Pre-spotting

[riggerrob 643]

Am I the only skydiver who pre-spots?
By pre-spotting, I mean keeping my eyes outside the airplane for the last minute or two before the door opens. By using my slant vision to identify major landmarks, I can get a rough idea of winds and how close we are to jumprun. This minimizes the sensory overload when I actually hang my head out the door and look straight down.
Comments?

[weid14 0]

I do it all the time -- trying to guage run in, amount of time left, and anything gonig on weird. I also do it on commercial aircraft coming in for a landing if I know the airport, although the pilot doesn't like corrections. (had the scariest commercial landing a week or so ago, high winds, cross wind, I was lookind knew we weren't in a good spot, pilot did a hard right and landed almost immediately, scared the crap out of everyone)

[freeflir29 0]

At my home DZ...yes. Kinda hard if your in unfamiliar territory though.
"I only have 125 jumps, so I don't know shit..right?"-Clay

[AggieDave 6]

Yeah definately, I do that when people are doing hop-n-pops too. When we start getting close to the altitude I'm looking out the windows to see where we are. Same at altitutde.
Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.

[tlshealy 0]

Rob,
When I got out of the army in 84 I didn't jump much for quite a while, when I started jumping again, I couldn't believe that everyone got out on one pass, and no one spotted.But I've kind of gotten used to it, if I'm not on the first group out, or counting the exit, I just go with the flow. The worst thing that could happen were we jump is having to walk (which I hate) or getting a lift back to the DZ. But if I'm the one telling people to climb out, I watch the DZ for the whole climb( with the otter, thats about 10 min). I'm not going to be the one that hoses the later groups by getting out slow or being off the wind line. I jumpmastered a static line student one time that had a line over, hand deployed a 24' flat pulled in his main and stuck it between his legs, and hit the pea gravel, now that was a good spot. But I'll bet a lot of jumpers today have never spotted, I guess that why God made GPS.
BSBD
Tad

[billvon 3,119]

>Am I the only skydiver who pre-spots?
>By pre-spotting, I mean keeping my eyes outside the airplane for the last minute or two before the door opens.
I would like to believe that this is pretty common. Whenever we have traffic, and I'm spotting, I invariably get one or two people point the traffic out to me, so they must be doing the same thing I am. Of course, that's opposite my experience in Quincy, where you get yelled at if you have the nerve to look down before you get out of the plane.
-bill von

[freeflir29 0]

"where you get yelled at if you have the nerve to look down before you get out of the plane."
I'm convinced that this is the reason God gave me a middle finger......"I only have 131 jumps, so I don't know shit..right?"-Clay

[AndyMan 7]

Quote

Am I the only skydiver who pre-spots?

I was jumping a 182 at Morris on Saturday. At 8,000 I saw what I think was a 727 flying not that far away.
I think it's very common - what you call "pre-spot". I always look out the window just out of curiosity. I always look for paterns in the fields, try and find Mazes in the corn fields in the summer, try and figure out where the hell I am in reference to the DZ.
I wonder what makes you ask this question? Looking out the window seems second nature to me...
_Am
ICQ: 5578907 @
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Yahoo IM: ametcalf_1999

[Aviatrr 0]

Quote

Am I the only skydiver who pre-spots?

No, you're not alone, but your definitely in the minority.. I do the same.. Maybe it's the pilot in me, maybe it's the control freak in me....who knows.. I watch outside and the cockpit indications if I can see them..
Mike

[PhreeZone 20]

If I can't see the airport, I'm not getting out. Thats all there is to it. It's my choice if I want ot jump or ride the plane down right? Political Correctness - At least one person at any one time will be offended by something

[freeflir29 0]

"I watch outside and the cockpit indications if I can see them"
Heheheheehee.....I'm always watching the instruments too....I can't help it...."I only have 131 jumps, so I don't know shit..right?"-Clay

[lazerq3 0]

I am always looking out the window for the airport, the direction we'er flying and also the pilot has us look for any traffic that may be coming or going. He's looking to but 4 sets of eyes are better than 1!!! But i'm still learning the wholee spotting thing. I've done about 4 jumps where I was the spotter even one where we were landing in a park and was told good joob on all 4!! But I guess its not too hard to spot for 4 to 5 people!! But its still learning.
jason

[PhreeZone 20]

Anyone woh hs ever tried to Spot a CASA or Skyvan knows at tailgates are the biggest pain to spot and get course directions to the pilot. I'm letting GPS spot me exact there, there are enough land marks close enough I know where we are and the winds so I feel good about jumping. Spotting an Otter is just as easy as a 182 once you learn how to spot.
Political Correctness - At least one person at any one time will be offended by something

[riggerrob 643]

I originally asked the question about pre-spottting because I have to explain the concept to some junior jumpers (around A license) and was hoping that you guys/chicks could come up with some better explanations.

[billvon 3,119]

>Anyone woh hs ever tried to Spot a CASA or Skyvan knows at tailgates are the biggest pain to spot and get course directions to the pilot.
Lie down, look out and point where you want the pilot to go. Have someone up front relay corrections. Not a big problem. In fact, you have much better visibility than from an otter. To simply check the spot (and check for traffic) you can grab the floater bar and lean out far enough to see any potential traffic.
-bill von