How do you find your cut away canopy

[raff 4]

Hellis

In my opinion the best solution I have seen is a device called iota.

I use a version of this. When I have a cutaway, or see one on the load, I say to myself, "Iota land with that." So I do. Problem solved.

If you leave the plane without a parachute, you will be fine for the rest of your life.

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

For low-time jumpers the advice to watch where it is going and then land safely (probably at the DZ) is prudent. It is quite easy to get yourself into a bucket of complexity and trouble by chasing canopies or freebags. Leave chasing gear under canopy to the more experienced folks!

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[craddock 0]

Bright colors. Of my four cutaways only one had bright visible colors due to it being PD demo velocity colors. That particular one was also the largest amount of nylon at 79 sq/ft so I could have had that going for me as well..... but nfortunately it was a bag lock with all the stows in place so it nullified the former. I was sweating what PD was going to charge me on that one.

I wouldn't over think it unless you are in a very bad wooded area and/or jump from bad spots routinely. It is rare they get lost. Work on packing and good habits of body position and that will go a long way to solve your problem until you get into high performance high loading stuff.

That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

[raff 4]

GLIDEANGLE

For low-time jumpers the advice to watch where it is going and then land safely (probably at the DZ) is prudent. It is quite easy to get yourself into a bucket of complexity and trouble by chasing canopies or freebags. Leave chasing gear under canopy to the more experienced folks!

+

Do what he says; not what I do.

raff

If you leave the plane without a parachute, you will be fine for the rest of your life.

[Skydivesg 6]

Quote

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

Ask Trunk about "Couples Cutaways in Carolina".

It was hilarious.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[chuckakers 370]

tkhayes

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.

Adding to what TK said, be sure to line up the drifting canopy in a straight line with two stationary points - the way you would aim a rifle - if possible. That's the best way to be sure you have a good line that can't change.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[danornan 64]

potatoman

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

You should edit your comment and emphasize that it is sarcastic and wrong! Someone who is not aware of the problems might not read the entire thread. Would you want to be responsible for a needless fatality?

Dano

[BillyVance 34]

danornan

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

You should edit your comment and emphasize that it is sarcastic and wrong! Someone who is not aware of the problems might not read the entire thread. Would you want to be responsible for a needless fatality?

Too late. We have like a 4 hour window to edit. That post is days old.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[danornan 64]

There are ways to edit it if the mod really want it done! It is a safety issue and it should be fixed or eliminated. It's not worth the risk of it being misunderstood.

Dano

[BillyVance 34]

danornan

There are ways to edit it if the mod really want it done! It is a safety issue and it should be fixed or eliminated. It's not worth the risk of it being misunderstood.

Agreed. Have had it done that way a time or two before.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[dthames 0]

I normally fly with a Flysight GPS unit. It has been easy to identify the cut away point with the GPS data. From that point the free bag and then the main will land downwind along a fairly straight line if the winds are not all over the place. If you know the cutaway point and you can find the main or the freebag, you will have a good guess where to look for the other.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[wasatchrider 0]

cutaways are rare chances are you will downsize before you have a one. I haven't had one yet. Just be glad you saved your life worry about your canopy after the fact.

BASE 1519

[LyraM45 0]

Quote

Just be glad you saved your life worry about your canopy after the fact

This has always been my thinking, especially being a jumper with lower jump numbers. When I had my one chop, I followed through. Glanced to see where my stuff was floating since I had plenty of altitude on the chop (opened a little higher on purpose since it was the first jump back 4 months after I torn my knee), and then immediately began focusing on getting safely back on the ground in a good spot. This isn't to say don't pay more attention to your gear if you're in a position to do so, but for me it's just almost a part of my EP's to not worry about it. In my mind it's the cost of doing business on a skydive knowing that if I chop, safely landing is my priority and I'll worry about the gear later. Be glad it all worked out, you saved your life, and worry about your shit later. If you find everything, great, and if not, then it's the cost of doing business doing what we do.

Luckily for me a seasoned experienced jumper did pay attention to my gear for me and landed out with it.
I know one thing is for sure-- I would never expect anybody to catch my stuff, nor would I ever ever ever think about doing it myself. I don't even expect anybody to land out with my stuff (IMO the jumper went above and beyond on my chop and I VERY much appreciated it. I paid in beer and starbucks gift card as thanks) Both mine and another jumpers landing safety, and possibly my (or their) life, is worth more than a main canopy.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[Gib78 0]

LyraM45

*** When I had my one chop, I followed through.

I'm getting some strange looks in the office, after crying with laughter at this. Chops can be pretty scary sometimes, huh?

Now that I can see again, I recently had to chop in Empuriabrava, had the canopy in sight until I had to focus on the landing pattern (my number 1 priority) for about 10 seconds. After that I scanned the sky but couldn't see it anywhere and did my best to remember what I thought I saw. No-one on the ground saw it, but reviewing the wingsuiting coaches video and referencing A "gridded" dropzone plan and the winds, we had a reasonable rough area to start. Spent an hour looking but nowhere to be found, and I had to leave to get my flight home after that, minus main and minus freebag. My mood could have been better to say the least. On landing back in Germany my phone beeped with a picture of my found free bag, which James the wingsuit coach had heroically searched for , ripping his legs to shreds on brambles in doing so before discovering it a garden. Still no main though

The next day resident empuria paraglider pilot Richie took off and performed a search. Everybody said that if anyone could find it, he could. He took off and after over half an hour of hearing nothing, my hopes began to sink. He was just about to give up when something caught his eye on a disused building, and on landing to have a look , found my canopy. I was over the moon and of course paid my beer dues. Without the combined efforts of James and Richie the chances of finding my main would have been next to impossible, as the main main was hard enough to spot from the air, would have been damn near impossible to find from a ground search.

I have also taken part in many searches for other peoples gear, and it's always great to see peoples faces light up when their gear comes home especially after a big effort from all involved.

Gib

[kingbunky 3]

here's my non-app developer idea for a canopy finder app.

if someone on the ground catches sight of a canopy approaching the ground, they would use a camera view with some sort of alignment graphic to align themselves and snap a pic as low to the ground as possible. the app would attach both a compass bearing and gps coordinates. with one of these plots, the app would give you a bearing with some sort of guidance to keep you on the line. you simply proceed on that line until you find the canopy/freebag. if you had to detour around a swamp/road/whatever, you could pick up the line again once clear of the obstacle. with no data connection, you would just get a line to follow, with data, you could see it overlaid on a map.

with two or more plots from different people, or perhaps one person with two plots from different locations, a point of intersection could be calculated to narrow down the search area further, with a calculated distance to the point.

the app might also be useful for hikers trying to reach a visible object. grab a plot, hike awhile, grab a second plot, do the math, find the location of your object.

someone get to work on this, i'll take 10% for the idea.

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[thomas_crowe 0]

I think that is actually very doable. I work in IT, but I'm not a developer, so take it with a grain of salt.

GPS coordinates can already be embedded in the metadata of a picture, most phones these days also have some sort of an electronic compass built-in as well; so it would seem that all of the data sources are already present in the phone.

I will have to play around with this and see what I can come up with. May even be able to estimate distance based on the profile of the canopy in the air. Yes canopies are all different sizes, but a rough order of magnitude should be possible.

Thomas Crowe, NRP
Nationally Registered Paramedic
Red Hat Linux Geek

[chiquita24 0]

I held brakes up high to watch my canopy for as long as I could. There's a ton of corn around my DZ and I didn't particularily want to to land in the corn, so I watched it for as long as I could and then landed at the DZ. I got SO lucky that my canopy ended up landing basically across the street in a tree.
I've searched for a few other people's canopies in the corn and let me tell you it sucks. And yes-green in the worst color ever!

[DougH 270]

raff

***In my opinion the best solution I have seen is a device called iota.

I use a version of this. When I have a cutaway, or see one on the load, I say to myself, "Iota land with that." So I do. Problem solved.

Funny guy. In some parts of the US you don't have that option, especially if the canopy is going towards a large area of dense forest.

Some places the general area is an out, and there are some obstacles. In other areas the general area is obstacles, and there are some viable outs.

If it goes in to 50 acres of woods I can only land so close.

I ordered an Iota home base and two trackers during their kick starter campaign. If they stay on pace they are supposed to be shipping in March.

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