Nov 12, 2011, 11:10 AM
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Drifter...need infos, please
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Hello everybody
I am looking for information on how to build drifters...at my club there are only two other people who have ever jumped a round canopy and they do not know the dimensions and the weight of a drifter any more. Now my buddy and me are slowly getting confident enough to spot ourselves but to be fully able to determine the exit point and to guide the plane to the spot setting drifters is needed...When I was in the Army we used balloons from the ground and calculated the drift by measuring the angle and taking the time after take off...not exactly what we can do nowadays in our DZ. So instructions on how to make drifters would be very welcome.
22 feet long 10 inches wide Made of Crepe Paper We used newspaper at the weighted end - 2 sheets of a 'broadsheet' (ie big) newspaper rolled up seemed to do the trick
You're aiming for something that takes two minutes to descend from 2200 feet. Make one, time it and adjust accordingly.
22 feet long 10 inches wide Made of Crepe Paper We used newspaper at the weighted end - 2 sheets of a 'broadsheet' (ie big) newspaper rolled up seemed to do the trick
You're aiming for something that takes two minutes to descend from 2200 feet. Make one, time it and adjust accordingly.
I use a paper drinking straw filled with sand...I like your newspaper idea better!
20 feet crepe paper, 10 inches wide, with 3 pieces of of coat hanger wire cut 10 inches long taped to the bottom.
Not a good idea to use any metal in them, tears up farm equipment as well as animals...I knew a DZ that used cut up welding rods until they got the bill for fixing a I-H Combine.
Half of a magazine such as Time Magazine rolled tight and taped. This is the weight. Take two different coloured rolls of crepe paper and cut in half. (Blue and red or blue and yellow used to work well in NZ but adjust for the ground colour where you jump) Unravel the crepe paper and tape the two different colours together. Tape the weight to one end. (Use a lot of tape)
"S" fold the drifter until it is about one foot long, then roll it and rubber band it.
Throwing: Remember to remove the rubber band (Sounds silly but it happened lots) Also carry two in case the first malfunctions.
When you throw it remember it flies back NOT down so look towards the tail of the AC.
While it is flight NEVER take your eyes off it. If you lose sight of it it is bloody near impossible to re-acquire it.
Two places to throw it: 1/ Throw it over the target. Note where it lands and extend that line from the landing point through the target and an equal distance upwind of the target. This is your opening point (NOT exit point) 2/ Throw it where you think your opening point is and adjust same according to where the drifter lands.
Two places to throw it: 1/ Throw it over the target. Note where it lands and extend that line from the landing point through the target and an equal distance upwind of the target. This is your opening point (NOT exit point) 2/ Throw it where you think your opening point is and adjust same according to where the drifter lands.
Have fun! This may be implied, but just to state it for those who have never used a WDI, it needs to be thrown at approx. opening altitude, not at exit altitude. Maybe obvious, maybe not
I totally agree so does Billy Webers family DZ . They had to go to court and eventually lost their DZ because of WDI's in cows. The original length was judged for a non-steerable 24' reserve to drift back safely.I have told people at Tecumseh MI that we got out over the "Big Boy Resturant" in the rag and PC days. Usual answer "WOW thats way out there "Yup
I totally agree so does Billy Webers family DZ . They had to go to court and eventually lost their DZ because of WDI's in cows. The original length was judged for a non-steerable 24' reserve to drift back safely.I have told people at Tecumseh MI that we got out over the "Big Boy Resturant" in the rag and PC days. Usual answer "WOW thats way out there "Yup
Hi 10k
I'm no where near as experienced as you are, but I've spent so much time on rounds trying to hold nto the wind that I thought I needed a rear view mirror.
Even with a WDI most of the time we were getting out way to short. Maybe the Big guy spotting and going out base was trying to tell us something
And remember that you have to explain to the pilot what you are trying to do, and especially what he has to do.
When you throw it the plane has to circle so that you can keep it in sight until it hits the ground.
I used yellow crepe paper because it was easy to see against a green tree background.
The plane has to stay fairly close and you have to keep your eye on it. If the plane gets too far away, or you look somewhere else and then back again it can be hard to find.
And if the plane banks too much and the wing blocks your view of it it can also be hard to find.
And once it hits it's good to get to a place that's 90 degrees from what the jump run is going to be so you can get a good view of where the opening point is (like other land marks besides just the place where it landed).
The pilot has to fly as if he were the one watching it and keeping it in sight and deciding where the opening and exit points are.
It could be good to do some wind streamer dirt dives with the pilot.
Trying to make it all happen in real time with an oblivious pilot is a recipe for jump stories :-) :-)
Agree with everything you said Skratch. It also helps if the pilot continues the climb whilst you are watching the drifter. Threw one at Scone, NSW AU for a demo at 2,500. By the time it had landed we were at 1,700. (Don't take your eyes off the drifter even to check your altimeter)
First time he'd ever flown jumpers and he was more nervous than we were.
Agree with everything you said Skratch. It also helps if the pilot continues the climb whilst you are watching the drifter. Threw one at Scone, NSW AU for a demo at 2,500. By the time it had landed we were at 1,700. (Don't take your eyes off the drifter even to check your altimeter)
First time he'd ever flown jumpers and he was more nervous than we were.
Ahh the good old days.
Hi M
Skr is the man and knows everything.
When Skr talks even I shut up and listen. He's that good
OTOH in these modern times of turbo's, exiting at higher altitudes with all kinds of winds in different directions at different altitudes and canopy's that can actually fly up wind.
Wouldn't a WD (wind dummy) be less expensive than a WDI.
Forgot about the demo from 2-3k wrong time for the WD.
. 
and knows everything. 
