SkydiveNFlorida 0 #26 July 24, 2003 Thanks guys!! I'll let you know how I did come Monday... it is nice to hear that i'll be standing soon. If I can just believe that, i'll probably be fine. Just like the initial dive. I just believed I could do it without panic, and I did. I guess it is all mental, really. Angela. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juanesky 0 #27 July 24, 2003 Angela, Get all the advice from your JM about canopy control what you can do at what altitude and so on. Listen, go over your landing pattern with him, take your time before each jump, and you will learn. Listen to the radio when they tell you to flare, and ask a lot of questions, when you are there...... Anyways, don't forget to buy beer! Good luck there and blue skies!"According to some of the conservatives here, it sounds like it's fine to beat your wide - as long as she had it coming." -Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jmidgley 0 #28 July 24, 2003 Human beings are great at judging relationships between things moving in their field of vision, whether they be woolly mammoths and spears, or their boots and the approaching ground; but it's a skill that needs to be learned and practiced. If you think about someone chucking a ball in your general direction, you'd have no problem looking at the arc of the ball as it speeds through the air, instantly calculating where it's going to land, setting off running at precisely the right pace to be under the where it lands and when it lands. How the hell do you that? It doesn't matter - you've learned the 'physics' as a child and you don't think about it. At the moment you're at the learning stage with regard to landing canopies, andyou need to get competent without getting hurt. To my mind, you are juggling a number of priorities competing for your attention and you need to be quite clear about them. Avoiding collisions with other canopies, landing straight and level, landing into wind, reducing horizontal and vertical speed at touchdown, getting safely off the landing area, that kind of thing. Set aside things that happened during freefall or earlier in the canopy flight for digestion later - your priority is FLY THE CANOPY NOW. The whole 'holding area' - downwind - base - final thing, accompanied by whatever heights you have been instructed to use is very effective at removing a load of uncertainties from the latter portion of the flight. There are too many painful examples to list of people incorrectly assigning priority to landing into wind, at the expense of landing straight and level. I find that what works for me *personally* for judging landings is to alternate between looking forward horizontally and looking obliquely at where I think my feet are going to touch down (this is, as I'm sure you will have been told, the place in your field of view which appears to be neither moving up nor down). I find the change of perspective more revealing of descent rate and deviations from intended track. It also helps to avoid becoming fixated on your landing spot. As for flare timing, my simple analysis is that you're dealing with a pendulum consisting of the weight of your body hanging from <----> this much line. When you disturb the pendulum, it responds at a speed that I'll bet you can intuitively grasp. At the risk of being verbose, two final things - *actively* fly the canopy *always*, right down to the ground. If a bump changes your course from that which you intend, correct it. Don't get into the habit of being a passenger "Oh, we're going over here now, are we?". And NEVER GIVE UP; you only have to miss the ground by a little bit! John Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveNFlorida 0 #29 July 24, 2003 Thanks! I'll definitely see about planning better prior to getting on the plane. And, i'll probably read that last post about 20 more times, haha. Thanks for the help!! Angela. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
