The first 13,500 feet are fine, but why does the last 50 feet freak me out?

[Rettrae 0]

I am moving through my AFF right now, doing pretty good with everyting but the landing. I seem to flare too late and end up PLF'ing and skidding head first on my back ( all but once! ) On my approach, the ground rushing up at me is almost overwhelming, and it is hard to judge when I should flare, have heard too many stories about flaring too early and people getting broken backs. I would rather bust a leg than my back, but obviously experience neither sensation preferrably. My father used to be a cessna pilot (he took skydivers up in the 60's) and he asked me to try to find a point on the ground that does not move compared to what seems to be coming towards me. That is the place where I am going to land if I dont make any adjustments. This is the trick he uses to land his plane. Going to try that next weekend, any other tricks I should try?

[Anvilbrother 0]

Make sure that you finish your flare all the way. Meaning at the time that you touch down, you have bled off as much forward and downward speed as possible. Also it is better for some people to look ahead of them to judge flare height instead of straight down. Discuss this and other questions with your instructor next time you go out.

Postes r made from an iPad or iPhone. Spelling and gramhair mistakes guaranteed move along,

[BIGUN 1,051]

A "search" on flaring in this forum will provide tons of valuable info on this subject. Find what you think may help, print it off and discuss with your instructors. There's also a series of articles on Canopy Control in the Safety section that are of great value.

http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Canopy_Control/index.shtml

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[freeryde13 0]

practice up high. open up a little higher ( be sure to tell people on the load your opening up higher). practice slow flaring, fast flaring, half flare pause then full flare, and look for the spott in your arm motion where you start to feel a storng lift. when your coming in under 50 ft don't look down......look more to the horizen( i think by 50 ft that spot on the ground that doesn't move trick might not matter so much). what size and type of canopy are you jumping? ask an instructor if a different rig will help. and think light and gracefull.

why does the last 50' freak you out? only you can really answer that, but it's better if your calm. you react better in that state of mind. mental imaging will make your body do things sub consiously.

ask for alot of help on the dz. ask someone qualified who trust to be on the ground when you land and tell you when to flare.

good vibes

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people see me as a challenge to their balance

[riggerrob 558]

Ground rush.

You use one method of judging distance/altitude for most of your skydive, then try a scary, radically new method below 50 feet.
For most of your skydive, you can only judge distance by the size of objects.
Below 36 or 33 feet (10 meters) binocular vision starts to kick in. Then you start measuring distances by comparing the angles between your eye balls. Since this new method is far more accurate, it is a surprise when it kicks in, creating the optical illusion of "ground rush." You brain starts screaming about this huge, green planet rushing up at you and you tend to flinch on the controls.
It will take many more jumps to convince yourself that ground rush is merely an optical illusion. You are still descending at a steady rate, but your brain is telling you something radically different.

This 33 or 36 foot "height of maximum fear" is a trick relished by the sadists who run military jump schools. They love to toss students out of 33 foot tall towers. Surprisingly large numbers of young soldiers refuse to jump from 33 foot tall towers even though they know that their harnesses are firmly attached to steel cables than will lower them slowly.

Your dad gave some good advice, as landing a Cessna is similar to landing a parachute. The "accuracy trick" that he described is relevant form 500 down to about 100 feet. Once you are convinced that you are going to land in a safe area, shift your focus to the far fence and monitor angles that are still changing at the old rate.

[tdog 0]

EDIT: I see as I was typing riggerrob posted too... We are quite redundant because our posts crossed in the mail...

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On my approach, the ground rushing up at me is almost overwhelming, and it is hard to judge when I should flare, have heard too many stories about flaring too early and people getting broken backs.

It is all optical illusions... Drive your car to a brick wall at high rates of speed... Far away the wall does not look to be approaching fast. Close up, it is…

The reason… Geometry and angles… If you move the brick wall from 3000’ to 2900’ away, it only takes up a marginally bigger percentage of your field of vision… It might not even appear to be that much bigger. Perhaps the angle of its height is less than a degree bigger.

Now, move that wall from 100’ to 0’ – and suddenly the wall went from 50% of your field of view to 100% of your field of view. That is a 50% change in the last 100’, whereas you only had a 1% change when it was far away… Your brain uses changes in angles to determine speed, so closer you get to an object, the quicker you appear to be going.

This is all to say, I experienced (and still experience) the same ground rush you mention on landing… It is natural, and with experience you will get used to it… At least I did.

You say you flare too low… I am not an instructor so talk with yours first, but I can tell you what I have done to help me… I flared too late for a while causing interesting landings…. I determined (with a canopy coach) how high I needed to start my flare for a nice two stage plane out. It happened to be the same height as a windsock flagpole on the DZ… I simply glanced quickly at the pole as I was landing to determine my height… Quick glances, no object fixation. Really worked to train my brain to “see” that height.

Talk to your instructors about your options… Maybe present this idea to them to see if they will sign off on it or something similar for you.

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father used to be a Cessna pilot (he took skydivers up in the 60's) and he asked me to try to find a point on the ground that does not move compared to what seems to be coming towards me. That is the place where I am going to land if I dont make any adjustments.

That is the accuracy trick. Works well for determining where you are going to land… But once you are landing, I know from personal experience, keeping your eyes up and on the horizon is much more beneficial than looking down at your feet when they touch down… So, I don’t think this trick helps with the flare much, and may actually hurt your landings…

[EvilLurker 2]

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But once you are landing, I know from personal experience, keeping your eyes up and on the horizon is much more beneficial than looking down at your feet when they touch down

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Also it is better for some people to look ahead of them to judge flare height instead of straight down.

That's what I was taught and I never had a problem with "ground rush". I don't look down at my feet until I'm already well into my flare, I'd say 3 feet above the ground. It does sound like you need to work out a better point to start your flare at, though. I can't help you there, but you should be able to talk somebody at your DZ into videoing your landings and giving you some pointers. Just remember NOT to release toggle pressure once you're into a flare, that will get you hurt. Also, if you're currently flying an F-111 canopy, you'll need a different technique when you go to ZP.

[chutem 0]

My guess on the last 50' "freaking you out" is that you are much more likely to hit the ground dureing that last 50' than you are when up "high". I have no landing advice for you, only a reference to some reading that helped me. Search for "Spizzzarko landing". In my opinion (way low time jumper so it don't mean much) He has given some very good landing advise in neumerous posts. "Spizzzarko rules the landind advise"
James

[skyyhi 0]

One thing I discovered that I was doing was reaching with my feet to the ground before I had stopped moving forward. A friend (and instructor) video'd my landing and pointed out where I was going wrong. . .It helped TREMENDOUSLY. See if you can get a camera flyer at the DZ to video your landings and then ask your instructors to critique it with you. They will undoubtedly have the best advice. . .you might have to pay the camera guy, but it will be worth it in the long run as your landings improve. . .

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Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[crotalus01 0]

dont look straight down. look out at an angle.

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...