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Safelandings

How do you find your cut away canopy

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I've thought about this a lot since I just put my order in for my own gear. Is the some king of GPS chip you can have put in your riser somewhere so after you cut away you can find your canopy? Where I jump there is some areas of field, bush, water and suburbs. How do you find your canopy? That would really suck to cut away a fairly new canopy and not find it..

Kelly

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There are some threads on various tracking solutions, mainly ones that could theoretically be built, or adapted to skydiving, with few that have been built. There just aren't turnkey solutions being regularly marketed to skydivers. There are various challenges for price or range depending on the design, whether using radio location or GPS & cell service based.

The traditional solution is just to follow your canopy as much as safely possible, and have others on your jump do the same. So you can do the same for others if they have a cutaway.

The caveat is "safely". For some that may mean just heading home to the DZ, for others it might mean floating in brakes overhead until the canopy touches down and then landing in rougher terrain nearby. Depends on your skill, state of mind (maybe after some nasty mal or hard opening), and the terrain. Easy to get yourself in trouble while fixating on something and spiralling around over bad terrain. Take mental note of notable landmarks (eg, where at the edge of the forest or field one would start walking to reach the canopy). People back at the DZ may have watched too, to get a bearing. That's where a good map of the DZ area helps.

A friend did lose a new canopy on his first jump on it. High hop and pop to test it out. It drifted off into a big swamp. Or someone lost a canopy because it bag locked on a high CRW jump. Stuff happens...

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If you got good friends, they would catch it for you under canopy.

Has been discussed quite a bit in the past. Problems are generally battery power, and search range/device range, and then SIZE.

Think soon you will see some gadget on the market.

I saw a tracking unit for handguns the other day, was built into the grip.
You have the right to your opinion, and I have the right to tell you how Fu***** stupid it is.
Davelepka - "This isn't an x-box, or a Chevy truck forum"
Whatever you do, don't listen to ChrisD.

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I just landed my reserve, turned around and watched it flop down in a field a couple hundred feet away. Couple folks at the DZ put their phone numbers on their risers or a toggle or something and we've had a few canopies make their way back to their owners that way. I had a helmet make its way back to me because I'd put my name on a sticker inside the helmet. Someone found it in their back yard and Googled me.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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potatoman

If you got good friends, they would catch it for you under canopy.



Oh God no. While noble, it really is stupid. I know first hand what it's like catching a friend's cut-away (up high on a CRW jump after an entanglement. Took me a couple of passes before I snagged it on my foot, and the drag of the thing put my canopy into a diving down-plane until I was able to reel in the canopy and stash it between my knees. I lost over 2000 feet. :S Do that down low after a normal altitude deployment and cutaway and you are FUCKED.

One time a buddy told me approximately where my canopy was in the woods/brush by hanging his bandana on the fence and saying straight in from there (at Moss Point)

Another time I landed out after a cutaway and couldn't find it so the DZ sent a C182 out doing circles until the pilot located it. (at Lake Wales)
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Safelandings

I've thought about this a lot since I just put my order in for my own gear. Is the some king of GPS chip you can have put in your riser somewhere so after you cut away you can find your canopy? Where I jump there is some areas of field, bush, water and suburbs. How do you find your canopy? That would really suck to cut away a fairly new canopy and not find it..

Kelly



Start by buying the brightest freakin' canopy you can find. Cut away canopies are notoriously difficult to spot, even from above, and especially in areas with woods or tall weeds and brush.

As mentioned earlier, there are several ideas on tracking devices but none that I know of that are offered turn-key for our purposes. Best bet is to get a visual on it, and for that you want something annoyingly bright. Also helps reduce the possibility of a canopy collision on all jumps. ;)
Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

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chuckakers

***I've thought about this a lot since I just put my order in for my own gear. Is the some king of GPS chip you can have put in your riser somewhere so after you cut away you can find your canopy? Where I jump there is some areas of field, bush, water and suburbs. How do you find your canopy? That would really suck to cut away a fairly new canopy and not find it..

Kelly



Start by buying the brightest freakin' canopy you can find. Cut away canopies are notoriously difficult to spot, even from above, and especially in areas with woods or tall weeds and brush.


Bingo. Green is the worst color you can buy. NEVER get a green canopy. :DB|
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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How does your DZ handle cutaways?

Some places are more helpful/aggressive when it comes to finding them, others are more "you're on your own."

I have seen it where the people on the ground all spread out and get bearings on where the canopy and freebag land.
I've seen it where the ground guys hop in the ATV and go after them.
I've seen it where they put up the plane to search from the air for the stuff.

If you have good neighbors, they often will bring stuff back (always them a nice reward).
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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In Zhills, you call Robert.
That man WILL find your shit.
B|



Winds, jump run, cutaway altitude, where you landed, where the freebag is, land near your shit, all sorts of variables come to play.
I've been lucky so far, in over 6600 jumps I've had 2 sport chops and 2 tandem chops, all easily found in minutes. I do jump at fairly clear area type dz's most of the time though.

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I had a old vector that had a name and phone number written in massive letters all along the freebag bridle....wasnt my name or number but must have been one of the last owners (wasnt the owner before me either) that did it lol only found out after i deployed the reserve on the ground for a repack it was written in black marker of somesort and definitely permanent
FTMC

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The second you get under your reserve, take a few seconds and look down and note exactly where you are - then get yourself to a safe landing area.

Everyone at every dropzone should be taught how to spot a canopy. That means standing at a specific location, at the corner of a building or at the boarding area, whatever.

Watch it hit the ground relative to some other reference on the horizon, trees building or whatever and note that as well.

Then go to Google Earth and simply draw the line from where they were standing to where they saw it, and it will be on that line. Using where you opened your reserve and the winds can help narrow it down.

Two people watching the canopy land from different points will; get you an intersection on Google Earth and you should be able to go straight to it.

Too many people ignore the simple task of not paying attention to where they are and where it falls and then only have a general idea of what direction it is in.

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In my opinion the best solution I have seen is a device called iota.
As far as I know it's not in production yet it was only a few months ago it was on kickstarter.
Most other devices are either too big or not enough range.
Keep in mind most ranges declared for BT 4 trackers are in line of sight, and thats not worth much most of the time.

I bought a GPS/GSM device and tested it on my bag but the size of it meant the seams to a lot of punnishment.
So much that on jump 2 I lost it.

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chuckakers


Start by buying the brightest freakin' canopy you can find. Cut away canopies are notoriously difficult to spot, even from above, and especially in areas with woods or tall weeds and brush.



Oh yes, THIS! If it weren't for John Mitchell's mad canopy-finding skills, my solid black (with red ribs) canopy would probably still be in the woods by Kapowsin 7 years later. (Bright canopies are nice for everyday use, too, in that you're a lot more visible to the other people in the air. Which is why the two I jump now are BRIGHT!).
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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tkhayes

The second you get under your reserve, take a few seconds and look down and note exactly where you are - then get yourself to a safe landing area.

Everyone at every dropzone should be taught how to spot a canopy. That means standing at a specific location, at the corner of a building or at the boarding area, whatever.

Watch it hit the ground relative to some other reference on the horizon, trees building or whatever and note that as well.

Then go to Google Earth and simply draw the line from where they were standing to where they saw it, and it will be on that line. Using where you opened your reserve and the winds can help narrow it down.

Two people watching the canopy land from different points will; get you an intersection on Google Earth and you should be able to go straight to it.

Too many people ignore the simple task of not paying attention to where they are and where it falls and then only have a general idea of what direction it is in.



In addition to what TK said, if you land before your main does, and if you have a phone with GPS location on it, you can drop a Pin where you landed, and get a line on where the main went down. If you are out on the open and can walk directly toward where you saw it go down, you can walk 100 meters or so and drop another pin. You can later use these two locations to draw a line on GoogleEarth.
Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

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wolfriverjoe


If you have good neighbors, they often will bring stuff back (always them a nice reward).



But be careful:
In contrast to those good neighbours, one can also get the not-so-friendly neighbours grabbing and hiding stuff because now they've heard how expensive canopies are and that skydivers are willing to pay good dollars to get things back. One still wants to be friendly and maybe tip someone who goes out of their way to help you find something in the back 40.

(And I've bought beer & food for skydivers with climbing spikes or who otherwise went out of their way to retrieve stuff.)

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I was wingloading my reserve a 1:1 and cut from 3000 feet with a wings reserve boost. I flew in half brakes until i saw the canopy fall into the tree line. ( i still had 1500 feet left and was hovering outside the holding area).

i traced a line back to the hanger so i knew in the general direction it was in. It was difficult to tell how far it was, but i grapped my hiking GPS and went out there with a buddy on his ATV and found it within an hour.

If the canopy is in the tree, it might be easier, but mine was the open ground laying flat. it was really hard to see it.

Plexus makes an audiable beacon that can help guide you if you know the general area of where it landed. none of these items are turn key products though.

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CSpenceFLY

Quote


If you got good friends, they would catch it for you under canopy.



People have died doing this. Don't do it.



Yeah, like Nathan at Atlanta Skydiving Center.
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Our DZO gets out his powered paraglider and goes cruising over the sugar cane fields if the pilot cannot spot it on the decent after one or two loads

Easiest is for someone to get a sight line on it and use that to narrow down the area

This works fine at a small cesna DZ but if you had a cut away on a long spot it is going to be difficult

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Back in the day I heard the pilots brag when a round was cut away and it landed close to the landing cirlce.

Suppose the spot was good then, and obviously the the main landed close enough not to loose it.
You have the right to your opinion, and I have the right to tell you how Fu***** stupid it is.
Davelepka - "This isn't an x-box, or a Chevy truck forum"
Whatever you do, don't listen to ChrisD.

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BillyVance

***If you got good friends, they would catch it for you under canopy.



Oh God no. While noble, it really is stupid. I know first hand what it's like catching a friend's cut-away (up high on a CRW jump after an entanglement. Took me a couple of passes before I snagged it on my foot, and the drag of the thing put my canopy into a diving down-plane until I was able to reel in the canopy and stash it between my knees. I lost over 2000 feet. :S Do that down low after a normal altitude deployment and cutaway and you are FUCKED.

One time a buddy told me approximately where my canopy was in the woods/brush by hanging his bandana on the fence and saying straight in from there (at Moss Point)

Another time I landed out after a cutaway and couldn't find it so the DZ sent a C182 out doing circles until the pilot located it. (at Lake Wales)

YUP, was being sarcastic. After two way with insufficient tracking, my friend had a chop. I flew same direction as him (Like usual), with cam.
When he chopped a line over, I followed him down with the cam. Needless to say, when reserve opened, I looked in front of me. Nearly caught his main, and luckily not. It was a 230!!!
You have the right to your opinion, and I have the right to tell you how Fu***** stupid it is.
Davelepka - "This isn't an x-box, or a Chevy truck forum"
Whatever you do, don't listen to ChrisD.

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