, and discuss any of your AAD questions with a qualified rigger. We are lucky to have SSK Industries, Inc., the US service center for CYPRES units located in Lebanon, Ohio, so please feel free to contact SSK for any CYPRES questions also.
The first major difference between AAD’s is “active” mode. This is the altitude above the ground that the AAD would allow itself to activate if the conditions were met for an activation. The CYPRES\CYPRES2 arms at 1500 feet AGL. The VIGIL\VIGIL2 will move to active mode at 150 feet AGL. Both of these have different rationale behind their decisions. While a CYPRES will not active if the airplane only gets to 900 feet and you have to do an emergency exit, a VIGIL moves into active mode at a lower altitude and this has caused issues when the door of the airplane accidentally opened which caused a pressure difference that triggered activation. Counterpoint to this for the VIGIL is if you exit at 1200 feet and hit your head on the tail the unit is already in active mode and is able to potentially fire to start the reserve activation sequence. (Note that CYPRES is armed if you climb to arming altitude, then descend lower prior to exit.) The CYPRES also disarms when it goes below ~ 130 ft. AGL. The VIGIL will also disarm at ~130 feet on the way down
A second major difference is in the shutdown timing. A CYPRES until has a hard shutdown at 14 hours after the startup sequence. This means even if you are on the airplane climbing to altitude or in freefall when that time is reached the unit will shut down. In this method of shutdown timing you must do a manual shutdown and restart of the unit if you are approaching the 14 hours since startup to ensure that the unit will remain active for any skydives that you are intending on doing. The VIGIL checks to see if it is at its “Ground Zero” altitude and if you are 150 feet or higher or lower than that altitude via pressure readings then the unit will remain on until you reach “Ground Zero” altitude again. This can cause an issue if you take your rig home and you live more than 150 feet above or below the field elevation at the airport since the VIGIL might remain on for days or weeks. Specifically this can cause issues if you are frequently traveling and leave the DZ at the end of the day and travel to a different DZ the next day since the unit might still be on and is using the altitude of the other airport as its “Zero” point. This could cause the unit to fire much higher or lower than expected. As a reference point Middletown Hook Field, the home of Start Skydiving is at 650’ MSL, Columbus (CMH) is at 815’ MSL, Indianapolis (IND) is 797’ MSL and Covington (CVG) is 896’ MSL. All of these areas may be at a large enough altitude difference that you may need to manually turn your VIGIL off when you leave the dropzone to keep it turned on until it is returned to Start Skydiving. Leaving the VIGIL on for extended time periods can lead to the battery going dead prior to the expected life of the unit or the unit failing to realize the difference in “Zero” altitude if you travel to another dropzone.
A third difference is the way that the altitude reference offset data is stored in the units.. If you are doing an offsite demo jump, or jump at a DZ with an airfield with an elevation different from the landing area, there exists an option that, if you know you are going to be landing at a location that is hundreds of feet higher or lower then where you are taking off from, allows you to adjust the AAD so it knows about that difference, so it still will activate at ~750 feet above the ground at the intended landing location. Because of the CYPRES automatic weather correction feature, it will re-zero itself on the way back to the take-off location, so it is necessary to switch it off and reset the DZ altitude reference prior to each jump at the remote airfield. At the end of the self-test procedure, CYPRES-2 displays the previously set altitude offset so that it can be easily selected again. The CYPRES(1) unit does not have a memory of a programmed offset and will forget the difference each time the CYPRES is turned off. CYPRES automatically tracks weather changes throughout the day, and if the airfield and landing site are nearby and at the same elevation there is no need to reset it every time you need to re-zero your altimeter. If you travel by car back to the DZ, or walk back from a different elevation after landing with your CYPRES, it is recommended to reset it (switch off/on). As the VIGIL does not automatically track weather changes in the same way, it will retain the offset information in its memory until you go back into the menu and change it back to zero even if the unit is shut down or it reaches its 14 hour point and shuts off. The upside is if you are frequently jumping at a location that involves needing to input an offset the offset is saved for you. The downside to this is if you program in an offset and forget to reset it you could have the unit activating incorrectly since it thinks it still needs the offset. The VIGIL also recommends resetting the unit if you travel with it in a car or walk back from a different elevation.
Yet another difference is the “Function” of the AAD. CYPRES units come in four versions that are easy to tell the difference of at a glance. CYPRES Expert units have a Red button, Speed units have a Red button that has SPEED printed on it. Student units have a Yellow button and a Tandem unit has a Blue button. Each of these models has unique activation parameters so refer to the user manual for specific information. A CYPRES-2 unit can be reprogrammed by SSK or the factory to change its functionality and it’s done at no charge. The VIGIL is a multifunction device that allows for the user to change it from “Expert” to “Student” or even “Tandem” in the startup sequence.) You do need to make sure the unit is in the right mode to get the correct activation parameters loaded. You can tell the mode the VIGIL is in by looking at the display once the unit is turned on and it will tell the currently active mode. Tandem Instructors especially need to ensure if the rig they are about to jump has a VIGIL installed that it is in the right mode since having the unit activate at the EXPERT or STUDENT parameters may not ensure the canopies will open in time to save your life.
There are additional differences so please read your User Manual to really understand all the details of your AAD. While we try to use the “Set it and Forget it!” attitude towards AADs, they are somewhat complicated devices that you need to understand the details of, so that you can properly use the unit if it is installed in your container.
Modern AAD’s since they were introduced with the CYPRES1 in 1991 have saved hundreds of lives. They have also caused issues and even fatalities when inducing two canopy out situations at times where jumpers have opened their main canopies very low or other complications. AAD’s have a very high success rate when needed but they are not 100% flawless either. Just by having an AAD installed does not mean that you are now perfectly safe. Many jumpers inform their friends and families that “I have this little device that will pull for me if I don’t” as a way of reassuring them around the dangers of skydiving. While it is true that having an AAD does increase your safety factor it is not to be relied on and the true risk involved in skydiving does need to be considered.
Reminder of Best Practices for use of your AAD no matter which brand you use:
1) Only turn your AAD on at the takeoff site, do not turn it on at home then drive to the DZ since it will think your home is “Zero Altitude” and may fire higher or lower than expected because of this.
2) If a “multimode” device, ensure the unit is in the correct “Mode” for the skydive you are about to do.
3) Notice any errors during the start up or during operations during the day and alert your rigger before completing another jump on the unit.
4) Be aware of the shutdown timing on the AAD and if needed turn it off before you leave at the end of the day. Also be prepared to reset the unit if you will be doing more than 14 hours of jumping (Night jumps especially are of note on this)
5) Only configure offset information into the unit if you are truly jumping at an altitude different than you are taking off from. Also be sure you know whether the unit retains the offset information or not.
CYPRES2 User Manual:
http://www.cypres-usa.com/userguide/CYPRES_2_users_guide_english.pdf
or
http://www.cypres.cc/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid;=89&func;=download&id;=182&chk;=5ca53a980b98700d976eb51f9e1fc9c3&no;_html=1〈=enVIGIL User Manual: http://www.vigil.aero/files/images/ENGELS___DP_JUN_2010.pdf

VIGIL SB on this topic: http://www.vigil.aero/files/images/Information_Bulletin___Airborne_Status_.pdf

By PhreeZone, in Gear,

Getting Wet: Wingsuits In The Water

An unplanned water landing is a frightening scenario for many skydivers; it’s
one of the reasons that live water training is required for a USPA B License (If
you didn’t truly get wet when working on your USPA B license, your instructors
weren’t doing you or anyone else any favors). Add a wingsuit to the mix and it’s
enough to give pause to even the most experienced skydiver. In 2010 alone, we’ve
had three known unintentional wingsuit water entries in the USA. Wingsuits can
fly further than skydivers can, and water is an attractive hazard to fly-over.
Toss in a low deployment, restricted movement, and some adrenaline and a normal
skydive can get really exciting really fast.
OK, so it’s not quite the same as Houdini and his locks, and skydiving in a
“prom dress” or freefall in a straight jacket isn’t nearly as difficult as some
make it out to be. However, emergency situations do require a different
approach. Wingsuit skydivers should pre-plan for an unintentional water landing
even if flight over water isn’t an issue at their home DZ. A boogie or other
special event may put wingsuit pilots into unfamiliar situations where water is
present. Flotation devices should be a part of that pre-planning process if
over-water flights are a common occurrence. TSA allows for up to four Co2 cartridges to be carried as part of a "life-vest unit."
USPA Training And Recommendarions
Section 6.2 of the USPA Skydiver Instruction Manual (SIM) guidance for
unintentional water landings tells us to:

a. Continue to steer to avoid
the water hazard.
b. Activate the flotation device, if available.
c. Disconnect the chest strap to facilitate getting out of the harness after
landing in the water.
d. Disconnect the reserve static line (if applicable)
to reduce complications in case the main needs to be cut away after splashing
down.
e. Steer into the wind.
f. Loosen the leg straps slightly to facilitate getting out of the harness after splashing down.
(1) If you
loosen the leg straps too much, you may not be able to reach the toggles.

(2) Do not unfasten the leg straps until your feet are in the water.
g.
Prepare for a PLF, in case the water is shallow (it will be nearly impossible to
determine the depth from above).
h. Flare to half brakes at ten feet above
the water (this may be difficult to judge, due to poor depth perception over the
water).
i. Enter the water with your lungs filled with air.
j. After entering the water, throw your arms back and slide forward out of the harness.

(1) Remain in the harness and attached to the canopy until actually in the
water.
(2) If cutting away (known deep water only), do so only after both
feet contact the water.
(3) If flotation gear is not used, separation from
the equipment is essential.
k. Dive deep and swim out from under the
collapsed canopy.


All of these same procedures apply when wearing a wingsuit, yet
preparations for an unintentional water landing don’t stop there. We still got
work to do. Prior To Entering The Water
It goes without saying that the best way to avoid a water landing is to avoid
being over the water. However, sometimes it cannot be avoided. In addition to
the previously mentioned, USPA-recommended actions, the wingsuit should be
unzipped as much as possible prior to landing. This includes armwings, legwings,
and body zippers if possible. Do not pull the cutaway/release cables on the
wingsuit (assuming the wingsuit has cutaway cables, not all do) if the arms can
be unzipped. An armwing that has been cut away will be much more difficult to
move and unzip once it has filled with water and your arms are still in the
sleeves (For example, the newest Phoenix-fly wingsuit arms might be cut away, as
they detach the full wing from the arm, but the arm will still be inside a foam
sleeve making it difficult to swim). The tailwing may act as a drag point and
force the upper body forward, putting the skydiver on his belly. Enter the water
with feet and knees together. Flying at half brakes should allow the canopy to
continue forward. Do not flare. Take a deep breath prior to entering the water.
After Entering The Water
The canopy is a potential point of entanglement. It is recommended that a
main canopy be cut away once you are fully in the water. If there is a current,
this will prevent the main from dragging you along with it. A reserve cannot be
cut away without a hook knife (if you are going to carry a hook knife, carry a
metal, not plastic hook knife. A $5.00 hook knife will not do the job). Roll
backward or sideways onto your back. If you have not deployed the reserve, the
reserve will keep you floating for approximately 30 minutes in fresh water,
longer in saltwater. With the tail (and perhaps the armwings) potentially being
still inflated, being on your back will prevent the tail and rig from forcing
your face into the water. Try to remain calm, breathe deeply and begin the
process of removing goggles, helmet, and legstraps (chest strap if it was not
undone in the air). The arm and legwings of a three-wing style wingsuit are
similar to a ram-air parachute; there is an inlet and air fills the cells. These
same inlets and cells can fill with water as easily as they fill with air.
Although water in the cells alone will not cause the wingsuit to sink, movement
of the wing will cause the suit to be dragged downward. This means that
attempting to tread water will drag you under. Do not attempt to tread water,
but rather keep your legs motionless. If there is any current, it is imperative
that you stay on your back and try to keep your head upstream. Keeping the legs
apart will help achieve this goal. Even a slow current will move your body very
fast. Remaining calm is perhaps the most important aspect of clearing the suit
and surviving.
   
Jeans, boots, and gloves can make the task of escape a little more
difficult than expected.
 
Once you are fully unzipped and your legstraps loose, slide your rig and
armwings off. After the upper body has been freed, “sit down” in the rig and
suit to put you head-high. This allows the torso to roll forward so that it’s
possible to dive deep and away from the rig, allowing the legs to escape from
the legstraps and tailwing. Although the USPA SIM instructs skydivers to swim
away from their rig, I have made the personal choice that I
will not swim away from my rig if the reserve has not been deployed. It
may be used as a flotation device and might be the difference between life and
death. I will cut away the main canopy and swim away from the main.
This is my personal decision and is in opposition to
USPA recommendations. Follow at your own risk.
During the various water experiments, there were a total of 49 water entries
in various conditions and wingsuits, all with a rig or dummy rig in place, many
with a main canopy attached. Performance Designs Sabre II, Silhouette, and Storm
canopies were used. We jumped into still water 18’ deep, 6’ deep, current pools
34” and 24” deep with speeds up to 7 knots. We also jumped into wave pools with
swells of up to 3’, which are small to moderate compared to coastline
swells.
 
Tossing the main canopy into the 7 knot current
pool.  
 
 
 
Summary
 
 
 
During these entries, three things became clear;
Go into the water with as many zippers undone as possible. Your chest strap
should also be undone for best possible speed once in the water. while this may
seem logical, in at least two of the three unintentional water landings, the
wingsuiter forgot to unzip arms while dealing with other issues.
Get onto your back as quickly as you can. Stay on your back as legstraps,
zippers, helmet releases, and goggles are removed. You may want to consider
leaving the helmet on if in moving water and head protection is needed.
Take a deep, calming breath. Even though my experiments were intentional
water landings, they were still nerve-wracking when the suits were fully zipped
up. Being jittery is entirely likely. Staying calm and keeping heart and
breathing rates down may easily be the difference in survival, particularly in
cold water.



    Be sure to stay clear of the canopy and lines. Currents may drag the canopy
around a bit. Rescuers might have an easier time finding you if they can spot
the canopy in the water so staying somewhat near but well clear of canopy and
lines is a good idea. A hook knife should be part of your kit.
When landing in water that has a current, try to keep your head upstream
while getting out of the suit. Leave the helmet on to protect your head from
rocks and other objects. Stay as far away from the canopy as possible. This is
easier said than done. Note that in the video, the current combined with the
canopy drag was more than two men could manage even in shallow water. This is
where a hook knife would be beneficial.
If the rig has a reserve still packed in it, it will float. It also is very
easy to escape once the legstraps are undone, as it will remain on top of the
water as you dive forward away from the container.  
 
"Exiting" from the 3 meter board, fully zipped  
In conclusion, if over-water wingsuit flights are planned, seriously consider
a floatation device. They will not have a significant impact on the comfort of
the suit, and are not relatively expensive. ParaGear, ChutingStar, and other
skydiving supply shops sell these devices. Remember that CO2 cartridges may not
be carried aboard a commercial flight, so you’ll need to source or ship
cartridges to your final destination.
 


 
If a flotation device is not part of your gear/kit, have an advance plan in
the event of a water landing. There have been at least three known unintentional
water landings in the US this year; only through luck and calm procedures did
the wingsuiters survive. Read the Incident Report below to see how one survivor
described his experiences and how multiple errors led him into the water.
 
Big puffies and blue skies (and calm waters, I suppose)! -d
Douglas Spotted Eagle is a USPA AFFI, Coach Examiner, PRO, and PFC Senior
Examiner (North America) on staff at Skydive Elsinore.
Student’s Incident report:
#####


Name [Deleted]
My
age: 31
Years in the sport: 4.5 yrs.
# of skydives: 287
# of
Wingsuit SD’s: 7
# of BASE: 70+
I recently purchased a new Phantom2 Pheonix fly wingsuit and was super eager
to get in the air. I got to the DZ and got on the first available load which was
a 10 minute call. On any typical skydive, an immediete 10 minute call upon
arrival isn’t so bad, but setting up a wingsuit system quickly is not a great
idea, but I did.
Mistake #1: I forced myself to have to rush to get on a load to do a
technical jump for no apparent reason. In the end, I don’t think my rushed
preparation lead to the actual situation, but I guess my mind wasn’t where it
should have been.
I was the last to exit from 12,500?. I had a really great (mostly stable)
flight, flying around some clouds. At pull time, like most jumps, I was out over
the ocean. I took one last look at my wrist alti at 5K’. Based on my audibles
4000? warning, I’m guessing I was open between 3500?-3000?.
Mistake #2: I shouldn’t have pulled that low with a WS on with my low
experience level.
Mistake #3: I have made 6 previous WS jumps. All more than 2.5 years
ago. I did not physically or mentally dirt dive this jump before getting on the
plane.
After a stable pull (I felt), I immediatley opended with line twists. I’ve
had line twist before with this canopy/harness (Sabre 1, 150; 9 cell/Infinity
dom;1997) and was able to kick out of them in the past. This line twist began to
accelerate instantly. I made 3-4 attempts to kick out of it, but with the
restricted movement of my legs in the WS, and spinning horizontally around the
canopy, it didn’t do much at all.
Mistake #4: I was under too small of a canopy for a WS jump. My exit
weight= 240lbs. Wind loading= 1.6. I should have been under a more docile (7
cell), or larger canopy.
So, having no luck with my kick attemps, I chopped it. It took me a few
seconds to locate my handles (one hand on each). In my haste, I did a “T-Rex”
style cut-away. As soon as I saw my right riser clear, I let go of the handle
and pulled the reserve (also “T-rex”). Obviously leading to my main still
dragging off my left shoulder.
Mistake #5: I was jumping a borrowed rig. Although I’ve had about 20
uneventful (other than line twist) jumps with this rig. I wasn’t really familiar
with it.
Mistake #6: Probably the biggest one. I DID NOT CLEAR MY CUT AWAY
CABLE/HANDLE COMPLETELY!
Mistake #7: This goes right along with the above…Pulling my reserve
WAY TOO SOON!
I think because of my slightly slower descent rate (caused by my main still
being attached), and my reserve already fired, I felt the second set of risers
bouncing around on my head and saw all the lines whipping in-front of my face. As
the reserve was slowly coming to line stretch, the lines were beginning to
entangle with my helmet (actually the camera on my helmet)
Mistake #8: Wearing a camera on a “student” WS jump.
With the lines still “somewhat” relaxed, I thought of dumping my helmet but
instead I picked/brushed the lines off the camera, clearing them. A split second
later, I felt the canopy pressurize and go to complete line stretch. Instantly,
the reserve risers had forced my head completely forward, making my chin squeeze
into my neck. I knew I had MAJOR line twists on my reserve now too.
So now, I’m under one collapsed main still dragging off my left riser, and
one tightly twisted up reserve to my right side, still fully zipped into my WS,
and I’m getting choked from behind by the reserve risers and can’t lift my head
to see any of it. I knew I wasn’t “falling” anymore and that the canopies were
not entangled. I don’t know, but the reserve must have been “un-spinning” because
the pressure was slowly coming off the back of my neck and the twist opened up
enough to squeeze my head back through, behind the risers.
Mistake #9: Not sure if I could have prevented this one. If my arms
had been unzipped and out of the wings (which they weren’t) I may have been able
to reach back during the reserve deployment, and guided the risers in-front of
my head before pressurization.
At this point, my first objective was to finally cut the main off so I could
get completely out of my reserve line twists. The main was still being held on
by 1cm of ripcord cable still in the three ring release closing loop. In any
case…I was focused on getting that last tinny bit of rip cord out of the closing
loop. I had “tunnel” vision on trying to pick at the centimeter of cord. There
was too much tension on the riser so I couldn’t get it out. I was definitely not
thinking clearly at that moment. ALL I had to do was find my cut-away handle
floating behind me and pull it another 1/4 inch. In retrospect, the dragging
main (acting like an anchor) may have kept my reserve from continuing to twist
and spin me into the ground/water. I’m not sure if completely cutting away at
that point would have been any better.
Mistake #10: Had I been thinking clearly, I would have found my handle
and finished the job of cutting away.
At this point I stopped all attempts to correct anything. I saw that I was
about 300 yards(?) of the beach, over the water at about 500-300?(?) up. I knew
I was going for a swim. The swell was small (2-3?), but definitely was not flat
and calm. In preparation for my mid day swim, I started unzipping
everything…chest, arms, legs, chest strap. I then reached above the reserve line
twist, grabbed the rear/right line set and did a “rear riser” turn towards the
visibly shallower water over the reef. I don't know if that helped at all because
I pretty much felt like I was under a round canopy with no directional control.
I just knew I was drifting towards the reef now. Not knowing the shallowness
above the reef gave me a second of pucker factor, but at this point I had not
much control or time anyway. I then did a “backwards” PLF (obviously with no
flare, toggles still stowed and twisted). I slammed the water pretty hard.
Mistake #11: Although this is what saved me from serious impact, I
landed in the water with a WS on….not good!
While I was underwater, my wingsuit quickly turned into a tunasuit, but
before I even had time to deal with the next hurdle……..I stood up.
I was now standing 300 yards out in the surf, in 3 feet of water with both
canopies attached and the WS on, all filled with water. I was getting dragged
in-land with the swell a little bit, but had plenty of time to finally cut-away
the main and completely step out of the WS. I saw all the scrambling of people
on the shore. I was soon reached by a couple of skydivers and a rescue kayak. We
loaded up the rig on to the kayak and swam back to shore.
Mistake #12: I probably should have made my first priority to un-zip
my wings. Although, at no point did I feel like they were restraining my movement
(until I wanted to steer towards the reef). I guess I unzipped them right when I
had a moment and thought it was totally needed.
#######
Massive thanks to:

Lake Elsinore Casino
Tooele City Pool

Raging Waters/SLC
Skydive Elsinore
Skydive Utah
Performance
Designs
Rigging Innovations
Teledyne Instruments
Joey Allred, Aaron Hutmacher, Jose Calderon, Mannie Frances, Karl Dollmeyer,
Scotty Burns, Chuck Blue, Jarno Cordia, Bence Pascu, Joe Turner, Frank Hinshaw,
T.K. Hinshaw, Tom Deacon, Jim Crouch, Jack Guthrie, Scott Callantine, Jeanie
Curtis, Mike Harlon, Chris Squires, Robert Pecnik, Jeff Donohue, and Andreea
Olea.

By admin, in Disciplines,