altimeter placement

[Desperado 0]

Where’s a good alternate location for an altimeter? Somewhere other than back of hand or chest strap. Seems I rarely look at mine when it’s on the back of my hand. I’ve noticed some 4-way teams place them on their leg straps just above the friction buckle. Most of my jumps are RW with eight or more jumpers.

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I resent being called newbie.

[andy2 0]

im looking into putting mine on my mudflap on my rig, just bc its annoying to look at it while freeflying.

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let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

[skygod7777 0]

i wear mine on my wrist. i rarely look at it anymore, it's just kinda there. i look at the ground, and usually in tracking off about a second before my protrack goes off.

i believe the people who where there alti's on there leg strap is more for the other jumpers to see rather than themselves. so if the whole team per say has all of there alti's on their leg straps then as your turning points you can just glance across the formation and see where you at, and don't have to look at your hand.

but that's just what i thought, i very well could be wrong.

later

[councilman24 37]

Here is a mud flap mount. http://www.works-words.com/alti.htm There are also stiffened webbing and snap versions that I have an example of. I have one long time jumper friend who uses a mud flap mount but I find it too high and to hard to see. I have my altimeter II on a wedge chest mount, but I tacked my Jack the ripper in a custom pouch on the back of the mount. That keeps it in position and not flopping down. Almost everyone used a chest mount when I started in 1980. During RW you can look at the other guys chest mount and he can look at yours. In addition when tracking I check my altitude and look back behind me to find the others (usually three) tracking away. I have a III on a hand mount but almost never remember it when I where it.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[michaelflying 0]

wrist

www.skydivekzn.co.za

[Ron 10]

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i believe the people who where there alti's on there leg strap is more for the other jumpers to see rather than themselves. so if the whole team per say has all of there alti's on their leg straps then as your turning points you can just glance across the formation and see where you at, and don't have to look at your hand.

If you are really moving you don't have time to look at an altimeter, you can "glance" at it....Which is why I don't like digitals. You have to read a digital, with an analog you might be able to look at your teammates and see how close the arm is to the colored section. So you are right there, but I don't bother looking for one, I don't have the time.

We don't wear them on our wrists since we have to be able to have a grip taken there...We don't have time to fumble for a grip if we accidently grab the altimeter.

Most times I already know how long a skydive is...Also you can tell altitude from not only looking at the ground, but by the horizon.

And we all wear audibles.

The leg strap placement is good since if you have a mal...you can look down and see :
1. The ground
2. Your handles
3. The altimeter

But every mal I have had I never looked at the damn thing anyway. I looked at the ground.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[andy2 0]

[QUOTE]Most times I already know how long a skydive is[/QUOTE]

Seems like mostly good advice to me except for this tidbit. I think that might inadvertently encourage newbies to "feel" how long the skydive is. Being a newbie at skydiving, I want first to keep an eye on the ground, then my alti, and then have my audibles for backup. Also ron, you forget there are people doing things where their freefall rates range from 100-250 and beyond. It's hard to know exactly what alti you are at with an internal clock when your freefall rate ranges that much. Thats why eyes, altimeters, and audibles are a GOOD thing.

Alti awareness for me is a long slow process of weaning off the alti and relying on instincts/common sense. I think they don't teach as much that EYES are first in FJC. The whole "lock on your altimeter" thing...

---------------------------------------------
let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

[jrpayne 0]

I like mine on my leg strap, good for sit fly, HD, back tracking and under canopy. Probably not as good for belly flying.

[Ron 10]

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Seems like mostly good advice to me except for this tidbit.

Notice I said *I know*. That knowledge comes with 3,000 jumps.

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I think that might inadvertently encourage newbies to "feel" how long the skydive is.

And thats not a bad thing....Altimeters break, audibles fail, not everyone can "eyeball" the altitude.

So an amount of "Gee this seems like a longer than normal skydive" feeling is a good thing to try and build.

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Also ron, you forget there are people doing things where their freefall rates range from 100-250 and beyond. It's hard to know exactly what alti you are at with an internal clock when your freefall rate ranges that much. Thats why eyes, altimeters, and audibles are a GOOD thing.

And so is an internal clock. You forget that you can have different internal clocks for different types of dives. But the base is still the same...Building into yourself the feeling of being on a longer than normal skydive can save your ass.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Tonto 1]

Primary on back of left hand

Secondary on the leg strap just above the friction buckle.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Primary on back of left hand

Secondary on the leg strap just above the friction buckle.

LOL ... that's exactly where I have my two altimeters as well. But I only use the leg mounted altimeter to help myself setup for my landings (it's a tool to help me learn the sight picture for my swoops).

On a side note, I agree with Ron about building up our altitude awareness based on our experiences, but at the same time Andy2 does makes some good points about impressionable newbies reading these forums. The existence of an internal clock will happen to all those that jump often enough, but one can never trust the internal clock on each and every jump as there are just too many variables. Case in point my first few jumps in FL a few weeks ago. There I was with probably another 1k of altitude to play with before break off time, yet my internal clock was blarring already. Why? Because I normally jump at higher altitudes where the air is thinner and the skydives are shorter. Now take someone who normally jumps at sea level and then they come up here to altitude. If they souly relied on their internal clock, they could go low on the skydive. Anyway with experience, people will learn their clocks, and sight pictures of what certain altitudes look like (watching the horizon) and so on and so forth.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over