Wind Tunnel versus Airplane Jump. Differences?

[BravestDog 0]

Wondering about the differences between a real airplane jump versus a wind tunnel jump.

Can anyone describe the similarities and differences between the two methods?

When or who would you use one method versus the other?

Thanks.

As I was searching this forum, I found a link to a site that specializes in wind tunnel issues.

www.bodyflight.net

http://www.verticalwind.com

[dustin19d 0]

ALTITUDE, PARACHUTE
JUST A FEW OF THE OBVIOUS DIFFERENCES

[quade 3]

A wind tunnel simulates freefall in a very controlled and spacially defined environment. It is a very good tool for the demonstration and practice of certain freefall maneuvers -- in particular, precision body flight. It is a poor tool for the demonstration and practice of some other things you'll do in an actual skydive.

Things that are best demonstrated and practiced in an actual skydive would include: aircraft specific door jams and exits, floating up to a formation, diving down to a formation, recovery and rejoining from a "funnel", tracking, altitude awareness and obviously any canopy skills.

A complete training package would take advantage of both a wind tunnel and actual skydives if both are available.

Perris now puts students going through their AFF program into the wind tunnel for a few short sessions to allow for better demonstration and practice of basic body flight.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[flyangel2 2]

Like Paul said, the wind tunnel is a great training tool. It allows you to improve on some freefall skills, but just because you do well in the tunnel, doesn't mean you'll do well once you take that leap from the aircraft.
Look at the tunnel as a cross training tool.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[EricaH 0]

The air is pushing you up, rather than you pushing down on the air .

There is no can't. Only lack of knowledge or fear. Only you can fix your fear.

PMS #227 (just like the TV show)

[marcandalysse 0]

if you hit the floor in the skyventure wind tunnel, you bounce back up!

no fear in the windtunnel, although getting rained on can be painful....

check out the other windtunnel threads, this has been talked about ALOT!

[Mush 0]

Did aff at Lake Wales, a tunnel rat did aff stuff in 4 jumps .

It's the NOISE, your not expecting that amount of noise & seeing yourself go up & down because of your body movements makes you realise your position in freefall really does make a diffrence & you switch on to that, go do tunnel, it all counts.

Mush

P.S. get a vid, it's cool & shows the diffrent positions where you make the changes in stuff

[gremlin 0]

It is like driving a race car and driving a race car simulator. The inputs may give the same effects but it aint real.

Skydiving always has the edge of fear to it which tunnels don't.

I'm drunk, you're drunk, lets go back to mine....

[Mush 0]

I know what your saying, but it does give a student who has done 1 or 2 dives & is having turning problems or un-stable pulls the confedence to know they can do it, once your off student stuff It's way cool just to fly around turning, great if you planning on going flat.

Heard you can ff in a wind tunnel, aint been there yet

[benny 0]

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It is like driving a race car and driving a race car simulator. The inputs may give the same effects but it aint real.

Skydiving always has the edge of fear to it which tunnels don't.

My pops took me to a tunnel when I was like 7 years old or something... Man, that's fear. I thought the damn thing would blow me away and I'd never get back. I think I'm gonna go back tomorrow (18 yrs later) and give it a shot. I would go jump but the weather's shite. I'll give you guys my low experience update tomorrow if I end up going.

Never go to a DZ strip show.

[Airborne03 0]

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I know what your saying, but it does give a student who has done 1 or 2 dives & is having turning problems or un-stable pulls the confedence to know they can do it, once your off student stuff It's way cool just to fly around turning, great if you planning on going flat.

Heard you can ff in a wind tunnel, aint been there yet

with the wind tunnel being so small in nature...you will be able to look at yourself in the reflection of the glass/mirror and be able to judge your turns better, arching/de-arching, some forward and backward movement. it is a very good tool in my mind for students who do not yet have experience in jumping with others that have a tough time finding out what each body postion does, or how much it effects a turn for example.

if you are in the air and extend ur leggs you may not feel a difference even though you are moving. however in the tunnel your head smacking against the glass window if you go to quick is a good thing for you to learn how to control your body easier.

i went to the wind tunnel with 25 or so jumps the first time and i walked out of there like i could be on big ways just from being able to control my body so well up and down and 360's. it is def worth it if you want to learn how to be comfortable doing those menuvers.

"Airborne all the way"
EL Cantador Rodriguez

[quade 3]

It should also be noted that the defined space of the wind tunnel prevents you from going too far afield once you've made a mistake. In a tight coaching environment, this is an advantage.

That said, in a real skydive there will be no wall to stop you. If you never learned to correct the issue, because it was never presented to you due to the dimensional limitations of the tunnel, then you could be going off to visit another zip code.

In my very short experience of observing/camera flying a combination wind tunnel and jump coaching camp, I saw this demonstrated on more than one occasion.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[ltdiver 3]

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That said, in a real skydive there will be no wall to stop you. If you never learned to correct the issue, because it was never presented to you due to the dimensional limitations of the tunnel, then you could be going off to visit another zip code.

Remember Perris Nationals 2000?
Well, Mark Brown joined with 3 fun jumpers from his L.O. loads and took them to the only cement on the DZ that -wasn't- being creeped on. Back by the school, between the packing area and the video trailer!

I shot the video for that team that year and was AMAZED on how well they stayed in the same air space! They actually did pretty good!

It was then and there that we all realized that creeping in a very tight space had it's advantages!

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[vonSanta 0]

Heh, in Sweden tunnel time is called "feg-flygning". A very nice little alliteration. *Very* roughly translated (hard to do since there are lots of implicit connotations) it means "coward-flying" or "flying for cowards" .

Gotta love Swedes.

Santa Von GrossenArsch
I only come in one flavour
ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

[gremlin 0]

Quote

I know what your saying, but it does give a student who has done 1 or 2 dives & is having turning problems or un-stable pulls the confedence to know they can do it, once your off student stuff It's way cool just to fly around turning, great if you planning on going flat.

Not just students... Am looking at abusing the Perris Tunnel soon with some serious coaches. What is wrong with my skydiving? Nothing - but I am sure when I post after the tunnel I will be able to give you a list of mistakes I am making without having realised.

I'm drunk, you're drunk, lets go back to mine....

[lazyfrog 0]

smell of jet fuel
ask if they can put some of the smell in the tunnel justbefore you fly in it.. reminds you of when you open the door...

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Fumer tue, péter pue
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ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579

[NeedToJump 0]

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It is like driving a race car and driving a race car simulator. The inputs may give the same effects but it aint real.

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I know what your saying, but it does give a student who has done 1 or 2 dives & is having turning problems or un-stable...

Quote

it means "coward-flying" or "flying for cowards"

Wind tunnels are an incredible tool available to anyone who wishes to take advantage of it (and has the monetary means to do so.) They are great for all skill levels, whuffos with no jumps use them as does every world class 4-way team. I guarantee that the Golden Knights, DeLand Majic, Arizona Airspeed, the French national 4-way team, Mike Swanson, Rook Nelson, etc. etc. do not have any turning or balance problems, yet they all see the value in using wind tunnels to train.

That being said tunnel flying is different than freefall. The biggest differences are there is no plane ride, no exit, no need to pull your parachute to save your life and no canopy ride. The airflow in the wind tunnels is different than in the air. Wind tunnels are susceptible to turbulence and the airflow can be uneven throughout the tunnel.

Wind tunnels are also the best way to get a lot of "air" time. What is the most freefall time you could get in a single day? It's probably not very possible, but say you could 60 jumps from altitude (1 minute of freefall each) in a day. That's 60 minutes. In a wind tunnel you could get 60 minutes of flying time in 60 minutes (though it would hurt a lot.)

Wind tunnels are not perfect and definitely are not freefall, but they allow for an incredible amount of learning and are great fun.

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com