getting back from a bad spot

[srvmcmxc 0]

HI everyone, I'm brand new to this forum and to skydiving and although this question may have been asked many, many times in the past, it has always been a question of mine that I don't get a straight answer for....
I know there are many variables when it comes to canopy design, but my question is, "If you hold in half or heavy breaks can you make it back to the DZ if you had a long spot?" does holding in breaks allow you to travel further down wind, upwind or no wind? or does it shorten your distance covered....

BIG BOYS FLY TOO!!!!!!!! :-)
Jager

[billvon 3,107]

Being in brakes lets you fly farther if you are upwind. If you are downwind it generally does not help. Killing your slider, loosening your cheststrap slightly (if you are comfortable doing that) helps a _little_ in that case but not by very much.

If there's no wind the above tricks all work, as does spreading your rear risers with your hands (flattens the canopy and pulls down the tail.)

[shropshire 0]

What is the airspeed of a Swallow?




African or European??

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[srvmcmxc 0]

thank you very much, will feel a lot better leaving the plane knowing this...also, will, after a few more jumps, start playing with the notion of loosing my chest strap LOL!!!!! NOT YET THOUGH :-)

BIG BOYS FLY TOO!!!!!!!! :-)
Jager

[Icon134 0]

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thank you very much, will feel a lot better leaving the plane knowing this...also, will, after a few more jumps, start playing with the notion of loosing my chest strap LOL!!!!! NOT YET THOUGH :-)

Just to clarify losen your chest strap don't remove it... but only do it after you have determined that you have a good canopy open over your head and you have released the brakes.

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[tdog 0]

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Being in brakes lets you fly farther if you are upwind. If you are downwind it generally does not help.

That being said, and the fact that no two canopies fly the same, and the fact winds at opening altitude can be drastically different than the winds on the ground, I recommend to the original poster:

I like using a technique of finding out where you are going to land at full flight, then going to rear risers (or brakes, but rears often help more) and immediately comparing that to the reading you just took.

That way all the variables of "which way and how fast is the wind" and "what canopy am I flying" are eliminated.

If the spot is so bad that this 10-20 second test is going to make it harder to land at your spot, you don't have enough insurance policy in your flight plan anyway, and you are using your luck bucket instead, thus fly and land someplace else that is a sure bet, even if it is landing out and landing someplace awkward... (The exception being only if the landing areas get progressively safer as you approach the DZ and thus your safety margin only gets better heading home. My DZ has a huge ditch that can kill you between miles of fields, so it is not the case at home.)

What technique do I use to know where I am going to land? It is the spot on the ground in the distance that does not move up or down in your field of vision, but just gets bigger. If that point is not 3/4 across (on the far end of) the DZ's landing area, preferably all the way across, then I plan on landing out...

[kallend 2,146]

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What technique do I use to know where I am going to land? It is the spot on the ground in the distance that does not move up or down in your field of vision, but just gets bigger. If that point is not 3/4 across (on the far end of) the DZ's landing area, preferably all the way across, then I plan on landing out...

This "accuracy trick" was taught to me by my flight instructor for my pilot certificate before I ever started skydiving.

Is it not taught as a matter of course to skydiving students?

...

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

[riggerrob 643]

If you open too far up-wind of the DZ, hanging in half brakes slows your rate of descent and exposes the canopy to the winds aloft for an extra minute or two.

This trick works best when upper winds are strong.

[Nutz 0]

How do you get back from a bad spot? You can walk. I like to get a ride. Some people carry their cell phone and call someone to come get them.

"Don't! Get! Eliminated!"