How to make it back from a spot???? please

[CKSCUBA 0]

I know this has probably been beat into the ground but i need an answer please.

Ok i hear everything about this i just want to know the truth.


1. If I am up wind and need to get back to the dz, i guess this would be if i was way long how to make it back.

i have been keeping my brakes stowed and pulling down my rear risers.

is this right or whats best? please?

2. If i am down wind and need to make it back i guess i would call this way short i have been unstowing brakes and holding half brakes trying to make it back.


Please school me in the best way to make it back from both, I hear so many opinions on this.

Thanks
Chris

[base_nz 0]

A search in the threads will get you all the info you need and more!

.....And you thought Kiwis couldn't fly!!!!

[freeflydrew 0]

It would suck so bad to leave your brakes stowed to find out that you had a mal the whole time, only now you're at 1500 feet instead of 3000 feet...

[skyshimas 0]

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It would suck so bad to leave your brakes stowed to find out that you had a mal the whole time, only now you're at 1500 feet instead of 3000 feet...

exaclty! what if you have a mal? I read around here and people say that it works different with different canopies. I think if you are downwind rears and getting small will help you somewhat unless there's too much wind in your face then full flight is your best friend or if just need to make over those last couple trees get on double fronts. Now being long and up wind i was told to go in deep brakes this way you loose least altitude and wind caries you back but this probably best with higher wind conditions. I came back from long and strong up wind spots on my riers no problem.. who nows but I think it is most important to realize on time when your not making it back..

[ianmdrennan 2]

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It would suck so bad to leave your brakes stowed to find out that you had a mal the whole time, only now you're at 1500 feet instead of 3000 feet...

I agree. Jan Chandler was killed a few years ago after doing this on a big way. She popped her brakes too low to cut away.

To CK - if you're facing into the wind, your best bet is full flight.

If you have the wind at your back your best bet is rears, or toggles (it appears some canopies respond better to one or the other). All the canopies I've owned respond better with toggles.

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[NWPoul 1]

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To CK - if you're facing into the wind, your best bet is full flight.

I beg to differ
but this depend on conditions and canopy

For moderate to high loaded canopy (especially if it has steep trim) and light wind, slight input on rears may let you glide further...

So best bet IMO would be a try and accuracy trick:)

Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly?

[gdmusumeci 0]

It varies from canopy to canopy, but it's relatively easy to work out.

When you are flying along under canopy, one spot will appear to be "constant." The ground closer than that will look like it is sliding towards you; the ground farther than that will look like it is moving away from you. Given constant winds and control inputs, you will impact on the "constant spot."

So, try adding control input and watch the position of the spot move. As you add brakes, for example, it will probably move farther out (you've lengthened your glide), then start to come back in. The control inputs that give you the best distance are the ones to use when you're trying to get back from a long spot.

Try it going both into the wind and running with the wind, obviously.

[morris 0]

It happened to me.
Doing video and being lazy I left my brakes stowed till ~1300ft.
The moment I unstowed them I ended up having the left toggle in my hand - disconnected from the brake line.
No fun at a loading of 2.5....

[Steve_Lewis 0]

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It varies from canopy to canopy, but it's relatively easy to work out.

You could just look straight down between your legs and see how your control input is affecting your ground track. I find this much easier than the accuracy trick, and faster to see results.

Also don't do something that's too tiring! If hanging on the fronts (e.g.) is getting you back, but your arms are pumping solid after 200 feet then it's not worth it.

[BMFin 0]

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1. If I am up wind and need to get back to the dz, i guess this would be if i was way long how to make it back.

i have been keeping my brakes stowed and pulling down my rear risers.

is this right or whats best? please?

2. If i am down wind and need to make it back i guess i would call this way short i have been unstowing brakes and holding half brakes trying to make it back.

U seem to have confused the upwind / downwind situations:

When you say I am downwind it is actually the opposite of flying downwind.

Same goes: being upwind actually means "flying with the wind on your back" (if you are flying towards the landing zone)

And what Ian Drennan said I believe goes together with just about any canopy control guidebook out there.. though if you would have a lightly loaded canopy double fronts might yield better penetration when flying strongish upwind.

What I do is I apply the default settings based on the situation and then use the "accuracy trick"..

[MajorDad 0]

The British Parachute Association put together a couple of manuals on Canopy Handling and Canopy Piloting that are available online:

http://www.bpa.org.uk/safetydocs/chmanual.pdf
http://www.bpa.org.uk/safetydocs/cpmanual.pdf

When I have the wind at my back and am far, far away, I have found 3/4 brakes to be the best tool in the kit. It has the minimum sink rate and allows me to ride the winds back to the dz.

Major Dad
CSPA D-579

[monkycndo 0]

If you are flying into the wind, presenting the smallest surface area for the wind to push on can help as well. As best as you can without tiring yourself out, raise your knees to your chest. This reduces your surface area to the wind. It might only make a small difference, but when you are trying to make that small clearing off in the distance, it might be just enough to get you there.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[pilotdave 0]

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u could just look straight down between your legs and see how your control input is affecting your ground track. I find this much easier than the accuracy trick, and faster to see results.

That'll tell you a lot about your ground speed, but nothing about your glide angle, which is the only thing that matters. Looking down will help if you're going into the wind and trying to see what will give you some groundspeed to clear a treeline or something, but it won't help at all when you're upwind on a long spot. Deep brakes works great with my Sabre2 even though it cuts my groundspeed way down. I've had other canopies scream by me, only to land off short of the DZ when I was able to make it all the way back and fly a pattern. Scott Miller's essentials course answers all these questions...

Dave

[Steve_Lewis 0]

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That'll tell you a lot about your ground speed, but nothing about your glide angle, which is the only thing that matters.

Quite so, however with variable winds your glide angle at 2500' will be entirely different to your glide angle at 1000'. Accuracy trick is useful, sure, but I don't think that it's the be all and end all that some people think it is.

MonkeyCnDo's point about balling up (Knees to chest etc) to cut down drag will also work flying with the wind and crosswind as it's your horizontal airspeed and glide angle that this helps to increase.

[wmw999 2,558]

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but when you are trying to make that small clearing off in the distance, it might be just enough to get you there.

The most important thing about getting back from a bad spot is to have a safe place to land. Not the DZ necessarily, but a safe place. It might be the clearing, or any other clear space on your line of flight.

If there aren't enough clear spaces on your line of flight, but there are plenty off your line of flight, then put some on your line of flight. They're your outs. And an out landing that you walk away from is infinitely better than trying to make the dz and hurting yourself because you couldn't.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[rwieder 0]

If there is any doubt that you cannot make it back to the DZ, go to you alternative landing area. One where you can see the grass blowing, or a pond has waves anywhere as long as you can determine a downnwind landing direction. Don't risk being hurt. There's no need in it.

-Richard-
"You're Holding The Rope And I'm Taking The Fall"

[LoudDan 0]

It would seem to me that if you are in fact as you said leaving your brakes stowed AND pulling down on your rears, that you would be approaching a stall. That is to say you would be going more in the vertical as opposed to the horizontal.

The reason I suppose this is if your brakes are stowed, that means the tail of your canopy is already "grabbing" air and slowing down. Pulling on your rears further distorts the tail of the canopy making it grossly inefficient because you are now not flying the entire canopy.

I also believe that full flight into the wind is the way to go.

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