Student Canopy Control

[mccallj 0]

First a little background. I started jumping back in June and since then I have fallen in love with the sport. I am a college student and like most college students I have no money so it took me until about 3 weeks ago to get my AFF's done.
For that period of time I was jumping a mana 230 and recently went down to a 210 (cant remember the name). Every AFF level went extremely well and everything moved rather fluidly after the beginners jitters wore off.
Now that I am working toward my A license I am trying to learn slightly more advanced canopy skills. Front riser dives (at a reasonable altitude of course) and other such maneuvers. If you are still reading this then congrats. My question is what should I be looking out for? Does anyone out there have any tips from personal experience? Anything that anyone could contribute would be greatly appreciated.
- Parrish McCall

“Last week I helped my friend stay put. It's a lot easier than helping someone move. I just went over to his house and made sure that he did not start to load his shit into a truck.”

[hackish 8]

I learned a lot reading the Canopy and it's Pilot by Brian Germain. It covered not only the technical details but the advanced techniques.

-Michael

[morten 0]

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I learned a lot reading the Canopy and it's Pilot by Brian Germain.

I learned even more by attending Brian's class (twice - but I'm a slow learner, and may need a refresher soon )
Sign up for any of the big guys' canopy control classes. Money and time well spent!!!

[tombuch 0]

Accuracy.

Try to hit a target on every jump and keep track of your progress. Accuracy will help you hone your overall skill, and put the new tasks and knowledge into practice.

Caution: The most important part of the skydive is to land safely. Pick a target in a wide open area, and if you can't hit it, relax and land a distance away rather than forcing accuracy at the expense of injury.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[popsjumper 2]

I would suggest three things:
1. Read the SIM
2. Ask your instructors. They should have been teaching you canopy control skills on your AFF jumps.
3. Like others have said, Brian Germain's book and Scott Miller's canopy courses are all excellent.

Other suggestions:
- When learning stall point, don't let the toggles/risers up quickly. Slow, even release is better to prevent sharp dives on recovery.
- Practice up high and slowly work your way down doing the turn and braking manuevers until you can get a ground reference without bashing yourself into it.
- Plan your dive/canopy work before you leave the ground and stick to your plan in the air.
- Let others on the load know what you are doing and why.
- Get video of your landings along with a de-brief by a "qualified" canopy pilot that still remembers what it's like to be a skydiving youngster/student.
- Master canopy skills to the point of being able to automatcally perform when it comes time to initiate evasive manuevers close to the ground.
- Plan your low-to-the-ground learning for an area away from other jumpers such as in an alternate landing area to avoid hosing up patterns and swoopers.
- Downsize slowly and conservatively.
- Have fun with your canopy.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

Accuracy.

Try to hit a target on every jump and keep track of your progress. Accuracy will help you hone your overall skill, and put the new tasks and knowledge into practice.

Caution: The most important part of the skydive is to land safely. Pick a target in a wide open area, and if you can't hit it, relax and land a distance away rather than forcing accuracy at the expense of injury.

I want to add to this.

Accuracy comes from consistent and proper landing patterns. Having that (landing patterns and accuracy) is the foundation for all high performance canopy flight as well.

To work on your canopy control start with a plan. Have a detailed plan of your canopy dive flow. It starts before you jump, not just after you deploy. This is on every single skydive. As you work on getting more experience, actually physically draw you landing pattern out on a piece of paper. Plan your landing spot and work on your accuracy there. If you fly the pattern you drew and you land 10ft short then you can just slide your entire landing pattern 10ft so you land exactly on target on your next jump (assuming the winds don't drastically change).

Doing this work will also help you with your safety. If you deploy and while flying to your holding area you determine you're not going to make it back to the airport, then you can pick up the pattern you drew and move it to an appropriate off DZ landing site. That will help prevent you from getting in a situation in which you accidentally make a low turn.

The 7 P's for success apply to the canopy flight portion of your skydive, not just the freefall.

Good luck!


(The 7 P's for success: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance)

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[dharma1976 0]

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Accuracy comes from consistent and proper landing patterns. Having that (landing patterns and accuracy) is the foundation for all high performance canopy flight as well.

amen brother

Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.