Landing help

[Islandcool 0]

OK I have 28 jumps as of today but I'm still having difficulty landing. I read a doc that was being passed around that talked about some survival canopy skills. That was great. I used what I learned and feel pretty confident I can land on the DZ within a safe and reasonable distance of my target area. The problem is still landing on my feet. It's pretty much hit and miss. Sometimes the flare is a little early and sometimes a little late. If it's windy of course that comes into play too. It's never really that terrible but I would really like to feel more confident with my flaring. I can feel myself anticipating the landing and getting tense and this is probably not helping. Does anyone have any advice on being more consistent? If it matters I have a triathlon 190 loaded at 1:1

Blue skies and thanks

Ed

[Hooknswoop 19]

Relax. Spend some time on the ground prior to tthe jump planning and visualizing your landing approach and the actual landing. Consider possible traffic conflicts, turbulence, landing surface, etc when planning the approach. See yourself performing a smooth, well time flare and transitioning, smoothly, from being under canopy to being on the ground. On short final, take a deep breathe, relax, and execute what you have already visualized. Sound like the same thing you do for free-fall? It should be
Spend at least as much effort planning the canopy flight as you do the free-fall portion of the jump and you have better success. Generally once someone has a good landing, that gives them confidence and helps them relax and have even better landings.

I have noticed that a first jump student's first landing stes the tone for future landings. If their first landing is nice, they relax and do very well. If their first landing is poor, they tend to tense and it is a real struggle for them to learn to land a canopy.

Lastly, get video of your landing. People either don't know what they did wrong, or think it wasn't their fault that the landing was not smooth.

Hook

[listo 0]

I would suggest practicing up high too. Something that I do on every jump is practice landings. Keep in mind that I fly a small highly loaded wing but the technique is the same.

Your overall goal at flare time is to convert as much forward speed into lift as possible. A perfect flare is one that has transfered as much forward speed to lift as the canopy is capable of doing at about 1 second before your feet touch the ground. A good way to practice this is by doing it up high. I see a lot of students and low time jumpers come in and "stab" the breaks for the flare. This can cause you to flare too early or too late, either of which can lead to a less than desirable landing.

I would say to practice this scenario up high a few times while still above 2,000 AGL. Your timing should be dictated like this.......

Add input to the point that you feel the canopy start to feel like it is lifting. When it feels like it isn't lifting anymore at that setting, then add more input and so on until you are at a complete flare. Once you have either reached a full flare or if the canopy comes to a stop, slowly let up on the toggles to regain full flight. The main focus is to do this in one movement instead of a "staged" one. However, there will be times on landing where you may need to "stage" you inputs based on the lift you are getting from the flare. Winds and thermals can sometimes add unexpected lift.

Just remember that letting up on the toggles at the real flare time is a bad thing to do. It can cause you to dive into the ground. Hold what you have for the real flare.

Practice: If the canopy comes to a complete stop and you continue to hold the flare, it is going to stall out. If it stalls and begins to "drop" you, slowly return the toggles to full flight. Returning them abruptly might cause a bad dive or serious line twists.

This process should take about 3 seconds if done smooth and slow. Keep in mind that you may need to flare faster for landing if you are decending below head height faster than you can land.

Practice these "flares" up high repeatedly and keep an eye on your altimeter before and immediately after each practice flare.

The overall reason for these practice flares is to give you a "feel" for how your canopy is going to fly at landing time and help you with your muscle memory for your flare. Before you know it, you will be landing smoothly and touching down on your tippie toes.

Like I said earlier, I do this on every jump and the reason why is because I like to know how "dense" the air is plus it helps to always practice a full range of flight on a canopy at altitude.

If there is anything in the world wrong with your canopy, you will definately find out when you fly it through the full range of its capabilities.

Example: if you have a tear somewhere on the top of the canopy that is going to cause the canopy to fail at flare time, it is a good idea to find out at an altitude safe for cutting away rather than 10 feet off of the ground and cause you to go "what the...............?"......ouch!

Always keep an eye out for other traffic while you are doing this.

Remember to keep your eyes on the horizon while you are practicing and executing the real flare as well. Looking directly where you are going to land will throw off your depth perception.

As a low time jumper there are going to be times when your landings are less than what you desire. Don't get down on yourself. Any landing you can walk away from with out pain is a good one. Some are just better than others.

As Derek just stated, being relaxed will do as much for a good landing as a good flare will. That doesn't mean to just relax yourself into the ground, but I think that you get my drift.


Listo

Live today as tomorrow may not come

[Islandcool 0]

Thanks for the advice guys. I made a couple of jumps today and applied the techniques offered. Much better! I relaxed and didn't fixate on the ground. I though I wasn't before but after today I can definitely tell I was. I work on it more tomorrow. Thanks

Ed