Landing problems?

[Chelseaflies 0]

I'm still a student, at jump 11 but I'm finding landings very difficult! I'm always over shooting it, or too high or whatever reason. Today I came in for the landing at 200ish feet, due to there being no wind, was inevitably too high, turned to land in the other field, flared too high, lost the flare before hitting the ground, hit the runway way too fast and hard and caused myself to fall over my feet and face plant the ground. Ended up with a sore knee and a very swollen and bruised foot!

Is there any tips I can get for making my landings easier?

[DocPop 1]

Yes - make more jumps! Seriously, this is not a skill that comes naturally. You have to practice it.

Practice your flare up high several times every jump.

Get someone to coach your landings - preferably with video.

Attend a canopy course.

Plan your pattern before you board the plane and try to fly your plan. The more consistent you are the more accurate you will be.

If you're concerned about the speed of landing in no wind, either sit out those jumps or ask for a bigger parachute.

Finally, remember that you are not alone in finding landings difficult. There are many people with hundreds of jumps who can't fly a canopy properly. It takes work to get good - just like anything worthwhile!

Good luck.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[IJskonijn 38]

DocPop

Plan your pattern before you board the plane and try to fly your plan. The more consistent you are the more accurate you will be.

This alone already helps immensely. I find that spending 10 minutes planning your pattern, looking at the forecasted winds and at the windsock, and looking at where you would put the different points of the pattern, are 10 minutes very well spent. If you think you're not good at making such a plan, then make it and ask an instructor for feedback after you've made it. You learn a lot faster by doing the thinking yourself, rather than mindlessly following whatever pattern an instructor feeds you.

Also, take time after the jump to evaluate it. Did you turn at the right positions and altitudes. If not, why and how can it be improved? If yes, was it easy, or did you have to make a lot of adjustments along the way to hit those points?

And yes, it takes time and jumps to get consistently good at it. I've got nearly 200 jumps, and I am only now starting to gain some decent skill with this, to the point where I can consistently land inside a ~25m circle. Also, spending a weekend doing clear & pulls is great for learning this, since your entire focus will (hopefully) be on flying your pattern, rather than having that tag along with whatever freefall work you're doing.

[rwieder 0]

I gotta ask, do you wear corrective lenses? If so, I've seen a lot of people fly without their glasses and not have the proper depth perception to land properly. If you do need prescription eye wear, a company called SportRx Dot Com makes skydiving goggles with you lenses in them. They come in an array of colours, so you kind of have your pick. Should this not be your problem, adhere to the previous advice giving. Good Luck.

Best-
Richard

[pchapman 261]

Chelseaflies

I came in for the landing at 200ish feet, due to there being no wind, was inevitably too high, turned to land in the other field,

That's where the planning thing comes in, that others talk about.

Wind conditions change, but maybe before you took off you already could see that the ground winds were low or getting lower. And your wind check before going into the circuit might have shown that there were low winds at circuit altitude (although perhaps not). And you should have seen wind socks while in the circuit, showing no wind.

So that would suggest that when you turned onto final at 200', you'd want to be set up fairly far back as you'd be expecting a great glide ratio, maybe moving towards a point only 25 or 30 degrees below the horizon and not say 60 or 70 degrees like on a strong wind day.

(Now if the wind is stronger at opening altitude and at the start of the circuit, but is dead down at ground level according to the wind socks, that is tougher to deal with, as one isn't sure if the wind will die at 100' or 600'. There one has to be ready to perceive the change while in the circuit and adjust it, or try to find a landing path where a bit of an error either way about the winds won't cause an obstacle issue. )

It's those "planning ahead" steps that try to keep you from getting stuck in a corner, figuratively and literally.

(And if as a newbie you mess up your flare, as does happen, you want to be aware of it and be ready to roll. Even experienced jumpers try to 'save' a landing and sometimes end up on their face instead of getting ready to roll. PLF's get you laughed at, but you can still jump after being laughed at....)

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

Take a canopy course sooner rather than later. You'll need it for your B anyway and the skills you learn there could save your life at some point.

Also go over pattern planning with an instructor until you're comfortable with it. You should get pattern planning as part of a canopy course, as well. Discuss where to hold prior to entering your pattern and where you'll be going for each leg of your pattern. If you plan to lose 500' of altitude on your downwind leg and 200' of altitude on your final, the length of your base leg is dictated by the starting altitude of the pattern. If you cross your target with 200' of altitude left to lose in your downwind, you should land at or before your target on your final. Assuming your base leg was the correct length. Math and physics are both hard mistresses.

Always be prepared to PLF. If the PLF doesn't feel natural, practice it on the ground until it does.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[AviationTD 0]

Sounds like you are having trouble adjusting your flight in the changing environment. You have to remember that each flight is different. You will get better with the experiences. Talk to your instructors. Don't feel bad. Learn from your mistakes and you will get better. I know that I did!

Welcome to the blue skies!

[GooniesKid 0]

Chelseaflies

I'm still a student, at jump 11 but I'm finding landings very difficult! I'm always over shooting it, or too high or whatever reason. Today I came in for the landing at 200ish feet, due to there being no wind, was inevitably too high, turned to land in the other field, flared too high, lost the flare before hitting the ground, hit the runway way too fast and hard and caused myself to fall over my feet and face plant the ground. Ended up with a sore knee and a very swollen and bruised foot!

Is there any tips I can get for making my landings easier?

Only 11 jumps in bro...you ain't Jeb and it ain't easy starting out . Make more jumps and get feedback from instructors out with you in the field.

[popsjumper 2]

You've already got some good stuff...

- Planning
I'll add;
...get your I's to teach you about the effects of wind speed on landing patterns

...observe previous loads. Did they face the same wind conditions you'll be facing on your load? If so, what are they doing for landing pattern? If not, use their pattern as a baseline to help adjust for your wind conditions.

- PLF
...practice, practice, practice
Do it even if you don't need to until you can do it with confidence. You don't want your first PLF to be a radical need situation. A good PLF will be saving an injury in your future.

...it was mentioned above that doing a PLF would get you laughed at. If that happens, you tell those asshole to, "Fuck off, asshole." Anybody that would laugh at you for doing a PLF doesn't deserve any sort of consideration and they should be avoided in the future.

Yeah, I have very strong feelings about people bad mouthing our students.

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