How to do a door dive?

[gale 0]

I'm trying to get a door dive exit working out of a cessna 182. I seem to have trouble right off the bat flipping over or rolling. I put my left foot on the step and my right foot just on the corner of the door ready to push off. (Looking fowards the tail.) I have a hard time holding this position in the wind long before leaving and I think that has something to do with the instability becuase I feel more like I'm falling off then pushing off.

Does anyone have some tips or suggestions as to what I can work on to make this work?

Gale

I'm drowning...so come inside
Welcome to my...dirty mind

[Kris 0]

Gale, stick your arms forward (think Superman flying) and bring your feet in toward your butt.

Once you're over the hump and you start pitching up, start going back into your normal box-man arch to maintain stability.

Kris

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[indyz 1]

I used to spin off the step. It turns out I was pushing off unevenly. I solved it by not pushing, but just letting go. Let go, arch, arms out, feet on your butt. Somewhere between letting go and arching you'll fall off the step and start to slide down the hill. Transition to the box once you pick up some airspeed.

And the standard advice: Talk to you intructors. Have somebody exit after you so that they can watch your exit and give you pointers.

[Merrick 0]

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Gale, stick your arms forward (think Superman flying) and bring your feet in toward your butt.

Once you're over the hump and you start pitching up, start going back into your normal box-man arch to maintain stability.

Kris

Exactly what Kris and Indyz has said, but I'm just going to add a few things.... my wife had a problem with this (among other things, huh Kris) on her student jumps, after looking at one particular video of her when she dove out and brought her legs up to her but she also brought her knees toward her chest (think fetal)... don't do that you'll flip-n-flail, try to maintain a good arch with your feet on your butt and your arms straight out. The other thing is I was told not to jump toward the tail of the airplane, jump kind of diagonal out the door (toward the rear, but out some). I'm not sure if that'll make any difference, but that's what I was told... hope this helps.

Blues!

Merrick

[Snowbird 0]

I am so not the person to give any kind of skydiving advice, but I'm working on my C-182 door dives right now too. I was flipping over every time. The piece of advice that finally helped was to dive shallow, not deep. I was pretty much inducing the flip myself with the steepness of the dive. The last two I focussed on keeping shallow and getting my feet to my butt, and they were both sweet.

Aren't door dives the best way to get out, though? I love 'em, even the bad ones.

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
-Robert A. Heinlein

[conoro 0]

I had a heck of a time getting the door dive right. Eventually it just happened, when I least expected it. Actually if I remember correctly there was this girl ahead of me and I was looking at her... Ahem...

What I was doing wrong was: Pushing off unevenly like indyz was doing (pushing so hard, one leg was extended even as the other was folded; I was rigid in the dive and I was bringing my legs so far back one knee was dropping.

The best advice I can give is: get video and relax! Left foot on step, left hand on strut, right hand on rear of door, right foot on edge of door - you don't have to stick it right in the front corner of the door. (Maybe forget about the right foot, it's joined to the rest of you - it'll make it's own way out!)

Find a ground reference about 45 degrees out to the horizon and look at it. Then relax, arch, arms out in an cross, head up (which is why the reference might help - keeps the head up) and go. Fold your legs in, but don't go nuts - as if you were doing a backslide from a box position. Don't shove off the step, just go from it like you'd go from a poised exit. The arm position is kind of like a morning stretch as you sit up in bed. If yawning would help, do that too! The main point is to relax and keep your head up.

This is what I did anyway. The dive for me only came when I wasn't rigidly worried about getting the dive wrong and just went [:-)]. Bit of a waffly explaination but I hope it helps.

[DanG 1]

Don't put your feet on your butt. Keep your feet neutral, but put your hands out and push down on the air. This will keep your head up and prevent you from flipping, but it will also keep you from backsliding away from the formation on the hill. Feet on your butt works, but it is a less efficient solution.

Don't forget to smile and breathe. Flipping over also comes from being too tense. Have fun, it is why you are there to begin with.

- Dan G

[DZDale 0]

I tend to disagree with you on that one, especially if Gale at any stage decides to start doing relative work. My reasoning is that if she is presented to the relative wind she should be able to exit in a nuetral position and still work while on the hill, why be face to earth before work begins ? I think it would be good to learn that earlier rather than later.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

blue skies
Dale

[Tee 0]

I also think it is important to learn to dive out with your feet on your butt. When doing 4 ways from a Cessna and are exiting from the door (linked exit), if you don't get your feet to your butt, you will be flipping over the formation. Can we say FUNNELL! (Not that I have ever experienced that or anything.)

Tee

[Shark 0]

Having your feet on your butt is just a bandaid. You should really be arching with proper presentation to the wind will make it easier to fly right out the door. I've seen lots of good skydivers without their feet on there ass when I fly the Tail.

If all else fails, seek good RW coaching. That's what they are there for.

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[Enrique 0]

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Don't put your feet on your butt. Keep your feet neutral

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Flipping over also comes from being too tense.

.

I totally agree with these statements: relax... you don't need to put your feet on your butt: feel the air, push off of it with your extended arms and fly, don't fall.
Good luck.

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[dterrick 0]

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Aren't door dives the best way to get out, though? I love 'em, even the bad ones.

...nope, sit rocks harder! If you kick out the Lazy-Boy early into a backfly and pull a 180 you get a great view of the plane leaving (C-182) and the tandem that follows...

Actually, a bad dive exit in a 2 way can be a blast too. The "John Moore" (A Canadian Thing) exit is a centre float and crotch exit where we each take double shoulder grips. Crotch dips head into chest of ctr float and headbutts to initiate the count.

The first two times I tried this I was fully headdown down the slide and - with help from the float - we could have wagon-wheeled. THAT's a rush, especially an inintended one

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

[freeflydeeva 0]

When I learned how to dive, my instructor told me to put my feet on my butt for one simple reason. When most students first imagine diving from a plane they think about relating it to diving into a pool, which is arms stretched out in front and legs out straight. The instruction of putting the feet on the butt is simply to change the students perception of body position. I know once I hit my first dive, I relaxed and then the instructors told dive out with the legs in the neutral position. It worked great. But that is only my 2 cents worth.

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Way I always do it (I come from a 182 dz) is face backwards in the door, right foot on the step with hands on either side of the door, then just push out with yuor right foot, legs up on your butt, and arms forward at about 60 degrees (30 degrees from straight forward). I find it's very smooth.

____________________
Say no to subliminal messages

[masher 1]

I have my left foor on the wheel strut and I kneel on my right leg. Both hands on the door frame, in, out dive.

Hands out stretched, legs back, and then fold your feet back to your butt. Aim straight out, not down, and about halfway between the trailing edge and the empanage.

I say legs back and then feet, because on one of my dives, one of my legs was down, and I went unstable.

--
Arching is overrated - Marlies

[bobsoutar 0]

Arms forward and feet trying to touch your rig just like the others are telling you.

Your exit position sounds fine (it helps if the pilot puts a bit of power on for you when you are out there). There is no need to push off, just tumble forwards into your handstand keeping your hands and shoulders on a level with the horizon behind the plane.

Pick a spot about 45 degrees downwards and try to do a handstand towards it - you will feel that you are going to go right over onto your back but keep looking at the spot, and keep the arch, feet back and arms forward - your body will correct itself in the slipstream after about 2-3 seconds and you will walk back grinning.

[Sonic 0]

As I've said, I find it a LOT easier if you have the right foot on the step next to the body of the plane, and with your left knee still on the floor inside the airplane. then just rotate over your right leg, arms out and legs tucked in.

-----------------------------------
It's like something out of that twilighty show about that zone

[wlie 0]

Pretend that your mooning someone on the ground.

Better yet, pretend that you're shitting on their head.

That's what my jump master told me.------------

Oh! I thought you were asking how to backflip off the step of a 182.

What I do is left foot on step, left hand on strut, right foot on edge of door, right hand on door, smile, yell GERONIMOOOOOOOO while holding an arch.

My other ride is the relative wind.

[nicknitro71 0]

Interesting.

This is my take.

If you dive and face the tail you might want your legs a bit in but not totally against your butt for the first 2-3 sec.

If you face the nose the legs must be extended like you are belly down or you risk to go vertical.

Memento Audere Semper

903

[fred 0]

When I first returned to my 182 dz after doing AFF out of Otters, I asked about diving exits. The first instructor I talked to said, "Usually, I dive straight out of the door, but once, I hit my knee on the step, and ... well... you'd better hope you never do that, because it hurts."

30 jumps since, I've never found the courage to jump straight from the door without putting my left foot out on the step.