How to judge altitute when flaring - Help!

[climberjumper 0]

Hi,
I did my AFF1 jump yesterday. Everything went well, exit, dive sequence, canopy deploy and final approach. However, I did my final flare at 30 feet ( I honestly thought I was at 10 feet) so I landed rather hard.

Can someone tell me how I can better judge my altitude when performing my final flare please?

Thanks

[TheCaptain 2]

This is generally best handled by talking to your instructors, but the best way is to look straight ahead (not down) and find thing to judge your height from (house's, trees, hangers).

Kirk
He's dead Jim

[DougH 270]

What did your instructos say?

Your instructors will give you a far better explain how to land a canopy with face to face instruction than some putz on the internet. And in my opinion any one who is trying to offer a student with one jump landing tips over the internet is doing that student a disservice.

All you need to know is you will learn as you make additional jumps, and that you need to consult your instructors, not the internet.

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

[millertime24 8]

You need to calibrate the MK-1 eyeball. Takes getting used to. At least it did for me, but then again I have no depth perception.

Muff #5048

[NobodysHero01 0]

I suck at flaring and broke my leg because of it. I think my problem was looking straight down. I'm a little nervous about getting back in the air, but I still plan on going back up. My personal plan is to become the world's best PLFer before jumping again. At least if I mess up the flare again, I'll just wind up with some bruises and nothing that will require surgery!

Anyway, I've only done 2 solo jumps and 50% of them ended in a hospital visit and surgery... so I can't really offer any good advice

-- Mike
"Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion"

[Nutz 0]

You know, I have always heard the look at the horizon thing, I always look straight down. It is easier for me to judge that way.

I don't remember which one of you putzes said it, but you really shouldn't be getting landing advise from some putz on the internet.

"Don't! Get! Eliminated!"

[labrys 0]

One of my first instructors told me to look out at the horizon, wait until I was scared shitless, count to 2, then flare. It worked for me. However comma: I'm just another putz here. Best to find a local, hands-on, familiar face type of putz to ask.

Owned by Remi #?

[aresye 0]

My buddy who got me into skydiving gave me some good advice on timing the flare. He said, "Look at a 45 degree angle to the ground, and not straight down. Then, when you feel it's time to flare, wait a split second longer, and then start."

Worked for me. The best timing I've had though, is when somebody else is in the landing area. When my feet seem to be about their head height, I start my flare.

Skydiving: You either learn from other's mistakes, or they'll learn from yours.

[humanflite 0]

As the above posters have said, offering advice on the internet is not a great thing to do to an AFF 1 jump student.
but I asked the same thing and the replies helped a bit so Im going to put something back

Basically, what I found helped a lot was reading Brian Germains 'a parachute and its pilot' and also as the others have said, practice...
The more landings I have done(and I busted myself on my first one as well with a sprained ankle) the better I have got at judging it.

A few things though:

You need to be looking in one direction, not at the horizon...that is what was taught to people jumping round canopies in the past apparently.
you need to be looking WHERE you are going.
A spot on the ground will not change (where as some objects will get higher and some lower in your sight picture as you descend) that is your destination point.

A few things that helped me were..if you start flaring too early, and you realise this, pause the flare (do not let go whatever you do) and then finish the flare nearer to the ground.
Also, PLF is your friend. Practice it until its second nature is my advice.


I dont want to say any more as theres already quite enough to focus on in early AFF jumps...

[Hooknswoop 19]

Quote

Can someone tell me how I can better judge my altitude when performing my final flare please?

Same way you judge distance when pulling up to a stop sign while driving.

DV

[in2jumping 0]

Quote

Hi,
I did my AFF1 jump yesterday. Everything went well, exit, dive sequence, canopy deploy and final approach. However, I did my final flare at 30 feet ( I honestly thought I was at 10 feet) so I landed rather hard.

Can someone tell me how I can better judge my altitude when performing my final flare please?

Thanks

They did not have you on radio or guiding you down with paddles signals telling you when to flare?

[Andy9o8 2]

Just keep this in mind: one of the reasons you, as a new student, mis-gauge height at landing time is because you're not (yet!) used to approaching the ground at a constant rate of descent, rather than the accelerating rate of descent that your brain is used to (like when you jump off of something). This causes you to under-estimate how much time you have left until you reach the ground, and thus you flare too high.

The rest of this conversation - i.e., how best to deal with this - should be had with your instructor.

[ghost47 18]

As a recent AFF grad, I completely remember what it was like to land badly. My first five landings were hard -- first one I flared too late, the next four I flared too early (and too fast). Hurt like hell, though no permanent injuries.

After each one, I'd talk to an instructor and get advice, but nothing worked until jump 6 (AFF 5). On jump 6, I was reacquainted with the two-stage flare -- flare 1 to about shoulder height, flare 2, all the way down. Both done smoothly. (Previously I was just jerking the toggles from full up to all the way down.)

On final approach, I waited for my instructor, and when he said flare 1, I did, when he said flare-flare-flare, I went all the way down. Did both of them smoothly, and landed on my feet.

Same thing happened on jump 7.

Having finally had two stand-up landings, I had at least a fuzzy memory of what the ground looked like when I flared 1, and what it looked like when I flared all the way. So on jump 8 (AFF 7), when my instructor said, okay, this time I'm not going to say anything, you're going to land yourself, I was able to do so.

It also helped me to look at a 45 degree angle, instead of straight down.

I'm certainly no expert at landing (or anything else), but I thought maybe my experiences would be helpful. But I second everyone else who says "talk to an instructor".

[denete 2]

I'm not answering your question, but I wanted to say that I was really proud when a high-time jumper complimented me on my landing on jump 32. "Man, that was a great PLF." I'll wear that badge with pride any day.

Best luck on finding your range finder.

- David

SCR #14809

"our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe"
(look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

[NWernig 0]

Quote

As a recent AFF grad, I completely remember what it was like to land badly.

Don't worry you will be reminded again......

Nathan

[danielcroft 2]

Quote

I'm not answering your question, but I wanted to say that I was really proud when a high-time jumper complimented me on my landing on jump 32. "Man, that was a great PLF." I'll wear that badge with pride any day.

Best luck on finding your range finder.

- David

I had a really good PLF the other day too. Flared too high & too fast. Felt like the wind popped me up but it was probably just me sucking.

[ghost47 18]

Quote

In Reply To
As a recent AFF grad, I completely remember what it was like to land badly.

Don't worry you will be reminded again......

How much do you think it would cost to get someone to sew one of those donut pillow things onto the back of my jumpsuit?

[brucet7 0]

Quote

Quote

As a recent AFF grad, I completely remember what it was like to land badly.

Don't worry you will be reminded again......

Amen! Friday my canopy decided to humble me. I had been bragging about how I was landing close and standing. Now I am limping with a bruised hip.

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

[climberjumper 0]

Thanks Guy's for all your input. I know talking to my instructor is the best thing to do, but it's also good to get a wide range of opinion.

I suppose I have to be independent enough to make my own mind up regarding each different person's opinion.

All in all I think the advice given is good "Look at a 45 degree angle, look at people/trees/buidlings, flare gradually (and more slower)"

Blue Skies

[rasmack 0]

Get experienced and get video of the landings... oh, and

HF #682, Team Dirty Sanchez #227
“I simply hate, detest, loathe, despise, and abhor redundancy.”
- Not quite Oscar Wilde...

[chrismgtis 0]

Ask your instructor. A lot of people will tell you not to look forward (look ahead instead) and use other things, such as a buildings, tree, winsocks, etc to judge how high you are... but I'm sure that's iffy depending on your landing area since you shouldn't be staring at some tree when you are trying to land. Your instructors will have a better idea about what to do at your specific DZ.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[billvon 2,876]

>one of the reasons you, as a new student, mis-gauge height at landing
>time is because you're not (yet!) used to approaching the ground at a
>constant rate of descent . . .

A bigger issue, I think, is that skydivers perceive a constant rate of descent until the last 200 feet or so, at which time their descent appears to increase in speed. This isn't because there is an increase in speed (indeed you are descending slightly slower than you were at 3000 feet) but because you are closer to the ground and better able to perceive speed and height cues. This perception is why many students will start to flare a bit at 100-200 feet, since they think they are speeding up and they know the toggles slow them down.

[Chrisky 0]

Well, I started flaring around the corner (turning in flare thanks to one toggle lower) around 30-40 jumps in my career. It was the result from looking down. My instructor told me to look at the horizon, as, with his words:"Your eyes will know the right altitude, as they see it all the time when on the ground". That combined with impatience to flare (starting early) gave me sweet perfect flares back then. Instantly fixed it.

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[Croc 0]

All else being equal, the speed of your flare depends on wind conditions. Are you not on a radio at this point?

"Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so."

Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

[fred 0]

Quote

This isn't because there is an increase in speed (indeed you are descending slightly slower than you were at 3000 feet)

I'm a nerd, and I'm curious. Why are you descending slightly slower? The only reasons I can think of would be negligible differences (air density? Newtons third law (would that apply to unpowered aircraft?)).

As to the OP, I'm one of those putzes you shouldn't listen to, but I think it bears mentioning that you should practice your flares up high. You can get a decent sense of when you're leveling off and when you're slowing down using wind noise. Flare a lot up high, and try to figure out what your parachute is doing. Test out the difference between flaring all the way down really fast, and doing a multi-stage flare where you level out and then bleed off speed.

Talk to your instructors before you try a multi-stage flare on an actual landing, if they didn't teach you that. When it comes to final approach, keep your eyes in front of you (not straight down, not at the horizon) and try to do things smoothly.

I need to work on completing the flare, since I tend to level off and then, when slow enough, run it out. But I'm pretty sure I could be leveling off and stopping in most cases.