Wind Tunnel.

[DrSher 0]

So, I have 3 3/4 hours of free fall time from before (I had LOTS OF high free falls) and had never been in a wind tunnel until March of this year.

I felt very uncomfortable with body position and it did not feel much like the same to me. Speed was also different.

I saw lots of skydivers practicing there, so it must be useful, but still, I felt like a real 1980's whuffo in there. My 5 year old daughter was better than me.

So, did I overthink things or what happened?

(depressing)..

There is still lots of time to learn it..

[NWPoul 1]

DrSher

So, did I overthink things or what happened?

(depressing)..

It's quite common;)
Don't be (depressing) ;)

Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly?

[Pobrause 6]

Please don't get me wrong but I think you expect too much. Your once activ time is long gone, not only has the sport developed a lot but also your body and your abilities have faded. How long since your last jump?


I think you should step back a little and reevaluate.
You probably didn't have a lot of jumps back then and what you knew at one time in your active time is probably obsolete to a certain degree now.
Treat the sport like you were new, which you basically are judging from your other posts on here and bj.com.
There's no value in expecting to hop back in right at the point where you once were. That's impossible and just leads to failure and disappointment

That beeing said even skygods usually have a hard time during their first tunnel session

-------------------------------------------------------

To absent friends

[DrSher 0]

Pobrause

Please don't get me wrong but I think you expect too much. Your once activ time is long gone, not only has the sport developed a lot but also your body and your abilities have faded. How long since your last jump?
**1996


I think you should step back a little and reevaluate.
You probably didn't have a lot of jumps back then and what you knew at one time in your active time is probably obsolete to a certain degree now.
**What is changed? Arching? Circle of awareness? Hotel Otherwise, 150,'ish jumps is not a lot, I agree, but I do think it gives me some experience.
Treat the sport like you were new, which you basically are judging from your other posts on here and bj.com.
**I honestly don't consider myself "new". Not at all current, yes. I will regain my flight skills, as I start jumping. This is not rocket science, or soccer for that sake. Your "judgment" means nothing to me.

There's no value in expecting to hop back in right at the point where you once were. That's impossible and just leads to failure and disappointment
**Let's see. I haven't even started yet, but am having a hard time seeing the immediate challenges here, besides ignoring naysaying..

That beeing said even skygods usually have a hard time during their first tunnel session
***Which was my only question. You don't say?!?! If you want to be overbearing, send me a PM next time. FGS, what's up with all the discouragement? I'm not going on an expedition up Trango wall. I'm just looking to skydive. When did it become impossible to ask questions? I still remember how it was written on the blackboard in AFF class "There is no such thing as a stupid question".

Moral of the story. Speak less on the forum and don't you dare to try thinking you know something. Fits me well. I will be back once I got my wings back. Sorry for asking. I'll figure out the rest OMO.

There is still lots of time to learn it..

[PhreeZone 15]

Quote

*What is changed? Arching? Circle of awareness? Hotel Otherwise, 150,'ish jumps is not a lot, ,.I agree, but I do think it gives me some experience.
Treat the sport like you were new, which you basically are judging from your other posts on here and bj.com.
**I honestly don't consider myself "new". Not at all current, yes. I will regain my flight skills, as I start jumping. This is not rocket science, or soccer for that sake. Your "judgment" means nothing to me.

Body flight has came a long ways from the 90's in terms of how we fly. Mantis was an unheard of body position for belly flying and now every team flies it since its a more efficient body position. We used to teach and were taught to hug a beach ball if we needed to go slower but after thousands of hours in the tunnel its been found that its not the slowest position at all and its easier to plank to go slower. Head down flight was something that was called freakflying and most people were happy if they could just see each other at the same time, now you have some insane moves that are only possible due to just stupid amount of time in the wind tunnel learning how to fly at extremely precise levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUDW3OMTMo8

To give you some perspective - 150 jumps is about maybe 2 and a half hours total freefall time. Most wind tunnel instructors are in the wind stream for that every day when they go to work. You will frequently find tunnel flyers that have 200+ hours in the tunnel or 12000 jumps worth of experience and have only done a few hundred jumps at most.

This really is a case where in your absence the sport has changed by leaps and bounds due to new tools and techniques being introduced. Thats not a bad thing since now you can jump in and forget all the bad things we were taught years ago and start fresh again.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Trafficdiver 8]

I call it the tube of infinite frustration. Keep going. You'll get better.

[FlyLikeARaven 0]

I have about 3 1/2 belly hours in the tunnel, and go to four-way competitions a couple times a month. I'm okay--still a beginner. But when a team of instructors from my DZ, guys who I've flown with for almost a year and absolutely insane on their bellies in the air, got in the tunnel for the first time, it was a comedy show. Wind tunnel and sky are very different animals, although one can definitely help train for the other.

After 15 minutes or so, they were all markedly improved and flying almost as well as they do in the sky. Next time I see them they'll probably be shredding. They just needed to get used to the cleaner tunnel air and other subtle unexpected differences. Practice is all it takes, really.

I'm not a lady, I'm a skydiver.

[danwayland 0]

If it was a slow tunnel with balloon suits like Pigeon Forge or Vegas (or at least how they used to be... I dunno if they upgraded) then you would have a much more freefall like experience in a modern tunnel like an iFly.

If you were in a modern fast tunnel where people can freefly all willy nilly. Then all I can say is that it seems to me that, typically, people find the tunnel to be a humbleness generator. I certainly do.

I feel it's not EXACTLY the same as freefall, but it's pretty darn close especially for belly flying where the rig is completely in the burble.

Skills definitely transfer from tunnel to freefall (my personal experience).

Skills transfer from freefall to tunnel, too. Just a lot less than you and I might wish.

I think it's likely very a simple explanation like "the tunnel is a merciless bitch" than it is about the difference between falling through air vs tunnel air or anything like that.

As far as what happened goes - nobody can say. But I bet if you did ten minutes here, ten minutes there you would be elated at the improvement as it all come back and you'd forget whatever felt different in no time.

Don't be depressed. The people you see flying well in the tunnel? They probably think they should be flying better than they are doing, too. Humility is mandatory. Good luck.

--
Dan Wayland
http://www.danwayland.com

[Joellercoaster 6]

I'm a little too old to be a real tunnel bunny, but my time in the sport coincides roughly with the arrival of "tunnels for all" kind of availability. I had maybe the same number of jumps as you before I really took it up seriously, and... yeah.

danwayland

I think it's likely very a simple explanation like "the tunnel is a merciless bitch" than it is about the difference between falling through air vs tunnel air or anything like that.

^ this is most surely the truth.

The tunnel gives you the opportunity to smash your time in freefall, to experiment, to really work on skills until they're polished. But it also magnifies your mistakes and weaknesses - not because of the air, but simply because you have so many references around you to show you how much you're really moving around! The walls hurt.

Welcome back - flying is not the same as it was, but it's awesome. We (collectively) know so much more about how to do it now - I think you're going to love it.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?