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shorehambeach

First Balloon Jump - things to think about

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Buying beer.

Oh and making sure you have a good place to land. Balloons are at the mercy of the wind and you may feel pressured to go because it is novel/expensive/etc. I know someone who did this, then bought basically a new knee after making a low turn to land in a very tight area. Don't forget your basics, spotting being one of them.

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skydivecat

Be very comfortable landing out.

Know how to identify obstacles and wind direction.


Both good pieces of advice.

Regarding wind direction, it's unlikely there will be a wind sock or flags where you land, and depending on what's in the area, it may be hard to discern. It would be a good idea to note the ground wind direction relative to the sun before you take off (or as you take off).

IMO, the most interesting view is looking back at the balloon as you fall. It will be a dead air drop, so be careful about pushing off at exit so that you don't give your body rotation.

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It's unlikely there will be a wind sock or flags where you land, and depending on what's in the area, it may be hard to discern. It would be a good idea to note the ground wind direction relative to the sun before you take off (or as you take off).



I don't expect ground wind to be more than 6 kts but
would it hurt to bring along a 10 ft long roll of toilet paper and drop it from.. say 1000 ft?

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It's unlikely there will be a wind sock or flags where you land, and depending on what's in the area, it may be hard to discern. It would be a good idea to note the ground wind direction relative to the sun before you take off (or as you take off).



I don't expect ground wind to be more than 6 kts but
would it hurt to bring along a 10 ft long roll of toilet paper and drop it from.. say 1000 ft?



It would be difficult to discern wind direction from that, unless you were able to stop dead in the air at point of release. Better to drop a smoke canister, but you'd get into trouble doing that!

Smoke or steam from chimneys, cloud shadows on the ground might be better, but normall there will be little wind if balloons are in the air, so it might be better to focus on just finding a clear area to land in.
My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

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would it hurt to bring along a 10 ft long roll of toilet paper and drop it from.. say 1000 ft?



The whole damn balloon is a wind drift indicator. Watch it's track; that is the wind direction.

Give a couple seconds to build airspeed before pitching and think about where overhead wires may be (hard to see when looking from above). Most key point, you are calling the spot. The balloon pilot probably knows jack shit about skydiving, no matter how many jumpers he's deployed from his balloon.

Regarding visual wind cues on the surface (aside from smoke as noted above), the best is any body of water. You'll have lines on the water aligning with the surface wind. The windward side will be smooth/shiny along the edge, whereas the downwind side will have the wind lines going all the way to the edge - I own/fly a helicopter and this is my most used wind cue when landing at private sites.
"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

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All that others have said, plus:
- if you get the chance, on the ground, try to practice the climb out (to see where to stand, what to grab),
- try not to give strong initial impulse on exit, because you will be in dead air, and inertia will keep you going in that initial direction until you get more speed (it`s really funky feeling, that dead air ;)),
- try to jump facing towards balloon. nice video if you wear camera.
- watch out for burners. I had feeling that the heat will melt my camera gear,
- balloon will not go up if the winds are too strong, so it should not be too tricky to land in any decent sized field,
- bring cellphone,
- bring whatever you need to pack your parachute, maybe you will wait for some time for pick up crew, so why not make a good use of use that time,
- don`t forget to buy beer afterwards.

Here is my jump, about a year ago.

Balloon jump is great experience, totally worth it.

dudeist skydiver #42

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1) I suggest you try to be the last out, the balloon keeps going up as people jump and the difference on altitude can be a good 2k feet of play time.

2) Try to land with other people, makes it easier for ground crew to pick you up and in case anyone is injured while landing out, help is closer.

3) Keep your phone on your pocket.

4) Remember to reset AADs when you go back to your dropzone if altitude has changed

5) Be careful not to track on top of mountains, this happened to a couple folks on my first balloon jump outside the dropzone.

6) All the default landing out stuff, wind direction might be hard to figure out, watch out for power lines and if possible, stay close to a road

7) Take a look at your alti, most folks rush pull on their first balloon jump.

8) The dead air is actually pretty fun, and unless you're training for base, I'd say, try to do some shit, getting unstable is totally ok, as soon as the air pick up you'll regain control.

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daffes


4) Remember to reset AADs when you go back to your dropzone if altitude has changed

5) Be careful not to track on top of mountains, this happened to a couple folks on my first balloon jump outside the dropzone.
.

not too familiar with the Netherlands geography are you ?:D
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

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