Student wind restriction

[Mark24688m 0]

What is the wind restriction for students who don't yet have an A license? i have done a search but i cant find anything.

[yamtx73 0]

SIM part 2-1, section F will tell you exactly what you need to know...

The only naturals in this sport shit thru feathers...

[stratostar 5]

14 knots max unless the DZ has a waiver then it can be 17 knots, if I remember correct.
DZ I jump at has the wind waiver.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[skylord 1]

There is the legal restriction, but bottom line is up to you. Use the common sense you should have as an adult. If at the upper limit, evaluate the conditions: are the winds shifting, gusty, etc. If you feel uncomfortable, or feel you have to ask someone else, I would defer to being conservative. It is always much better to be on the ground wishing you were up there, versus being in the air wishing you never jumped.

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[kris2extreme 0]

Quote

There is the legal restriction, but bottom line is up to you. Use the common sense you should have as an adult. If at the upper limit, evaluate the conditions: are the winds shifting, gusty, etc. If you feel uncomfortable, or feel you have to ask someone else, I would defer to being conservative. It is always much better to be on the ground wishing you were up there, versus being in the air wishing you never jumped.

what he said. We have the waiver for if the wind is coming out of a certain direction... but I know that anything more than about 14-15mph will mean me landing backwards under the student canopy.

I also watch the more experienced jumpers, when I see them decide to stop jumping because of the winds and/or turbulence... I tend to follow suit.

[Broke 0]

If you are using student rental gear here it goes. Rental gear is designed to maintain a flight speed of roughly 15 mph. This is accomplished by two things Wing loading and brake settinge. Of course we don't want new jumpers hurting themselves by landing with an approach with no forward speed, so they restrict the wind speed for people on student status to 14 mph.
http://www.uspa.org/publications/SIM/2006SIM/section2.htm#21f
here you go the USPA SIM section 2-1 Basic Safety Requirements subsection F : Winds

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[mark 103]

So far, yamtx73 is the only one who's got it right. The expanded version, for everybody else's benefit:

USPA BSRs:
-- Wind limits are based on type of reserve canopy, not performance of main canopies.
-- Students equipped with round reserves: 10 mph (not knots)
-- Students equipped with square reserves: 14 mph (not knots)
-- No maximum limit for waivered winds.
-- Wind limits are for surface winds; no limit for winds aloft.
-- No performance standards for student mains, only a requirement for ram-airs.

Students landing round reserves in 10 mph winds will land backing up if they face into the wind.

Mark

[riggerrob 558]

We could quote you a lot of numbers or quote the rule of thumb: "When student canopies start backing up."

Ask any old paratrooper what was the most difficult direction for PLFs (Parachute Landing Fall/Roll) and he will probably tell you "backwards."
Landing - with backwards momentum - presents two problems.
First, backwards PLFs produce the most injuries.
Secondly, it is difficult to see which obstacles you are approaching.

[Andy9o8 0]

C'mon, Rob. You know that back in our student days jumping cheapos we always landed backing up!

[cocheese 0]

Keep in mind you have a brain to decide when to jump or not. Mine says anything over 15mph isn't very fun.

[Eule 0]

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What is the wind restriction for students who don't yet have an A license?

Caution: Low jump numbers here, but I do have some experience in this department.

Whatever your DZ says it is, minus 10 or 20 percent, unless you like being blown on the titanium breeze and becoming a target for faraway laughter.

:)

You also get to consider the gusts. A steady 8 mph is different than 3 mph with gusts to 13 mph. Both are within the limits but the first is (IMHO) a lot easier to deal with.

It's also important to make sure that all the numbers are in the same units. The "civilian" weather report will give miles per hour, while most of the "aviation" weather reports will give knots. Some DZs have their own small weather station and these can be set to read in mph or knots. They are close but not equal - one knot is about 1.15 mph, so once you get over a couple of knots, the difference starts to be significant.

Even though the book says there are no limits on winds aloft, you also probably should take those into consideration. One advantage you have as a student is that you're probably wearing the DZ's gear, so when the winds aloft are howling and you do land way out, you have a high chance of somebody coming to find you - they want to get their parachute back. :)

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.