A belly fly group exits......usually the front float doesn't present enough and the people exiting from the inside flip over forward because of the speed differential. The entire formation ends up folding up and then it "explodes" as people let go and try to get stable again.
It can funnel for a very large number of reason: as you said, F Float doesnt present enought, but also if he present too much, if the people in the door dove too steep or not steep enough, rear float dragging the formation down if they go too early, front person in the door not presenting their upperbody.... you name it!
I think the reason its called a funnel is due to the shape of the chaos that follows: you end up with people pilling one of top of each other in the middle typicaly, and then they drop, creating a "funnel like" shape.
Actually you can have a funnel other than on exit... like when someone docks hard on a larger RW formation and one whole side of the formation goes down the drain...
Not that that's ever happened to me of course
pull and flare, lisa -- "Where's my beer?" - Al Stephens
Funneling is sometimes unavoidable with groups of low/high experience jumpers, and sometimes done on purpose to topple a "skygod" from his/her self-imposed pedestal-- FYI, in politically correct terms, a funneled jump is aka a "zoo load". In street skydiver, a FUBAR, and in gutter terms, the name "cluster fuck" has been seen in a few logbooks.... no matter the name, let's keep the "fun" in the occasional dive that doesn't go as planned.... Brokeneagle.
<shrug, grin, innocent look> I'm really very gentle, no matter what my kung-fu teacher says...
billvon (D 16479)
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Jan 12, 2002, 5:48 PM
Post #10 of 10
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>I think the reason its called a funnel is due to the shape of the chaos that follows: you end up with people pilling one >of top of each other in the middle typicaly, and then they drop, creating a "funnel like" shape.
On large dives, it can look very much like a funnel. It's especially eerie when you have 100 people in the air and someone takes out someone else some distance from you. You see people falling out of the skydive, and you know there's a big problem headed your way, but you can't see or feel anything until it gets within 2-3 people of you.
