Getting off the hill.....stable exit problems-->

[Ragnarok 0]

I had to repeat the same jump twice yesterday. I would practice on the ground heavily until it burned into me. I knew how to 'present to the prop' and get a good exit. I knew how to arch and stay stable. I get in the door with the jumpmaster and after checking in, I say - "Prop, Out, In, Out - and look down. I liken it to a flinch, I just need to look at the prop and not down when I exit. THis is holding me back and bothering me a bit. I am not excited to require repeating jumps like this because of cost - but what eer it takes, I will master it. I think it is just going to take me a bit to get it, and a couple more jumps. I think as soon as I do, I will finish AFF without a hitch.

Honestly, I like the moment of instability out the door. I think I am going to really like RW - when I get to it, anyway......

What would be a good thing to do to get over loking down out the door...?

_________________________________________
Twin Otter N203-Echo,29 July 2006
Cessna P206 N2537X, 19 April 2008
Blue Skies Forever

[funks 1]

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What would be a good thing to do to get over loking down out the door...?

An instuctor of mine once told me he would not pass me unless i told him what was written on the bottom of the airplane. I figured out soon enough that there wasnt anything written on the bottom. That was my best student exit because i was hellbent on reading what was written after i exited, it forced me to look up at the plane and watch it fly away.

Tell yourself you are going to commit to watching the plane fly away.

Oh yeah, one other thing.....relax

[EvilLurker 2]

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Tell yourself you are going to commit to watching the plane fly away.

I agree 100%, that's what I learned to do and it worked. It also gives you a reference to establish a heading and helps you get a "feel" for the hill.

[Hooknswoop 19]

Arch, arch from the pelvis. Relax.

Derek

[Reginald 0]

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Honestly, I like the moment of instability out the door. I think I am going to really like RW - when I get to it, anyway......

Well, stop enjoying it! The air right out the door is just a little slower than at terminal, and from a different direction. You can fly your body 0.0001 seconds out the door. Don't think of it as any different. All of your control surfaces still work the same!

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[Skykat108 0]

When I finally said 'screw it, if I'm unstable, I'm unstable on exit, I'll get stable later. Well I looked in and saw the video guy there for the tandem, and I just watched him, as I fell away. My first stable exit, and after that.. it just clicked in. I really hadn't had a problem since.

[shall555 0]

I know this is likely to be viewed as heresy, but:

There is no "hill".

When you leave the airplane, you're encountering "relative wind" that's horizontal. As you accelerate vertically, the relative wind's angle changes gradually to the vertical.

The solution you'll eventually discover ?

Flying your body on the wind.

Watch DVDs of these hot RW teams flying formations together a second or two after exit. They don't fly significantly differently 1 second after exit than 30 (ok, maybe tiny changes to compensate for lower airspeed).

Sure, the air's "softer" right after exit, but just fly -- you've had success flying stable when you're 10-15 seconds into the dive, right ?

It's the same.. the picture's just different.

Cheers,

shall


edited: because I just saw that the OP still had relatively few jumps and I thought I should tailor my response a bit.. ack...

[skylord 1]

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Honestly, I like the moment of instability out the door. I think I am going to really like RW - when I get to it, anyway......

What would be a good thing to do to get over loking down out the door...?

You may like it, but your RW fellow flyers won't! I of course speak from my very limited experience. I've done a couple coached jumps where I did linked exits new to me, and I was able to focus on my coach as we left the aircraft. Those went great. But for some reason, I still have trouble looking at the airplane or even up on my exit.

I'm not an expert, but I think at least with me it is an unrealistic fear that I'm going splat on something immediately after I let go of the plane, like it is still on the ground or something. It is wierd, but I'm getting over it. In the meantime a good RW exit is the start of a good jump overall. Just relax, and have fun, the skills will come, and I am lucky to be at a DZ where people competing at Nationals on multi way teams come up and ask me to jump with them. NEVER pass on that kind of opportunity. Let us know how it goes!

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[Guest]

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When I finally said 'screw it, if I'm unstable, I'm unstable on exit, I'll get stable later. Well I looked in and saw the video guy there for the tandem, and I just watched him, as I fell away. My first stable exit, and after that.. it just clicked in. I really hadn't had a problem since.

That's exactly what I did! I thought, well screw it, I'm gonna look at the plane no matter what! Arched into it from a floating exit which was easier, and it clicked. Been fine on the hill ever since. Saw one of the senior peeps wave up from the hill on a later skydive and that looked cool, so now I usually do a 180/360 on the hill to get head up and then wave at the folks in the door from 500' or so below the aircraft. Several times that's been the best part of the skydive.

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.

[Frenchy68 0]

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Arched into it from a floating exit which was easier, and it clicked.

It's always a good start. Then try it just jumping out of the AC. Always good in case of a bail out. In my limited experience that is.

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[goose491 0]

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There is no "hill".

No no it's "spoon"... there is no spoon.

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When you leave the airplane, you're encountering "relative wind" that's horizontal. As you accelerate vertically, the relative wind's angle changes gradually to the vertical.

I was trying to think of a way to word just this. The "hill" that our bodies make when leaving the plane, is only in relation to the ground. As far as an exiting skydiver is concerned, the only thing worth thinking about is the direction of the relative wind. Which starts at horizontal, opposite the direction of the planes flight... and gradually becomes vertical and upwards.



Ragnarok!

Ask yourself this: When you leave the plane in an arch or boxman position, why do you position yourself vertical in relation to the ground?

Answer: Because you want your body perpendicular the relative wind with your belly pointing into it.

So next: Where are your eyes when in a stable, belly-to-earth position? Are they looking straight down at the ground below you? How does that translate itself to exit time?

What I'm getting at here is that I read you saying you: get to the door, look to the prop, then ready set, go! I'm thinking that you might be continuing to look "straight ahead" as you were when you fixated on the prop... which would lend itself to you looking 'straight down' once your body has become horizontal. This could result in a slight head-low or just general instability as you realise your not quite getting to the belly to earth "feel" you got on earier dives and try to compensate with a bit of flail. Does this make sense?

Many have given you the correct advice of "watch the plane leave". Perhaps you'd do good to understand why? As you watch the plane leave, your head will turn 'upwards' as you go 'down the hill', placing it where it should be by the time you are actually horizontal.

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[EvilLurker 2]

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As you watch the plane leave, your head will turn 'upwards' as you go 'down the hill', placing it where it should be by the time you are actually horizontal.

Exactly, good explanation. It also gives you a heading reference that keeps you pointing into the relative wind of the forward throw. That's often a problem with low-time jumpers, plus when you do look down now, the ground will still be in relation to what you saw on exit. (i.e. "the DZ is to my right").