Ways to shorten your glide on final?

[antieverything 0]

I am yet to take any formal canopy course yet I am very interested in knowing how to perform different ways of shortening or prolonging your glide on the final leg while maximizing safety?

[Stusmooth 0]

Take a canopy course or two. It can save your life! There is no short cuts. It's not just about accuracy or landing on your feet. It's also about what if the weather changes or what if someone cuts you off and what you can do safely under your canopy.

[antieverything 0]

Stusmooth

Take a canopy course or two. It can save your life! There is no short cuts. It's not just about accuracy or landing on your feet. It's also about what if the weather changes or what if someone cuts you off and what you can do safely under your canopy.

Okay, dully noted. How about some info just in a form of general education for now on the asked question?

[yoink 321]

If you're having to shorten your glide on the final leg of your approach, you've made errors higher up in your pattern. Concentrate on learning how to adjust your pattern there, rather than trying for inputs down low. A canopy course will teach you how best to do that. There's also some good information in the thread on S-Turns in this forum too.

If you have to shorten your final leg, it does rather depend on what canopy you're flying. Some react differently to partial brakes than others.
The only surefire way I know of is going into deep brakes and this comes with its own serious set of problems. I'd highly recommend against it unless you're going to hit barbed wire fence or cause a canopy collision. If you have to do this, go into brakes and prepare to PLF. If you have altitude, you can slowly let up on your brakes when you've shortened your approach sufficiently not to kill yourself on whatever you're avoiding.

If you don't have altitude to do it slowly, suck up the hard landing and keep the brakes where they are. Letting up on your brakes quickly will cause the canopy to surge and dive into the ground.

Stay off your risers. Fronts will lawn-dart you into the ground, rears will (probably) extend your glide until you stall the canopy and then lawn-dart into the ground...

It really is best not to find yourself in this position.


Other options would be to do a braked turn and land crosswind to whatever you're trying to avoid. Remember you're landing priorities:

Above all else - wing level on landing.

[kuai43 7]

Buy this. 'The Parachute and its Pilot' - Brian Germain.

http://www.bigairsportz.com/publishing.php#!/The-Parachute-and-its-Pilot-5th-Edition-The-Ultimate-Guide-for-the-Ram-Air-Aviator-2014-Paperback-8-5-X-11-261-Pages/p/30390631/category=7094403

Read it. Go fly your canopy and use the concepts. Don't just do the same thing over and over. Try as many things as you can.

Re-read it.
Then, go fly your canopy more.

Then, go fly your canopy more.

Then... you get the idea.

Every fight is a food fight if you're a cannibal

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. - Anthony Burgess

[stayhigh 2]

that depends on the wind condition and the type of wing you fly.

docile wing, heavy head wind, to shorten you can apply deep breaks, if you have to lengthen, you are fucked.

docile wing, light head wind, to shorten you can apply super deep breaks or fronts(applying fronts will lengthen your swoop phase), to lengthen use rears or light breaks.

would not recommend deep breaks in a turbulent condition.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[antieverything 0]

So how about unbuckling your chest strap and reaching with your hands to front risers and pushing them to sides? Wouldn't that extend your glide distance a bit, given your are flying up wind?

[obelixtim 100]

antieverything

So how about unbuckling your chest strap and reaching with your hands to front risers and pushing them to sides? Wouldn't that extend your glide distance a bit, given your are flying up wind?

No.

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[billvon 2,396]

>So how about unbuckling your chest strap and reaching with your hands to front risers
> and pushing them to sides? Wouldn't that extend your glide distance a bit, given your
>are flying up wind?

In low winds that might help (although generally you want to spread the rear risers.) In high winds it's not going to do much. In fact, since the above will tend to slow you down, if you're not moving to begin with it will actually hurt you overall.

[dthames 0]

antieverything

I am yet to take any formal canopy course yet I am very interested in knowing how to perform different ways of shortening or prolonging your glide on the final leg while maximizing safety?

You really have a better situation by turning to final sooner or later than you do trying to change your glide ratio on final. This is more important in a busy pattern. Once you turn to final, you don't have a lot of time to be messing with stuff. Unless it is to avoid an accident, timing the turn is better than the tricks you might use on final.

That being said, a little pull on the rears can extend your reach without much impact on those around you. Just don't do it so low that you mess up your full flight speed to your flare.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[kuai43 7]

dthames

That being said, a little pull on the rears can extend your reach without much impact on those around you. Just don't do it so low that you mess up your full flight speed to your flare.

You're still going to have full flight speed even if you've used your rears to extend your glide, no matter how high you do so. A touch of rears won't significantly distort your canopy or slow you down and you should have full access to your regular flare.

Your toggles will distort the canopy and steal your flare power.

Read Germain's book and begin understanding the flight dynamics of your wing. And practice. Then practice more. And more.

Do it up high; make high pulls dedicated to canopy practice; fly relative to another canopy to see the result of each technique.

Then practice more.

Every fight is a food fight if you're a cannibal

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. - Anthony Burgess

[Absolut 0]

Want to shorten your approach? Stall your canopy all the way down ;-) (hope you know i'm just kidding)

[DougH 270]

How about taking note and then adjusting your pattern the next time around?

Final isn't the place for course corrections unless it is to avoid other jumpers in the pattern, or obstacles.

I will use all type of control input to avoid the Piranha farm pond, but won't do anything if I am simply over flying my target.

Using deep deep brakes to sink a canopy on final, setting aside the fact that it is difficult to do and done incorrectly can hurt you, is not unlike jamming on the brakes unexpectedly while on the freeway.

Front risers can increase your descent rate, and therefore shorten your glide. Done improperly, and without training, they can also help deliver your to the site of your femur break.

If you aren't going to have a canopy collision, and you aren't going to hit something on the ground, just keep flying with minimal corrects, and try to figure out how you can adjust your pattern to hit your target with minimal input the next time around.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Stusmooth 0]

I wasn't trying to be a smart ass. I just noticed you have more jumps than me and asking questions I learned in my first canopy course with under 30 jumps. A canopy course can save your life or at least keep you from limping for the rest of your life! Blue Skies!

[EFS4LIFE 0]

As others have eluded to it is simply better to not put yourself in this position by flying a more accurate pattern to begin with. While I am not a canopy coach I am a multi-discipline Instructor and I have found that around your experience level I have given some advice to jumpers that seems to help.

Before advancing you should speak with your Instructors at your particular Dropzone. They know how you fly. Also the advice given is intended for the jumper with a bit of experience, i.e. NOT a student.

Okay with that out of the way. Loose the altimeter. Before I get set aflame let me explain. Use your altimeter to set up your entry point of the pattern (beginning of downwind) usually at 1,000 feet AGL. After that don't look at it. Use your eyeballs to fly the rest of your pattern. At 1k and under your eyeballs are more accurate than an analog altimeter. We beat into our AFF students 1,000-600-300 because we are afraid of them committing a low turn, for good reason, but this tends to lead to early accuracy problems in my opinion. Which leads to young jumpers such as yourself asking questions like this.

As long as your eyeballs aren't screaming at you that you are low then fly your downwind until the target is 45 degrees behind you over your shoulder. This will be different for varying wind conditions, but I am trying to give you a baseline. Then turn onto base leg. Base leg is where you really refine your accuracy. Keep your eyes on traffic in the pattern but when you can safely do so glance at the target. You need to judge when to turn onto final in order to hit your target. Take your base a little longer if your eyes tell you you are high. Round the corner to final and shorten that base leg if your eyes tell you that you are lower. Once you turn onto final your accuracy is either on or off. At this point your accuracy goals should be gone, because now it is all about concentrating on your landing priorities. None of them have to do with how close you are to the target.

It will take some practice and resisting the urge to not do so, but you need to start calibrating those eyeballs young jedi.

Be safe.

Edited to add : Oh yeah buy Brian's book! Good stuff there. Just don't go reading the high performance landing stuff and then think you can bust out a 180. I have seen a friend do exactly that after reading it and he has metal in his femur.

I am an asshole, but I am honest

[dthames 0]

kuai43

***
That being said, a little pull on the rears can extend your reach without much impact on those around you. Just don't do it so low that you mess up your full flight speed to your flare.

You're still going to have full flight speed even if you've used your rears to extend your glide, no matter how high you do so. A touch of rears won't significantly distort your canopy or slow you down and you should have full access to your regular flare.


Getting on my rears reduce my vertical speed about 30% and my horizontal is reduced about 15-20%, based on GPS recorded data. The horizontal is a bit harder to nail down due to the fact that the ground speed (GPS) and air speed are not the same.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[stayhigh 2]

EFS4LIFE

Loose the altimeter.

I've learned the most when I lost my altimeter and couldn't afford/didn't want to buy one for a while. Did 500 jumps without it, until I had to have one for the AFFI course.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[antieverything 0]

EFS4LIFE

As others have eluded to it is simply better to not put yourself in this position by flying a more accurate pattern to begin with. While I am not a canopy coach I am a multi-discipline Instructor and I have found that around your experience level I have given some advice to jumpers that seems to help.

Before advancing you should speak with your Instructors at your particular Dropzone. They know how you fly. Also the advice given is intended for the jumper with a bit of experience, i.e. NOT a student.

Okay with that out of the way. Loose the altimeter. Before I get set aflame let me explain. Use your altimeter to set up your entry point of the pattern (beginning of downwind) usually at 1,000 feet AGL. After that don't look at it. Use your eyeballs to fly the rest of your pattern. At 1k and under your eyeballs are more accurate than an analog altimeter. We beat into our AFF students 1,000-600-300 because we are afraid of them committing a low turn, for good reason, but this tends to lead to early accuracy problems in my opinion. Which leads to young jumpers such as yourself asking questions like this.

As long as your eyeballs aren't screaming at you that you are low then fly your downwind until the target is 45 degrees behind you over your shoulder. This will be different for varying wind conditions, but I am trying to give you a baseline. Then turn onto base leg. Base leg is where you really refine your accuracy. Keep your eyes on traffic in the pattern but when you can safely do so glance at the target. You need to judge when to turn onto final in order to hit your target. Take your base a little longer if your eyes tell you you are high. Round the corner to final and shorten that base leg if your eyes tell you that you are lower. Once you turn onto final your accuracy is either on or off. At this point your accuracy goals should be gone, because now it is all about concentrating on your landing priorities. None of them have to do with how close you are to the target.

It will take some practice and resisting the urge to not do so, but you need to start calibrating those eyeballs young jedi.

Be safe.

Edited to add : Oh yeah buy Brian's book! Good stuff there. Just don't go reading the high performance landing stuff and then think you can bust out a 180. I have seen a friend do exactly that after reading it and he has metal in his femur.

This is some awesome stuff! I totally get the message that doing anything drastic is very stupid if done on the final leg. But I am glad you have inferred from my incorrectly asked question the info I was looking for!

[antieverything 0]

No I was not alluding to that. And just so that we are on the same page - I have been chasing the opportunity to do that for god knows how long now but it just does not seem to be in the cards due to different scheduling conflicts. However, referring me to the school is not answering my original question. I do understand that learning from the messageboards is not the best way to do it. But we still try and collect all the information possible to be better at the sport. And since you have done the school, maybe you could enlighten me in the meantime of what you have learnt in the context of this particular issue :)

[Trafficdiver 8]

antieverything

No I was not alluding to that. And just so that we are on the same page - I have been chasing the opportunity to do that for god knows how long now but it just does not seem to be in the cards due to different scheduling conflicts. However, referring me to the school is not answering my original question. I do understand that learning from the messageboards is not the best way to do it. But we still try and collect all the information possible to be better at the sport. And since you have done the school, maybe you could enlighten me in the meantime of what you have learnt in the context of this particular issue :)

You have to understand that some of the methods of shortening your final will kill you if you do it wrong...like going into deep brakes. So to expect good advice on the internet is unfair to those who dont want to see you die. And those who are giving you that advice, may not even skydive anymore and dont care if you do die...like Stayhigh.

[kuai43 7]

dthames

******
That being said, a little pull on the rears can extend your reach without much impact on those around you. Just don't do it so low that you mess up your full flight speed to your flare.

You're still going to have full flight speed even if you've used your rears to extend your glide, no matter how high you do so. A touch of rears won't significantly distort your canopy or slow you down and you should have full access to your regular flare.


Getting on my rears reduce my vertical speed about 30% and my horizontal is reduced about 15-20%, based on GPS recorded data. The horizontal is a bit harder to nail down due to the fact that the ground speed (GPS) and air speed are not the same.

Better tell the swoopers.
You'll get different results when you don't fly boats loaded at less than 1:1.

Every fight is a food fight if you're a cannibal

Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. - Anthony Burgess

[stayhigh 2]

how is going into deep breaks going to kill one? care to elaborate instead of attacking?

what is your method to shorten the glide on final with a lightly loaded canopy?

you've got a lava fields in front of you, if you just go full flight you'll land in a lava 100%, what do you do on light wind condition, heavy wind condition? S-turn isn't allowed.

i admit most of the time I give out horrible advices, i figure if you are asking to a random skydivers with god knows what their skill sets are, I'll give out some random ass answer, however i really thought this one through and i consider this was legit advice that I rarely give out.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[Trafficdiver 8]

Going into deep brakes at 100' and letting up at 60' can do loads of damage to you including death.

Also I'm not attacking you I'm describing you. You've admitted you don't jump and it's obvious you don't really give a shit about 1/2 of what you say.

[dthames 0]

kuai43

*********
That being said, a little pull on the rears can extend your reach without much impact on those around you. Just don't do it so low that you mess up your full flight speed to your flare.

You're still going to have full flight speed even if you've used your rears to extend your glide, no matter how high you do so. A touch of rears won't significantly distort your canopy or slow you down and you should have full access to your regular flare.


Getting on my rears reduce my vertical speed about 30% and my horizontal is reduced about 15-20%, based on GPS recorded data. The horizontal is a bit harder to nail down due to the fact that the ground speed (GPS) and air speed are not the same.

Better tell the swoopers.
You'll get different results when you don't fly boats loaded at less than 1:1.
I am keeping my boat, thank you very much!

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[format 0]

dthames

I am keeping my boat, thank you very much!

Swoopers don't have problem shortening their glide.
Boaters do

What goes around, comes later.