Nov 23, 2004, 4:53 AM
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Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Back flying in the tunnel was not easy for me to pick up. Though I'm far better than I used to be, I'm still not as proficient as I'd like. I've been practicing in the air on occasion and am getting better though.
Was this difficult for everyone else to or am I just an idiot?
Nov 23, 2004, 5:03 AM
Post #2 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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I don't find backflying hard in the tunnel hard per se, but in order to maintain your vertical levelidity during transitions front and back it requires a bit more thought than in freefall. Dropping onto the net (at low airspeeds) and corking up (at higher airspeeds) can run the gamut from simple nuisance to safety hazard.
Nov 23, 2004, 5:18 AM
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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The control inputs for backflying were not intuitive and felt ‘backwards’. After a little practice – and bumping my head against the wall – it became easier.
Backflying in the tunnel provided a great lesson in recovery techniques for head-up flying. It also provided another method of hanging with slower fliers or newbies. I learned how to use this trick to REALLY vary my fallrate.
When you are practicing in the air, do you have another flier as a reference?
Nov 23, 2004, 5:22 AM
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Damn that was a hard voting choice...
I found backflying in the tunnel really hard. but kinda wanted to get away with calling someone an idiot too
Seriously though, I struggled loads with Backflying and everything else seemed easy in comparisson.... Kept wanting to move my head to look around and screwing it up....
But suppose ppl find certain things simpler than others! That was my bogie for sure.
Nov 23, 2004, 5:39 AM
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Hey Anvil, your not an idiot! My response: It was hard for sure
I could sit fly for years (which in some tunnels looks more like back flying), in fact other than head down I could do anything I wanted except fly on my back really. But just a couple of weeks ago, I finally got it right. Now, I have spent the last 2 hours of tunnel time since then just back flying. It's too fun, really but man my arms were tired after a whole hour of it! But I love it really, keep up the hard work, you'll get it too...
it also took me a long time to learn to sit fly without wings, I think that although it seems more natural, after hours of belly down, it's just like learning to fly all over again!
Nov 23, 2004, 6:01 AM
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Re: [Bodyflight.Net] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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My backflying technique looks like sort of a "lazy indian sit." If I am in a bootie suit I will cross my legs and lay way back either with my hands interlaced behind my neck or my arms as far back as I can get them. If I am not in a bootie suit I will still generally cross my feet at the ankles unless I am moving around.
Nov 23, 2004, 8:57 AM
Post #7 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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It was initially weird and moving forward and backwards really didn't come natural to me, thinking that my elbows and knees were conected by an invisible string helped oddly enough.
Nov 23, 2004, 9:53 AM
Post #8 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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I just did ten minutes about two weeks ago, trying to learn to back fly. Man! Not easy at all! After ten minutes, I can say with certainty that I have improved, and I still had very little control, though I was mostly staying in one place. It's something that I'll try again for sure.
Nov 23, 2004, 10:26 AM
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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It took a little while for me to get it. I've had a lot of fun in the tunnel. though I don't really do a lot of "fun jumping" I seem to find myself in the tunnel more often than fun jumping. but it will "click" just having to learn the way the air is flowing. keep working on it
Nov 23, 2004, 10:46 AM
Post #10 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Vinnie.. it took me close to 20 minutes before they finally said.. ok.. let's try sitting now.. and I backfly alot in the air with all those corking young jumpers.. It just seemed unnatural for some reason to be doing it without try to slow way down.. I'll be out January and February.. Let's play!
Nov 23, 2004, 10:58 AM
Post #11 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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I voted for Idiot...... But that only comes from having met you a couple times..
I didnt think backflying was all that hard.. but since all that weight is down there in my big ole fat butt it seemed kinda easy.. except for control with my arms.. and they really hurt after my sessions in there
(This post was edited by Amazon on Nov 23, 2004, 10:59 AM)
Nov 23, 2004, 11:18 AM
Post #12 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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.I would say I am more than comfortable sitflying ( going where I want at the speed I want ) and 'comfortable' headown..in the air I have an hour ( ok...I know thats F'all) in the tunnel but of course no matter what .......you start tunnel freeflaying on your back.... It simply highlighted to me how completely crap I was on my back and how I had neglected that for the sake of sitflying and headown flying.... It was a big heads up to me and now whenever I can I want to practise backflying as much as I can.........I have just bought my first camera helmet ...but to be honest I want to do alot more on my back to be able to say I can go 'exactly' where I want to go....before getting into freeflying that cam much. As I see it....being a competant backflyer is the absolute fundemental of 'freeflying' ( no matter how good you are in sit or headown)...ESPECIALLY if you want to fly camera for shit.....'cause from what I have seen...you'll need to be a backfly master to really get the sweet shots .... Im 6ft ++ so I was personally frustrated trying to backfly in the tunnel with such a limited space available to me ....movement other than stable or turns in place I would always be hitting the walls before I had actually moved
The Perris tunnel gave me a taste and a definate wake up......I think I'll be back for more
(This post was edited by Zoter on Nov 23, 2004, 11:23 AM)
Nov 24, 2004, 8:57 AM
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Vinny, the only people I've seen backflying really come easily to are kids age 8 and under. It's amazing seeing a 4 year old in there kicking and screaming on his belly and then the instructor flips the kid over to his back and the kid it perfectly stable and can fly!
One of the things I've found in there that makes back flying "hard" is the fact that you want to have your head back which means you are looking at everything almost upside-down. I found this to be much more disorientating in the tunnel than in the sky since there are fixed references. Like anything else it just takes time.
I have found the three biggest things for learning to fly anything in the tunnel are:
Confidence - trust that you were taught properly and what you were taught will work.
Feel the air - Really try to be aware of what the airflow feels like on every part of your body. When you move a part of your body try to feel how the air reacts to that.
Relax and have fun! - Definitely the most important thing - flying in the tunnel serves no real greater purpose. If you're not having fun then why do it? Just take a deep breath, relax and smile.
Nov 24, 2004, 10:44 AM
Post #17 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Can I vote more than once?
Dude, you saw me on my first try...pretty pathetic if you ask me. I was actually much more comfortable with the sit than the backflying, since I've done so many more actual skydives in a sit. Definitely something to work on next time we get out there.
Nov 24, 2004, 2:59 PM
Post #18 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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NO! I suck at everything in there. I have to say once my sit flying became more natural (taking grips, docking, etc.) in the tunnel, back flying seemed to not be so difficult.
I have only flown once on my back since my accident, needless to say the left leg was not even strong enough to stay in neutral. Hopefully, I'll be flyin like a champ on my back once this damn hip heals. I go to the doc. Fri. and hopefully he will have something useful to help me improve or pills to help me make it through one day of pt. If I go hard I can't even walk the next day and he wont' prescribe me percoset, just lortabs which don't do shit Oh well, I may go to a local doctor and complain to him, I'm sure he'd write me a scrip if this jackass (not you Vinny) otrhoped won't.
Nov 27, 2004, 7:10 AM
Post #21 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Hard as hell. I'm a flat flyer to begin with but thought I wold get sporty and learn some back flying in the tunnel. After 10 minutes of flailing around with the coach keeping me from breaking my neck I only managed to get semi stable.
I bought another 10 minutes of tunnel time and flew on my belly just to get my self-esteem up again. ;-)
Nov 29, 2004, 6:35 PM
Post #22 of 24
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Re: [TheAnvil] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Well...if you could see the video of my backflying, you'd have a belly ache from laughing so hard. At 1:00am in the morning after having spent a little over 30 minutes in the tunnel, back flying for me didn't go so well. I could ball up quite easily. Just when the instructor started telling me to "slowly" get into position......well...I was too damn tired to figure out which way I had to straighten my body to do so. Poor coach was really glad to see me get outta there, and I couldn't stop laughing at myself. Oh, well...at least the worst that happened out of that was a few scratches and a broken toe nail.
Nov 29, 2004, 6:59 PM
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Re: [ladyskydiver] Did Back-Flying in the tunnel come natural to you
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Quote:
I could ball up quite easily. Just when the instructor started telling me to "slowly" get into position......well...I was too damn tired to figure out which way I had to straighten my body to do so. Poor coach was really glad to see me get outta there, and I couldn't stop laughing at myself. Oh, well...at least the worst that happened out of that was a few scratches and a broken toe nail.
I found it easy AFTER I had already tried it for 4 or 5 minutes and I was properly pre briefed before my next sesion. The biggest help was DRILLING prior to entering the tunnel, that way you're not feeling out the controls while in there and waisting time.....practice, practice, practice, then execute.....
also, don't think that just because you're not up off the net, you're not doing it right. Coaches want to keep you there till you show the ability to contol yourself....... It's easier than learing good knee turns or a great mantis position......
19 /
31%
and I backfly alot in the air with all those corking young jumpers.. It just seemed unnatural for some reason to be doing it without try to slow way down.. I'll be out January and February.. Let's play!
Oh well, I may go to a local doctor and complain to him, I'm sure he'd write me a scrip if this jackass (not you Vinny
Well...if you could see the video of my backflying, you'd have a belly ache from laughing so hard. At 1:00am in the morning after having spent a little over 30 minutes in the tunnel, back flying for me didn't go so well. I could ball up quite easily. Just when the instructor started telling me to "slowly" get into position...
