How Pulling At End Of A Track Can Lead To Softer NOT Harder Openings; If Timed Right.

[mdrejhon 8]

I post this because a few people (in the past) brought up a point that you can't flare a track to get a softer opening.
I disagree with this; you actually can soften your opening to an ever-so-slightly sub-terminal opening at the end of a track! (And still pull relatively quickly) How?

(Note: This assumes that your canopy opens softer in a slightly-subterminal opening, than a 120mph terminal opening. And that your canopy opens like a slammer when pulled during a high speed track.)

Flaring a track can sometimes soften a canopy opening because you're converting horizontal airspeed into temporarily-reduced fallrate. During a tracking jump, my altitrack shows my vertical fallrate goes to about 75mph for a period of 2 seconds after a moment into a VERY aggressive body-flare at the end of a track. When I time it just right, I can *feel* a soft near-subterminal opening. The sequence is as follows: Flare track hard with my legs while waving off, pull, then put my arms way out in the front - giving me 1 additional second of flaring my track while I wait for the PC to inflate and go to full line stretch, and finally open my canopy. I've opened 5 seconds after flaring a track (normal opening), and I've opened without flaring a track (slammer opening - OUCH), and I've opened at a very good timing (*softer* opening) -- as a bigway jumper, a properly timed pull after a flared track definitely leads to a slightly-subterminal opening, because you're falling slower for a couple seconds. A good body flare at the end of a track, converts your very high horizontal speed, into temporary reduced vertical fallrate while you're decelerating horizontally.

Normal fallrate: ~120mph vertical fallrate
Sustained track: ~90-105mph vertical fallrate (but LOTS of horizontal airspeed)
Aggressive body flare a track: briefly ~75mph vertical fallrate approx (and much less horizontal airspeed) - you actually have slightly less than 120mph diagonal motion vector, which results in a slightly subterminal opening, if your deployment sequence occurs before you re-accelerate back to terminal.

These are approximate mph numbers - not necessarily accurate. My Altitrack electronic logging function shows clear brief moments of slow fallrate during a tracking flare. Some inaccuracy is injected by burbles, but the point is -- flaring slows things down -- for a moment.

In a track, think of your body as a wing that can be flared too. Just a high speed wing, one that can't plane out but fallrate can still be temporarily slowed in a flare. Just like when you flare your canopy, you fly slower for a moment before recovery to regular glide(track). Same thing can happen with your body. Whether you wingsuit, or use regular tracking techniques, or canopy or whatever -- a flare can briefly reduce your speed (both horizontally and vertically). A reasonably decent tracker with a reasonably good body flare, with good timing, can execute a properly-timed opening to gain a ever-so-slightly-sub-terminal canopy opening immediately at the end of a track. Time it early, you get a slammer. Time it late, you get a normal bellyfly terminal opening. Time it right, you get a slightly subterminal opening!

Thus, my conclusion: A properly timed pull at the end of a track, can lead to a softer slightly-subterminal opening.

Most people who witness this softer opening, don't do the timing on purpose, the timing is instinctive: One tries to avoid a slammer by pulling too early in a track. Pulling in a track can be painful, because of your high horizontal speed. Many people automatically flare before they pull, but try to still pull as quickly as they can tolerate. Especially when you're a bigway outer, tracking for 25 seconds from a 100-way formation, and then pull at a hair under 2500 feet.

The body flare sequence at the end of a track, tends to become:

As you're near the end of the track, be aware of your airspace, before, during and after your pull. It's important to clear your airspace before you start to execute your end-of-track-sequence, in case you need to keep tracking away from meat missles near you; but also keep an eye to the airspace in front of you too.

1. When it's time to pull and your airspace looks clear, begin flaring your track (i.e. Fold legs inwards and put your arms out, as usual, and simultaneously trying to fall slower -- as if you're trying to brake/backslide as quickly as possible while not increasing your fallrate).
2. (T+0.5 to 1sec) Immediately swivel your head above-below-around to clear your airspace; while starting to wave your outstretched arms in a wide-sweeping-motion in front of you; maintaining your body flare while you wave.
3. (T+1.5 to 2sec) If your airspace is clear and your wave motion is complete, go into pull motion and say goodbye to your hackey. You still have lots of forward motion.
4. Immediately put your arms back outstretching in front; continuing your body flare position while you wait for linestretch. Your forward motion and vertical fallrate continues to decrease until it hits a low (sweet spot of flare)
5. (T+2.5 to 3sec) Softer opening occurs, if timed correctly in that narrow window of your slowest motion vector where you're ever so slightly subterminal. (combined vertical and horizontal motion).
6. As your canopy opens, at this time, arms are automatically reaching for the risers, for immediate evasive action if necessary. (Safety IS still #1)

(Of course, done more 'naturally' and 'gracefully' than a step by step based approach, the above is just to explain the end-of-track technique that some of us bigway flyers typically do)

Most people who are just learning to bellyfly and track, simply begin RW flare first, stop all horizontal motion, continue a normal bellyfly briefly, before they wave off and pull. This can consume time, which is typically fine for small-ways. However, bigway flyers often need to optimize things that they maximize the maximum possible amount of tracking before their pull, while not ending up in a slammer, and while not pulling too low -- many bigway flyers have needed to start pulling while they are flaring their track if they are at an outer and are commanded by load organizers to deploy no higher than 2500 feet; which makes many of us, by necessity, develop a quick ballet of multitasked motion (#1 key one being your head on swivel to clear your airspace; while you're doing other things such as simultaneously flaring&waving). By accident, experienced bigway jumpers over hundreds of jumps, observe some pulls are unusually gentle; and then they often adapt their pull timing in their regular end-of-bigway-track, to soften their openings if they're flying canopies that open too fast when being pulled in the middle of a track. Thus, many experienced bigway jumpers have optimized pull timings that work best for their canopy. The optimized pull timing just naturally eventually happen by instinct when you're trying to deal with low pull altitudes at the end of a bigway -- it's done without 'thinking'.

Since then, I've never, ever had a slammer again during a track (since Deaf World Record 2005, when I pulled early in a track) and my openings at the end of a track is now almost always softer than a regular bellyfly pull.

In reality, not everyone ends up doing their track-flare-pull sequence this way, and some canopies are designed to open soft even at higher speeds (not all of us fly fast opening canopies). However, the important thing is that you be safe and that opening softness is a secondary importance to respecting the safety of your airspace. You're timing your body flare to the safety of your airspace, not to your pull. The timing of pull just 'comes' naturally/automatically/gracefully; as a result of experience; not too rushed but not too slow; just right -- just Goldilocks.

[kallend 1,647]

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Sustained track: ~90mph vertical fallrate (but LOTS of horizontal airspeed)

Based on my observations, I don't think many people can sustain 90mph vertical component.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[mdrejhon 8]

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Based on my observations, I don't think many people can sustain 90mph vertical component.

True -- and a good observation.

I do requote what I wrote:

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These are approximate mph numbers - not necessarily accurate. My Altitrack electronic logging function shows clear brief moments of slow fallrate during a tracking flare. Some inaccuracy is injected by burbles, but the point is -- flaring slows things down -- for a moment.

Even though my Altitrack told me I can 88-90mph in a track for more than 20 seconds if I do my best possible track in a tracking practice dive, I recognize that it's distorted/semi-"fake" by factors like this, burbles, as well as SAS versus TAS measurement modes. I could very well be going 100+mph vertical fallrate. However, the bottom-line point is, for the vertical fallrate perspective (ignoring the horizontal for now):

Normal terminal - belly fly
Slightly less than belly-terminal - regular track
Significantly less than belly-terminal (briefly) - flaring a track

I am not a pro tracker and I have my own inconsistent moments (not 'getting in the groove'). I'm probably now a 75th percentile tracker in a 100-way (basically usually in the top 25), essentially I get surprised about 1 out of 4 times by a person who can track better than I can. One doesn't need to be a top tracker to gain the benefits of a soft opening (on a normally fast-opening canopy) after a track...

[DSE 3]

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Even though my Altitrack told me I can 88-90mph in a track for more than 20 seconds if I do my best possible track in a tracking practice dive, I recognize that it's distorted/semi-"fake" by factors like this, burbles, as well as SAS versus TAS measurement modes. ...

I wear a mudflap and wrist Alti-track. Both in TAS mode. They're both pretty close unless I'm backflying. According to both of them, I've had sustained fallrates of 32mph in a wingsuit. Most folks know this isn't possible. In other words, don't trust the numbers.
BTW, congrats on your front page article. I'm sure others appreciate reading your "journey."

[mdrejhon 8]

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BTW, congrats on your front page article. I'm sure others appreciate reading your "journey."

Thanks for the compliment. I promise I'll write better next time.

(clicky)

[bodypilot1 0]

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as a bigway jumper, a properly timed pull after a flared track definitely leads to a slightly-subterminal opening

It can lead to a hard opening as well. Depends on the pack job....

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Whether you wingsuit, or use regular tracking techniques, or canopy or whatever -- a flare can briefly reduce your speed (both horizontally and vertically).

How many wingsuit jumps do you have? I have seen more then a few wingsuit flyers, in a decent faster then an average fall rate on a FS skydive. Both with fast openings and slow openings.

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In reality, not everyone ends up doing their track-flare-pull sequence this way

Bingo!

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[davelepka 4]

Here's the trouble, you've written a piece that takes several minutes to read but what it's describing is a three second procedure, and that math just doesn't add up.


If you're a jumper on a big enough dive that you don't have time to flare out of your track before dumping, then you already know how to take care of yourself.

If you're a jumper on a dive where you have the time to return to stable, straight down freefall before dumping, then you should take that time, and pull from a standard, straight down freefall.

What you're suggesting, while technically may be correct, is something a jumper should learn through experience, and only use when needed.

The problem is that if not done properly, you can easliy get slammed, and if you're not 100% square in the shoulders, that slam turns into multiple line twists.

The bottom line is this, your messing with the 'chain of command' when it comes to deployment. Let's remember that the #1 priority on any skydive is to successfully open a parachute. The entire system is designed around deployment at terminal while facing into the relative wind, and any alteration from that is ill-advised, and should be avoided if possible.

I realize that if done properly, your method can work, but can you see how when you require actions with precision down to the .5 sec at an already busy time can be an invitation to mistakes, and the consequences of those mistakes?

This manuver should be reserved for jumpers who are VERY stable and controlled with their track. It should be practiced on jumps where it is not required for maintaining safety. Jumpers should be preparred for a harder opening when first attempting this manuver. Jumpers who have not mastered this manuver should never sign up for a skydive where this will be required for maintaining proper seperation.

[fasted3 0]

Great story!
Pulling in a track has seen a lot of debate on here. I'm surprised we haven't heard more from the 'don't do it.' side. As a wingsuit flier, I always do it that way, and really enjoy the soft openings. My guess is sub 100 mph easily.
I agree with your premise, even when tracking without a suit, and have done it many times.
So I wondered why some were convinced it caused hard openings. I think I know now.
The key is doing a good track. It takes some work to fly good enough to slow down your vertical speed enough to make it work. If you're not careful, you could be doing more 'atmonauti,' or freeflying, than tracking.
PS, flying a wingsuit does not automatically make one track like a bird, especially if it's been a while jumping without it.

But what do I know?

[elightle 8]

Thanks, Dave, for the words of caution. Inexperienced jumpers could become unstable when trying this technique. As they gain experience they naturally learn how to slow down as they check the air around and above them before they pull.

[davelepka 4]

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The key is doing a good track. It takes some work to fly good enough to slow down your vertical speed enough to make it work. If you're not careful, you could be doing more 'atmonauti,' or freeflying, than tracking.

Indeed, and without the 'key', the whole concept of pulling in a (bad) track doesn't sound like such a good idea.

There are many body postions and flight modes in which you can successfully open a parachute (and even get a good opening). The trouble is when you introduce any additional movements, or directional components to the picture.

It is entirely possible to manage the additional factors, and get a good opening, but if you are not correclty managing all the additional factors, you are essentially opening a parachute while you are out of control.

[mdrejhon 8]

I do agree with davelepka.... I should stress my post is not supposed to be a howto for 100 jump wonders - I did stress safety is #1 but I shall stress that again!

My post is more of a "how can it?" than a "how do I?" post. But we all know dropzone.com is to be taken with a healthy amount of salt. I do not wish to jeopardize jumpers. Just yet another interesting topic.

Some of you are lucky enough to have pilots or sail sliders to open soft in the middle of a high speed track - I certainly notice that.

Gotta go to work, so have to keep this reply short. Good talk going on here!

[mr_music11 0]

Thanks for the post and thanks for the banter! I am one of those 'pre 100 jump wonders' and have seen footage of this manuver and often wondered about the mechanics of it! Dont worry Im not trying it (yet!) as my jump numbers are not where I would want them to be.. I am VERY conciencous of my saftey and mortality! blue skies!

If flying is piloting a plane.. then swimming is driving a boat. I know why birds sing.. I skydive.

[piisfish 135]

how pulling at "any" speed can be soft and nice : get a decent canopy

yes, this is a "humor tentative" in a "serious tentative".. but some canopies will open nicely at "any" decent speed ... Thinking about the Safire2 I've been jumping for 5 years and the Crossfire2 I jumped for 2 years

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[pilotdave 0]

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how pulling at "any" speed can be soft and nice : get a decent canopy

That was my thought exactly. When I'm tracking as fast as I can after a bigway or any other skydive, the last thing on my mind is a hard opening. My sabre2 doesn't much care what I do before I pull. I have a PD150 and a Tri 120 that aren't so nice to me though.

Dave

[base283 0]

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If you're a jumper on a dive where you have the time to return to stable, straight down freefall before dumping, then you should take that time, and pull from a standard, straight down freefall.

Interesting. As a big wall BASE jumper with tracking as my love, I never do this. I pull straight out of the track with no probs like line twists. Maybe it is just a skill that I have developed, but I doubt it. Parachutes don't care about trajectories. Maintaining stability in a track pull is simple IMHO. Just pull since your hand is not far away from your BOC.. The prob maybe on big ways with my approach is that I do no wave off. On multiways in Bigwalling, the first priority is to get lateral if you are not the low one. Stay off people's backs in front of you. If one stayed with this credo, no wave off (separation killer) would be needed. I do understand that bigways/walls might have exceptions. But very seldom.

Back to the topic of the post.
You have the wrong canopy and/or pack job for the task if you need to sacrifice separation in order to have an acceptable opening.
Think about it.
Take care,
space

[davelepka 4]

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I never do this. I pull straight out of the track with no probs like line twists. Maybe it is just a skill that I have developed, but I doubt it.

Well, you're wrong. It is a skill that you have developed. I would think that big wall jumpers would know better than every one that not all trackers are created equal. You guys can clearly see that some guys just go further and stay flatter than others.

Two things to keep in mind here, generally by the time a guy gets to a big wall they have a few hundered skydives, right? That's the time it takes to develop reliable tracking skills.

Next, you have 2000 jumps. You can do whatever you want. If you work with students and newbies, you see what sort of tracking 'performance' they have, and you'd see that it's not a situation in which you'd want to toss out a PC.

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Parachutes don't care about trajectories.

No, they don't. But they do care about airspeed, and if you have more 'dive' to your 'track', you end up wil excess airspeed, not a good time to pull.

They also don't like unusual attitudes. If your track is head low, so will be your deployment, and if you've never seen jumper deploy head low, it generally does not 'improve' the opening.

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Back to the topic of the post.
You have the wrong canopy and/or pack job for the task if you need to sacrifice separation in order to have an acceptable opening.

I agree. If you have to dump in a track to get a good opening, something is wrong. However, that is not the point of the thread.

It was written by the guy who just did the article about big-way jumping. He was explaining how he uses this technique to get max. separation when doing big ways (a good idea) and that despite what some believe, he sometimes gets a 'better' opening by doing so.

My opposition to this was that newer jumpers could read this and see it as a band-aid fix for poor openeings, or even just a piss-poor way to to make acceptavle openings a bit better. It needed to pointed out that opening in a track is not a good idea unless your track is very consistant. If it's not, you risk tyring to open your parachute in a situaiton where you are not in control.

By all means, if your skills are developed, and you have a reason to (such as a wall, building, or large group of people behind you) dumping in a track is perfectly acceptable. However, if your tracking skills are not spot on, and you don't have an outside factor influencing you, please ensure that you are stable, in control, and at an acceptable airspeed before opening a parachute.

[mdrejhon 8]

When I pull while flaring my track, I'm at a somewhat head-up attitude, which is more comfortable. Although I do have some residual forward motion leftover, I don't seem to swing forward, partly due to this head-up attitude. I'm not thinking of timing when I am pulling, just happen to pull while in mid-flare of a track as indicated, and it happens to feel best for me during this time. Habits may gradually change when I downsize to a new canopy with different opening characteristics...

And clearly, each jumper develop their end-of-track pull differently...

I've deployed head-low in that pull-in-a-track, and it's a little uncomfortable to say at the least as you can imagine.

[base283 0]

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Next, you have 2000 jumps. You can do whatever you want. If you work with students and newbies, you see what sort of tracking 'performance' they have, and you'd see that it's not a situation in which you'd want to toss out a PC.

I disagree. I have taught 180+ BASE students. Tracking comes later in the development of skills

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Parachutes don't care about trajectories.

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No, they don't. But they do care about airspeed, and if you have more 'dive' to your 'track', you end up wil excess airspeed, not a good time to pull.

Jeez. There is no dive in a track where I'm from. Whereabouts you from?

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They also don't like unusual attitudes. If your track is head low, so will be your deployment, and if you've never seen jumper deploy head low, it generally does not 'improve' the opening.

You are apparently speaking about diving away. Tracking is never headlow.

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Back to the topic of the post.
You have the wrong canopy and/or pack job for the task if you need to sacrifice separation in order to have an acceptable opening.

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I agree. If you have to dump in a track to get a good opening, something is wrong. However, that is not the point of the thread.

If you reread the title you will see that this is the point.

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My opposition to this was that newer jumpers could read this and see it as a band-aid fix for poor openings, or even just a piss-poor way to to make acceptable openings a bit better. It needed to pointed out that opening in a track is not a good idea unless your track is very consistent. If it's not, you risk trying to open your parachute in a situation where you are not in control.

Good on ya mate, but I think you are still confusing tracking with diving away..
If one's track is not consistent, one should not be on multiways.

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By all means, if your skills are developed, and you have a reason to (such as a wall, building, or large group of people behind you) dumping in a track is perfectly acceptable. However, if your tracking skills are not spot on, and you don't have an outside factor influencing you, please ensure that you are stable, in control, and at an acceptable airspeed before opening a parachute.

I would substitute the word "airspeed" with "altitude". Brings to mind a phrase.... "Stable to impact"
Take care,
space

[davelepka 4]

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If you work with students and newbies, you see what sort of tracking 'performance' they have, and you'd see that it's not a situation in which you'd want to toss out a PC.

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I disagree. I have taught 180+ BASE students.

I'm talking about skydiving students, not base students. Any retard can take up skydiving, and many do. Base jumpers tend to be a little more selective about who they will give a FJC.

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Jeez. There is no dive in a track where I'm from. Whereabouts you from?

You are apparently speaking about diving away. Tracking is never headlow.

Good on ya mate, but I think you are still confusing tracking with diving away..
If one's track is not consistent, one should not be on multiways

Any way you want to word it, there are skydivers who track improperly. They think they are tracking, but do have more of a dive to their trajectory. This does provide them separation from other jumpers, just not as much as a 'real' track. More than enough for a two, three or even four way.

Here's the trouble - take a guy who has a little too much dive to his track, sometimes the extra speed will carry over into his pull sequence and he gets a 'firmer' opening. Now he sees this thread, and of course wants a softer opening, so he starts dumping before even trying to stop his 'track'.

Call it what you will, many jumpers do not have a good flat track. Sure they could get further if they did it right, but if all you have is a Cessna, it's enough to get them clear of (at most) the three other guys they're jumping with. Right or not, it's the reality out in the world.

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I agree. If you have to dump in a track to get a good opening, something is wrong. However, that is not the point of the thread.

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If you reread the title you will see that this is the point.

Actually, it's not. The exact wording of the thread title is as follows - How Pulling At End Of A Track Can Lead To Softer NOT Harder Openings; If Timed Right.

All it discusses is the possible outcomes from pulling in a track (according to the author). It makes no mention of the requirement for any behavior to ensure a good opening.