Big way landing area(s)

[dthames 0]

Seeing another canopy collision incident, I am reminded of an idea that I had after a recent jump.

I was on the Sunset formation load at Flock and Dock (Zhills) with two Otters full of jumpers. Our landing instructions were to spread out and not everyone try to land in the traditional landing area. The wind was out of the southwest and I (green dot) was not in the position to easily fall into the normal pattern (red pattern), so I was going to “spread out”. Clearly is was not a good idea for everyone to make up their own landing spot as patterns would be crossing each other all over the place. I saw three others in front of me flying a pattern (yellow pattern) to take them to the pea gravel pit area that is north of the boarding area. I could fall in behind them and that should work just fine. I think specific use of this area was mentioned as well.

I continued to watch the big picture and noticed a few people coming in from the east and northeast, against the wind. So, largely they were coming straight in and I noticed one (green arrow) heading right for the main area, putting that person in the position to cross in front of me. Not a big deal, we had plenty of room, but it got me to thinking. It would be nice if there was a no fly zone between the two landing areas. The main area, everyone is very familiar with. But the second area location was not defined enough for good separation between the two landing areas. Things were a bit tight.

I started thinking about how it would have helped if there was an easy way to set up a no fly rectangle (red dots) to break up some of the crossing traffic. This would in effect create two defined landing areas with their own normal patterns and some separation between the two. Some wind blades or road flares could be set out on large jumps after the landing direction was established. The amount of difficulty would vary based on location and wind direction. But in cases where it would be easy to do, it looks to me like it would help reduce some risks. Not a solution to anything but maybe enough risk reduction to make it worthwhile.

Or, maybe just have two or more declared landing areas with their own respective patterns so that the separation would be a result of the known areas. This almost happened without anyone saying anything about it on the jump I am referring to. But as I said, it was a bit tight and would have been better moved a bit north with everyone understanding we had a no fly area for separation.


[inline split-landing-area.jpg]

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[kallend 2,142]

At the recent SOS big way event in Elsinore the landing areas were indeed set up with clear demarcations between them (the runways) and each had its own pattern. It worked pretty well. I'm not sure that all DZs have configurations that lend themselves to this, but at Elsinore it's very easy to achieve.

I am a great believer that a long walk to the packing area is preferable to a short ride in the ambulance.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[DSE 5]

kallend

I am a great believer that a long walk to the packing area is preferable to a short ride in the ambulance.

Indeed. Breaking up the landing areas for groups (often broken up by planes, as those groups tend to be together in the air), it's a good practice to designate landing areas far apart. At Elsinore, Perris, Eloy, and ZHills, I've experienced as many as 6 separate landing areas, all relatively far apart.
That said, canopy collisions have occurred at Cessna 182 DZ's too.