hard landing

[nathaniel 0]

Had a great saturday at CSD...making my way through AFF. Instructors say I've been good under canopy since day 1 (several weeks ago). I had some piloting instruction many years ago, and I think it contributes in some way to my ability to land peaceably.

Anyway, second jump of the day, AFF 9 went great...mmm leg turns. I'm nice and tall so I get a good amount of leverage. 6000', do a 180 and track away. Count to 5, stop tracking, altitude 5000', hang out for a while until 4000, wave and pull, nice and smooth opening. Went a little long on the downwind leg, but it's OK with the corn only at about a foot and a half or so out in Hinckley, and winds are light. Turn into the base leg gradually. It seems like momentum is carrying me on a diagonal.

Pilot training kicks in: landing sideways is bad. if you have wheels for legs, maybe. It's just fine for us bipeds, should have thought. But I didnt think that, so against better judgment I nudge myself more diagonal, but facing the direction of travel.

By the time I'm down to 20' or so it's too late and the crosswind has got me going at a good clip...maybe 15 mph or so horizontal. Looks like I can run this one out, until I flare...zooom.

That PLF thingie really works =) Rolled onto my butt and slid it out ass first. real graceful. When the dust settles I can wiggle my toes and fingers, no sprained angles, no bruises even. body made it out A-OK, even if ego didn't.

Looking in front of me I saw a 8-10' swath of recently mowed corn =)

Note to self: Land into the wind! duh

hugs
Nathaniel

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[diverdriver 5]

Nathaniel, umm, don't be so hot to always land directly into the wind. That manuever has gotten many people killed over the years. The main thing you want to remember from pilot training is that you don't want to land while turning. So, under canopy, make sure that when it's flare time that you are still not turning. I've seen people walk away from crosswind and downwind landings. I've also seen people drill themselves into the ground on a Falcon 215 trying to get back into the wind for landing.

Plan ahead. Have a flight plan for your canopy flight. Fly the plan. But if it looks like it isn't working out and you are low and going crosswind you can always do a PLF or slide it in. Dirt washes out better than blood.

Chris

[nathaniel 0]

ya the rub is that I had all day to line up but twisted instincts led me astray...didn't mean to suggest hook turns at 40'

Nathaniel

[billvon 2,427]

>It seems like momentum is carrying me on a diagonal.

?? Your canopy should go where you steer it.

> Looks like I can run this one out, until I flare...zooom.

This is where a flare turn can help you. Once you are off student status and get your first non-student canopy, you can actually turn your canopy back into the wind even after the flare begins. On a student canopy loaded at .8 to 1 it's a little more difficult but still doable.

>That PLF thingie really works =)

Yep, the two times I seriously hurt myself under a parachute was due to trying to stand up a bad landing.

[nathaniel 0]

this one was loaded at 0.65:1

Nathaniel

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[drenaline 0]

Like people say: Fly it all the way down, a flare turn might of help you, also a flat turn a lil bit higher would of work too.

PLF helps alot, never broken a bone thanks to PLF.

wingload of 0.65? just out of curiosity do you get backward movement? I really hated that when I was using student rig.

HISPA 21
www.panamafreefall.com

[pilotdave 0]

Quote

wingload of 0.65? just out of curiosity do you get backward movement? I really hated that when I was using student rig.

Thats about what I loaded the student canopies I used to use. Bought my own and now I'm WAY up at .8 (or maybe .85 if I wear all my weights). I did a couple jumps as a student under a manta loaded at about .45. I am very familiar with backing up under canopy
Dave

[diverdriver 5]

Quote

didn't mean to suggest hook turns at 40'

Oh good. I feel much better. :)

Chris

[caseyusa 0]

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PLF helps alot, never broken a bone thanks to PLF.

On Sunday I learned what not to do when landing, and how important the PLF is... No brakes before that last flare!!

And when the voice in your helmet says FLARE! you'd best listen to Jimmy Cricket and flare with all your might. It is at this point that you want to be quick and strong.

My learning experience, and sucky PLF only cost:
One sprained ankle.

How long does this take to heal again?

---
** Blue Skies, Yellow Mustard. **
It's like a farmer, out-standing in his field.

[Scoby 0]

PLFing probably saved me a sprained ankle or worse when I was having trouble timing my flare and did it about 10 feet too high. One time, I landed downwind when the wind changed direction abruptly. I decided to pull my legs up and slide in on my butt. It looked ungraceful, but another student landing moments later tried to stand his landing and tumbled. He ended up with lots of cuts, scrapes and bruises, while I just had a dust-covered butt.

[nathaniel 0]

backward with respect to ground, yes. one windy day I sat it out till the surface winds died down in the evening and did one last jump...unfortunately the winds at altitude didn't slow down too.

travelled about 1.2 miles backward along route 30 and landed in a field next to a tree farm

My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

[DTOXX 0]

On my first jump (which is half of them at this point) the radio in my helmet died at about 1000 feet. I heard "make some turns" and then "ksjhdfk kshf l;flks hkl", then nothing. I thought, "OK, you can do this, face the wind and glide on in". Well I worked my way downwind, crossed where I thought I should and was headed into the wind like a good boy
I watched as the landing area gently slide underneath me at about 50 feet. I then recalled reading somewhere that you should 1. land in a safe place and 2. land close. I choose number one over number two and kept on flying into the wind. It was shortly after this thought (very shortly) that I realized my landing would occur either on the barbed wire fence that surrounds the airport or on the highway next to it. I made a gentle turn and was forced to make a cross wind landing. This turn just happened to line me up on the old abandoned runway where I landed just about center of the white "X" denoting its non-use. I had never landed a chute so of course I applied the brakes WAY too soon, over corrected and shot forward a bit, reapplied the brakes to attempt a flair and discovered the ground was approaching quite rapidly. I then was thankful for my instructors insistance that I practice the PLF hours earlier. I must say that it could have been a better landing but thanks to a PLF, snagging my left leg in the control lines and a short slide on my bum it was not bad at all. All of this happened on older blacktop runway!