Aborted swoops,

[rhino 0]

I am curious as to how often some of the higher end swoopers actually ABORT swoops?

Here is a breakdown of 5 jumps I made intending to swoop. I aborted 3 of them because things just weren't right.

1- I was setting up over the swoop pond at about 2000 feet. The bomber was sitting relatively on the end of the runway. This is a big plane with 4 big props on it. Although it was 200+ yards away maybe even more I decided to abort and land in the back of the landing area as far from that plane as I could. Seemed like a good idea to abort.

2. I was entering my turn in altitude at about 500 feet getting ready to intiiate my dive. When I hit my brief down wind leg I noticed an abrupt drop in altitude blowing past my turn in altitude. My no go point is about 420 feet. I flat turned and did a slight carve landing away from the pond aborting the swoop again.

3. I aborted because of canopy traffic. Alot of canopies decided to make the end of the runway and the swoop pond their playground. I aborted, again landing away from the pond.

4. Everything went fine. No traffic, no planes and I hit my turn in altitude. Clay watched this one "but didn't get the video" lol

5. Everything went fine again. No red flags went up and I initiated the dive at 500 feet.


So out of 5 intended swoops I only initiated 2. In part because of traffic in the air and in part just plain trying to use a little common sense.

Most of the people I watched HIT the pond displayed the "I HAVE TO SWOOP" actions under canopy? I seem to look for a reason not to swoop. And only if everything is right do I continue.

Does anyone abort swoops this often? I would say that out of roughly 35 intended swoops I actually initiated 27ish into a full blown swoop?

Any input?

Rhino

[deadlydave 0]

Hey good thing my buddy, dont force swoops, its all in the awareness and setup on half brakes all the way down after openeing, once you are flying a circuit on half brakes then go for it, yank the front riser and do a nice full 360 or 720 hook, i fly an extreme so it cooks in these turns, watch as wuffos gasp and babble excitedy as you carank a 200 yard swoop infront of them!

Deadly

[grega 0]

well i did, sort of. "Sort of" is because i'm still learning to swoop with PD 215 at 210Lb exit weight. but i remember of some days that i wasn't able to "swoop" even once. mostly because of traffic.
At our dropzone discipline about landing pattern is very or should i say extremly low! although jump master is always angry about that. Luckily most of the jumpers jumps with big or lightly weighted parachutes. so there are only few hot shots with fast canopies that can get hurt because of traffic. but they are smarter (with more experience) and know how to predict the traffic, i hope we don't even have a pond or anything. in times far far away from now we will have one, but in that time i will be the master of the sky too.

well i got little carried away from the subject, but what i was trying to say is that Yes i'm also aborting "swoops" very often. the solution is i guess to separate those non swoopers landing area from landing area of those who swoop - and have all the same landing pattern (what i'm trying to do at our dropzone). but what do i know, i'm still a newbie at this discipline .

"George just lucky i guess!"

[ChileRelleno 0]

Rhino, you are doing the right thing at the right time which is what will keep you alive and that is what the game is all about! In a area as congested as the WFFC your rate of aborted swoops seems about on par with my own aborted HIPO landings,I don't do ponds because I have a Cypres,but the grass always needs to mowed a little more.I reckon I aborted more than half of my HIPO landings in favor of a more modest landing due to traffic and whatnot. Keep that awareness and you'll never wind up as a incident report. Bye the way nice jumping with you on high altitudeload#1,Sangria and I had fun!
BlueskiesBlackdeath Chile Relleno.

ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414
Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868

[polarbear 1]

I haven't seen any of the big boys fully abort a swoop, but I saw J.C. bail out on his rear risers and use his toggles when he was a little low and in the corner. I also saw a competitor bail out on his front riser turn and swing himself over to heding with a toggle when he was too low.

I find myself aborting every once in a while...maybe one in 15 or 20. I am finding the hardest (but essential) swoop skills to learn are patience and knowing when to say "no".

"Holy s*** that was f***in' cold!"

[rhino 0]

That was a pretty fun jump!!

I went in the pond 2 times. About 3 feet short of the end and my rig STAYED dry, canopy got a little wet once is all. lol I ALMOST made it. Walked it out of the pond basically. Cypress stayed dry.

[SBS 0]

Experience is going to dictate exactly what an "abort" looks like. Most times, an abort by JC will be better than 90% of the swoops you see Joe Jumper making on the weekends. Just like that other guy said, JC and others change it up from time to time when they haven't executed a perfect approach.

It's kind of like a bowler getting a strike, but not being happy with his/her delivery, or a golfer hitting a great shot, but not being happy with the stroke. I bail on my plan from time to time, but it's extremely rare that I won't have any swoop and just come straight in. Long spots and canopy traffic, I think, are the main factors that I can think of right off the top of my head. Like the other guy said...swooping starts from the time you open, getting position, etc.

Good to see you back. Thanks for the PM. Good question. And good on you for not forcing the swoop when things just aren't right.

Steve

_____________
I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

[rhino 0]

I see what you mean.. Aborts are starting to be just "carves and not so aggressive swoops with tons of extra energy"

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Around the dropzone, I keep my head in constant motion looking for other traffic. Generally, we have very little trouble along our swoop corridor. The most problems I get are from morons toggle-whipping Stiletto 120's trying to beat me to the ground under my 75; not cool. For a while, we had problems with dudes going through my airblades and getting in our way. That was fixed by the DZO stating that you were forbidden to go in the blades unless you had over 1000 jumps and my specific permission.

I rarely have to bail completely, but do in fact have to modify my approach on occasion to avoid traffic. Having a swoop corridor with many outs is a plus; setting up high is another smart move.

Chuck