Turn Altitude Start

[cmercha 1]

I'm curious at what height everyone starts their turns (270 and greater)?  I think it would be interesting to hear how different WL and canopies influence people's preferences, in addition to other factors.

[Skylander 1]

odyssey 115 wl1.7
210meters

[lars_d 4]

100ft with my accuracy classic 304 (WL 1) for a 270

It was a bit higher on my VK (WL 2.8) as far as I remember

[Deimian 43]

On 6/21/2022 at 2:53 AM, cmercha said:

I'm curious at what height everyone starts their turns (270 and greater)?  I think it would be interesting to hear how different WL and canopies influence people's preferences, in addition to other factors.

I think the variability is too high to get anything really useful out of it in a forum. Besides accounting for WL and canopy, you have to consider the altitude of the dropzone and the speed of the turn (are people snapping the turn or doing a slow controlled turn whipping it at the end?). And of course the style of turn (just fronts, just harness, both, rears). Also some people start with double fronts before they turn. Which altitude do you take there, when you start doing double fronts or when the turn actually starts?

For what is worth I turn between 900 and 650 feet on my Gangster 90 at around 2.05 WL. When I am late I make a much quicker turn than when I am early on that range. At 900 feet I am hanging on double fronts and start turning with harness and fronts. The last 90° are quicker than the first 180.

[base615 77]

680 for a 270 on my VC96 loaded at 2.1. It’s worth noting that, due to some perfect intersection of short risers, short body, turn mechanics, etc, I always tend to be turning lower than people on similar canopies and wing loadings so most definitely don’t be taking my heights as an example of where to turn. I’m in the turn for 8 seconds.

Edited September 7, 2022 by base615

[Grumpy 9]

On 9/8/2022 at 3:13 AM, base615 said:

....... heights as an example of where to turn. I’m in the turn for 8 seconds.

...and more often than not, in the pond for much longer than that

[base615 77]

On 9/9/2022 at 3:31 PM, Grumpy said:

...and more often than not, in the pond for much longer than that

lol, that’s fair

[hodges 4]

Meaningless number really. Given everything else is the same (density altitude, heat etc), it depends on what you mean by "starting your turn" and what your turn looks like.

My initiation point is Xft with a brake surge from full flight but I have no idea what altitude I actually start pulling on my fronts. I just make sure I do the same thing every time.

Also depends whether you're turning efficiently or allowing the canopy to recover during the turn. I could stay on double-fronts for too long for example and my turn altitude might change but my max speeds would be lower.

I know from FlySight data that I can't start higher than 840ft on a VE84 at 2.3 without dragging it out of the sky. I'll always prefer being a touch lower than higher (guarantee the first jump of the day when conditions are unknown and then creep it up as the day goes on).

Edited September 13, 2022 by hodges

[Travman 6]

Definition of "starting your turn" seems to vary as I've talked to people and we have very different turn heights only to notice we turn at pretty much the same spot when we fly together.