C-License Accuracy Jumps

[Zoso 2]

This question is for myself and anyone else working on their accuracy jumps for the current C license requirements:

Land within two meters (6.56 feet) of target center on 25 jumps.

Please offer basic advice for this level of accuracy. I have looked thru my S.I.M. only to find basic landing pattern info. Online I have found good info from Eiff:

http://www.eiff.com/manuals/accuracy.html

This is great info but it is directed to owners of Eiff "Classic" canopies. I fly a 170 Sabre2 loaded at just over 1.0 to 1. My accuracy technique with the Sabre2 isn't cutting it for the C license requirement.

To improve my results I have negotiated a deal to rent a rig with a 260 Mojo main conopy. After 1 jump with it I feel that I will have much better control but I would still like advice from the pros.

3 specific questions:

A. What flight plan advice do you have to fix my problem of always overshooting or undershooting my target?

B. How does one "sink" in a suitable canopy and yet still do a safe flair for a stand up landing. ( I don't have a tuffet to land on.)

C. How does the strategy change between my 2 different canopy options. (170 Sabre2 loaded at 1.05 to 1 and 260 Mojo loaded at .69 to 1)

All advice appreciated but particularly from classic accuracy jumpers and PRO rated jumpers.

[AndyMan 7]

"Classic accuracy" requires a classic accuracy canopy. Doing Classic accuracy on a high performance canopy is not recomended, the techniques don't apply. You simply can not land a high performance canopy by flaring halfway, for example. You'd do better to learn the tricks of "sport accuracy", which is what I'll outline here.

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A. What flight plan advice do you have to fix my problem of always overshooting or undershooting my target?

I would be using my front and rear risers. In normal winds, Rear risers will extend your gilde while front risers will shorten it. You'll want to reserve time to return to full flight before landing though, so make your adjustments up high.

A second way to solve this is move the crosswind portion of your pattern lower. By doing this, you'll be lowering the altitude where you turn to final, and by doing so you'll be better able to judge the final touch down point. Good altitude awareness is key here, for obvious reasons.

Also, pattern turns do not have to be exactly 90 degrees. If you're a bit high, you can extend your crosswind a bit past the target, then turn more than 90 degrees. If you're a bit low, you can turn to final a bit earlier and do less than a 90 degree turn.

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B. How does one "sink" in a suitable canopy and yet still do a safe flair for a stand up landing. ( I don't have a tuffet to land on.)

Sinking in a modern canopy is a lot more interesting then it was on an older one. To me, this is a good skill to have, but not one that I use very often under a high performance main. It's certainly not something I'll do when I'm close to landing.

To answer your question, you simply do not sink it down so low that you land in the sink. Allow time to return to normal flight before flaring.

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C. How does the strategy change between my 2 different canopy options. (170 Sabre2 loaded at 1.05 to 1 and 260 Mojo loaded at .69 to 1)

I know very little about Mojo's, so a BASE jumper could probably answer this better than I, but I would think tha a Mojo would be lot more stable while sinking than a Saber2.

That said, unless you're specifically trying to learn to fly a BASE canopy for BASE jumping, I'm not sure what you learn on the Mojo will be very relevant to your Saber2. I would prefer to see you master the more dificult canopy, not fallback to the bigger more docile one whenever you're faced with a dificult situation. If you're good enough to be flying the Saber2 in the first place, you're good enough to be doing the tricky stuff, too. If you're incapable of performing on the small Saber2, then consider permanently upsizing to a canopy that you can handle.


Just my thoughts, late at night... Take with a grain of salt.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[phoenixlpr 0]

Depends. I have seen someone kicked 4 cm on a sub 100 sqft Velocity.

[Zoso 2]

AndyMan,

Thank you for the thorough info, it was very helpful.

I feel an update and clarification is appropriate. Since posting my questions I have logged 2 stand up landings within 2 feet of target center - one with the Mojo then one with my Sabre2. I basically did both of them using your suggestions minus front riser adjustments. That I need to practice for accuracy purposes.

My success with the Sabre2 on the second jump was indeed affected by my experience trying the Mojo. The Mojo allowed me to do my set-up in deep brakes in order to remove as much forward speed as possible. This allowed me more time to estimate my positioning. I was then able to duplicate that strategy with my Sabre2.

I plan on continuing my quest with the Mojo not because "I am faced with a difficult situation" but because the Mojo is a better tool for the job. Once I improve my technique and fully implement what you have suggested then I will practice the same tricks with my Sabre2. I enjoy what I consider "casual" accuracy so this will be an ongoing effort - not just an effort to earn a license.

As for difficult situations I appreciate your concern. You are probably thinking of unplanned off-DZ landings. I am happy to report that all of my unplanned off landings have had the same things in common:

1. Realize the situation early and quickly decide on a safe alternate landing area.

2. Determine ground wind direction high enough to allow for a proper approach.

3. Stand up landing.

All on the Sabre2 I now own.

Thanks again,
Gary

[Zeek- 0]

Zoso,

First, I am definitely not the world's expert - so take this with a salt mine. That said, for 500 or so jumps, my accuracy isn't bad - and I jump your exact same canopy (Sabre2) so I'll offer my $0.02.

1. I second Andyman's advice with regard to the risers. Learn them. Use them. They are huge.

2. Second his advice again on altering your crosswind leg, and on experimenting with making that leg a bit lower. Knocking the altitude down with that particular segment (within reason) may help you see "the picture" a bit more clearly and you will probably find yourself nailing the landings a lot more.

3. This said, although the lower crosswind may be of help to you, when doing a straight in approach, I personally am finding that I prefer to be a touch *high* on final and to dive the canopy with double fronts. I say this for a few reasons:

- Speed is fun. :)

- If too high, you can always shorten things up a bit but, if you're short, you're short. It's much easier to lose the altitude than preserve it and, with just double fronts, you can really bleed off some serious altitude very quickly *while* maintaining your accuracy. Try this up high first to get used to it, and remember that you'll be surfing the ground a bit more - so you'll need to aim a bit "shorter" than you might normally be used to. This sounds counter-intuitive, I'm sure - and others will probably disagree, but I feel like my accuracy is actually a bit better with a small amount of added forward speed. It makes it easier for me to judge the target and you may find this is the case when you do it also.

- Learning to dive the canopy will get and keep you out of the bad habit of "sashaying" on final and make you a safer, more predictable pilot.

- Did I mention, speed is fun? :)

Whatever you do, my not-so-sage advice is that you should try to stick to one canopy as much as possible for a little while because switching back and forth all the time WILL mess with your perceptions. I hope this is helpful to you.

Z

[Zoso 2]

Thanks Zeek

What is the lowest you would use front risers to shorten your approach?

On a side note, What is the lowest one would use front risers for swoop purposes? (I'm not a swooper, I'm just curious.)

[bob.dino 1]

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What is the lowest you would use front risers to shorten your approach?

If you don't want to speed up your landings, you need to let go of your front risers high enough for the canopy to return to normal flight before you need to flare.

How high this is depends on your canopy, your wingloading, how far down you've pulled your front risers, and how long you've held them down. Easy, huh? Experiment up high to see how long it takes from letting go to normal flight resuming.

If you're just shooting casual accuracy, I'd be surprised if there's a real need to be on the risers under 100ft - you should be pretty much lined up by that stage. That said, I'm often surprised.

[Zeek- 0]

Sorry...forgot to check back for a couple days, but it looks like bob.dino and I would agree.

For quite a while, I was scared to go anywhere near the front risers, even double fronts, on anything close to final. I'm pretty sure that, once upon a time, I remember reading somewhere that a good rule of thumb would be to let up on both fronts about 10 seconds before flaring. Again, I'm nowhere near the voice of experience but, after trying it quite a bit in the past year or so, that seems *really* early to me. To give you some perspective, when doing double fronts for extra speed and not turning, I'd say that, on my canopy, that number is closer to 3 seconds or so.

So I'd second bob.dino's thoughts and say try it high. But, if you're looking for some perspective that's a bit closer to the ground, I think that 300' will give you that perspective with PLENTY of buffer to spare. I can say this because I'm jumping the exact same canopy, but loading it up a touch more than yours is. Give it a try. And be careful but, once you do it a few times, double fronts are no shit. You get a taste of the fun with much less risk, in my opinion.

[PhreeZone 20]

If you are having issues on your current canopy, address you issues rather then geting another canopy to get the licence then switching back to the other canopy as soon as you knock it out. You are setting yourself up for having to repeat this same exercise in another 200 jumps when you want your D licence. The whole point of the accuracy requirements are to prove that you have the skill level to land in smaller landing areas. DZ's can restrict jumpers to C or higher licences or you might be invited on a quick open field demo and not have time to go dig up that Mojo again for the jumps.

Take the time to go and read Brian Germain's book on canopy flight and see how he recommends to make the adjustments to your flight to hit an accuracy target. The first step is to have the entire canopy flight planned out before you step on the plane. That involves picking your opening point, your approach back to the DZ, the flight pattern around the DZ and the landing. Its not just I'll turn over the field for final, its I'll turn over this spot in the field at 500 feet for my turn to final, I'm turning over this car in the parking lot at 700 feet type planing. If you are not doing this level of planning start now and then you can just adjust the points (not the altitude) to hit the desired landing area.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Zoso 2]

PhreeZone,

Thanks for your input, Now would be a good time to order Brian's book.

As for the D license, accuracy jumps are no longer required. This changed when they last revised the requirements. D license requirements are now as follows:

A. Met all current requirements for or hold a USPA C license

B. Completed 500 jumps including accumulating at least three hours of controlled freefall time

C. Made two night jumps...

D. Passed the written USPA D license exam...