Ground launching canopy

[Basejumperjeff 0]

I'm too lazy to search the archives, so I will post this question.
What is the best way to ground launch a canopy?
What would be the best slope angle? I am wing loading a stiletto a 1.3.
Is that a good wing loading and canopy?
Now that the snow is on it way I wanted to play around with that this winter.
Any info would be greatly appreciated, or links to old post or websites with info will work for me as well.
Thanks
Jeff

[hookitt 0]

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I'm too lazy to search the archives,

Yeah ... I can see your point
Yep, it sure is tough to find anything on this subject

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Basejumperjeff 0]

Thank-you!

[CanopyPiloting 0]

If you want to learn more about ground launching online you should probably check out the "Ground Launching" forum at www.canopypiloting.com

[BrianSGermain 1]

Ground Launching


You can ground launch any skydiving canopy if you have enough slope and enough up-slope wind. The heavier the wing-loading, the steeper the slope has to be. I don't recommend trying anything higher than 1.3 or so until you get more experience.
As for the technique, it's fairly straight-forward.
First, choose a location that is smooth, steep and without obstacles. The wind MUST be flowing directly upslope, and must be less than 10mph. If you fly in high winds or turbulence you will probably die a horrible death. Make sure the owner of the land gives your permission, or cannot see you fly. ;)

1) Remove the pilot-chute and stow the slider all the way down.
2) Unstow the brakes
3) Lay the canopy out upslope from your container, in a horse-shoe shape with the end-cells closer to the rig than the center cell. The nose must face up, but the canopy should be on its back. Check all the lines for sticks and for continuity.
4) Put the rig on, while facing downhill.
5) Drape your risers over your arms, and grab the toggles, paying careful attention to the continuity.
6) Reaching under the risers, grab the front risers at the connector link.
7) If there is very little wind, you will need to get a bit of running speed before you hit the end of the lines and bring the canopy up, so start by backing up toward the canopy.
8) When you are ready to fly, run AGGRESSIVELY downhill with your hands up in front of you, with no slack in the front risers.
9) When you hit the end of the lines, the canopy will go "WHOMP!" and will pull your shoulders back a bit. Keep running!
10) When the parachute is fully over your head, release your grip on the front risers.
11) Do not apply your brakes until you have lots of speed, otherwise the parachute will retreat behind you like airbrakes.
12) If the canopy drifts to one side, do not try to steer it back over your head. Run slightly toward the side that the parachute has drifted toward so that you end up back under the canopy.
13) Look up at the canopy as you run straight downhill to check for proper inflation and line continuity. If something looks wrong, stop running and pull your toggles all the way down.
14) When you have adequate running speed apply the brakes to 1/4 or so.
15) Look straight downhill as you run to assure a straight take-off run, and to avoid rocks and other obstacles.
16) Keep running as fast as you can until you find yourself running in the air.
17) Never do a 180 back at the hill, always land across the slope or downhill (if the slope flattens out)
18) Do not fly into a tree, ski lift or other object.
19) You may still die.

Instructional Videos:www.AdventureWisdom.com
Keynote Speaking:www.TranscendingFEAR.com
Canopies and Courses:www.BIGAIRSPORTZ.com

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Or better yet, how about advising people to attend Jim Slaton's Ground Launching camp (like myself and others recently have done). This way people can obtain first hand instruction and guidance on the ever so fun yet dangerous sport of Ground Launching from someone who is knowledgeable and passionate about the sport. This way people will be taught how to walk in the Ground Launching world before they run and they won't need to worry about misunderstanding something which is written on the internet.

Ground Launching Rocks!!!

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Jumpmunki 0]

problem is canuk i hear where your coming from,

but some people can't just up sticks and come to the GLC to chill out for a fortnight whenever, and it's very hard to get someone to explain the basics of kiting and launching without getting a lecture.

the paragliding people i've spoken too think it's a stupid idea to use a skydiving canopy because you can't "go back up" when you explain the idea is to traverse the hill they think your nuts and tell you to fuck off ....

cheers brian, cutting edge as per usual ..

[Basejumperjeff 0]

Thanks Brian,
thats what I was looking for.
Jeff

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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cheers brian, cutting edge as per usual ..

I'm sorry, I do not wish to slam Brian as I know he is knowledgeable. But what he has written above is far from cutting edge. Much of what he wrote was correct when compared to what Jim taught us in his Ground Launching camp. But Brian neglected to talk about how one actually gets the canopy in the air using the different launching techniques and he neglected to mention when to use one technique over the other (to name just a few). Maybe this information was left out to avoid confusion by those reading it here on the internet or maybe it was left out for another reason. But if you think that all that there is to Ground Launching is the cutting edge steps that Brian spoke of from above, then you (and maybe even Brian) should speak more to people like Jim Slaton and better yet attend his Ground Launching camp. Because I can tell you that the information I was taught was far more extensive than the information which was provided above and we were also given the opportunity to practice these skills on different types of slopes so that we knew what would be a good slope and a not so good a slope to launch off of once we got back to our respective homes.

Once again, all I am saying is that the internet is not the best place to be teaching this type of topic. Someone could easily misunderstand what is being said and really mess themselves up. Ground Launching is some serious fun, but it can also seriously fuck you up if you find yourself behind the curve (made worse if you are trying to teach yourself Ground Launching from words written by others on the internet).

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[fundgh 0]

Are there other techniques that you would advise so as to avoid people getting hurt trying the above tchniques? People will try stuff wether they are warned about getting hurt or not. Maybe adding information, rather than lecturing might have more possitive results. I difinitely agree with what you are saying about getting more information first hand, rather than trying internet based instruction, but posting educational info might help more. Please enlighten us with some of your acquired knowledge!

...FUN FOR ALL!

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Please enlighten us with some of your acquired knowledge!

I won't go into the nitty gritty of how to reverse or forward launch as I fear that either I will say something which is interpreted wrong. But outside of learning how to kite your canopy, learning how to reverse and forward launch is the first skill needed in Ground Launching. But I would like to expand upon a couple of things which Brian said. He wasn't wrong with most of what he said, but I feel he didn't tell the whole story.

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Brian wrote:
You can ground launch any skydiving canopy if you have enough slope and enough up-slope wind. The heavier the wing-loading, the steeper the slope has to be. I don't recommend trying anything higher than 1.3 or so until you get more experience.

Yes you can use most skydiving canopies while Ground Launching but some work better than others and this is dependent on weather conditions as well as experience of the launcher. An open nosed canopy will work better in low to no winds while a closed nose canopy will work better in high winds. But yes he is absolutely correct in that people learning Ground Launching shouldn't be using canopies loaded higher than 1.3:1. This is not the dropzone in which you are jumping at and in most cases you are dealing with a back-country environment. And with that, people wanting to get into Ground Launching really need to be honest with themselves as to whether or not they do possess the appropriate canopy control skills. Being able to launch off of something is very much dependent on the slope angle, the up slope winds (you can launch in no winds, just be prepared to run further) and your wing loading (the higher the wing loading, the steeper slope you'll want or higher winds).

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Brian wrote:
First, choose a location that is smooth, steep and without obstacles.

Yes finding a smooth steep slope without obstacles is the goal. But the perfect slope free of any obstacles is few and far between. In many cases, you just want to find a slope void of most trees and most large bolders. But we're not always that lucky and it's the risks we choose to take which determine which slopes we will launch down.

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Brian wrote:
The wind MUST be flowing directly upslope, and must be less than 10mph. If you fly in high winds or turbulence you will probably die a horrible death.

You don't need wind to launch, but you are asking for trouble if you do indeed launch with downslope winds. Not only are you setting yourself up for a downwind landing, but you're also going to be flying in turbulant air. But we weren't taught NOT to launch in winds greater than 10 mph. I mean how many people can accurately read the winds and say the winds speed is this or that. We were taught that before we launch ourselves in high winds that we needed to kite our canopies outside of the harness (not wearing the harness). If we were unable to kite outside of the harness, then the conditions were too windy for the canopies we were flying. Jim also spoke of reading the winds above the hills we were launching from and to avoid launching ourselves to high up the mountain when dealing with ridges and bowls which could compound the turbulence.

There are a few other things that Brian said which didn't mesh with what Jim taught us (such as stow the slider all the way down where as we were told to take our sliders off the risers), but they aren't big things to worry about. Most of what he said was correct.

Now, I did mention earlier in this post about reverse launches and forward launches. But I mentioned that I didn't want to explain them in detail as I could covey the wrong message and more importantly, one of your guys could interpret what I say in an incorrect manner. But lets just say that forward launches (where you face forward with your canopy lying behind you nose exposed up and then you start running) are use in low to no wind situations (a good Ground Launcher can do a reverse launch in low to no winds) and the big negative aspect to forward launches is that you can not see your canopy during the inflation stages. And the reverse launch technique is used whenever you have wind (or if you're good enough to do it all the time) and basically you've laid out your canopy with the nose exposed and you're facing the canopy looking up hill, your risers are crossed with toggles in hand. You then initially pull up a little on the front risers (how much you pull will depend on the winds and the canopy you are using) exposing the nose and transition to rears, possibly kite the canopy for however long you want to, turn around and run down the hill. But one of the negative aspects of reverse launches (not counting that it not an easy skill to do in low winds) is that you may need to run a little backwards down the slope in low winds before you can turn around. So you'll need to ensure that you don't trip over something.

Finally, this is not a safe sport. Wear whatever protective gear you think you'll need without constricting your body movements. Watch the weather and be careful choosing the slopes you launch off of and know your limits. When you're first getting into this sport or are on a new hill, before you hike to the top of the hill and start launching, climb only part way up (or better yet find a good training hill) and practice getting your canopy above your head using forward and reverse launch techniques (but don't launch off of the ground yet). Do this a number of times until you get the hang of it. Then when you are ready, climb up your hill of choice, launch and if possible get on your rear risers ASAP (I personally found I did much better flying my rears than my toggles as flying in brakes you are flying slow, flying close to the stall point and may not be able to make it down all slopes). But be warned that you will lose a few feet of altitude when you do do this toggles to rears transition. So chose your moments carefully.

Ground Launching rocks!!!

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Jumpmunki 0]

cheers again canuk

what i ment by "cutting edge" was cheers, your great... it's one of the things i say... sorry for the confusion..

but brian is the first one that has actually given me a slightly more in depth list of things i should be doing than.. watch where the wind is coming from ... kite out the harness first... have fun

thats all i got last time i asked ofr in depth ground launching advice..

canuck .. it's pysically and financially impossible for me to get to the GLC, as i said i feel that once my launching skills are upto speed, the canopy control will be nothing out of my bandwidth.

[fundgh 0]

Great Post!
Would dunes, be an ideal site for learning ground launching? I am not ready for it, but I think when I am ready to give it a shot, this would be perfect. There are unlimited sites with all varieties of slope, height, and best of all, obstacle free soft sand to run and tumble on. I am guessing the length of flite would be limited because they aren't very high, but it does seem like a great place to learn.

...FUN FOR ALL!

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Would dunes, be an ideal site for learning ground launching? I am guessing the length of flite would be limited because they aren't very high, but it does seem like a great place to learn.

Probably. How high are they? At the GLC, the training hill is 300 feet and we were only getting 10-15 second flights. But it was still a great hill to practice repetitions on until we were ready to move on to the bigger stuff.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[flyana3 0]

Hi CanuckInUSA,

I'm just curious...do you think you will persue ground launching on your own and go out and find some hills in your hometown to launch. Or was it a one time excursion?

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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I'm just curious...do you think you will persue ground launching on your own and go out and find some hills in your hometown to launch. Or was it a one time excursion?

I am absolutely planning on making Ground Launching a regular activity along with my pursuits in BASE jumping and skydiving. There is a decent (but far from perfect) hill almost in my back yard which I've already scouted out and I plan on buying a specialized Ground Launching canopy once they become available to us Joe-Shmoes in the new year. I am in the process of healing from a pulled hamstring muscle (which was reinjured last week because I rushed back) and this is preventing me from being out there right now. But rest assured I will be out Ground Launching on this local hill very very soon.

I should also note that I've been using my BASE jumping container as my Ground Launching container and using one of my skydiving canopies as my Ground Launching canopy. So there is a certain conflict of interest when I want to go Ground Launching but have a perfectly good BASE pack job. Things will be easier in the February/March time frame when I can have a dedicated Ground Launching harness and canopy and won't need to do all this re-rigging and unpacking perfectly good BASE pack jobs just to go Ground Launching.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[flyana3 0]

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I should also note that I've been using my BASE jumping container as my Ground Launching container

Holy crap! Are you serious? Your BASE rig? Your BASE rig should be in perfect condition, as this is the only way to survive each jump. You only get 1 chance with BASE jumping. A ground launch rig/harness is always on the ground, rubbing in dirt, getting UV damage. I don't understand why you would be treating your BASE rig like this?

Would you take the reserve out of your sport rig and kite it around for a day, letting it hit the ground over and over, and then pack it into your skydiving rig as your last chance of survival? I wouldn't.

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[CanuckInUSA 0]

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A ground launch rig/harness is always on the ground, rubbing in dirt, getting UV damage.

Unless I crash, my container is on my back (or in it's stuff sack) not being dragged around in the dirt. Plus what kind of BASE jumper (or any kind of jumper) would I be if I didn't periodically inspect and maintain my gear.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Jumpmunki 0]

before this ends up into a cat fight like alot of threads do on dz.com
lets get back to the subject..

groundlaunching gear isn't available specifically next,

i use a training harness that has been tested for strength by a rigger, it's really good for comfort and lightness as well .........

i use my sabre150 to launch with and also for skydiving i need to inspect the canopy each time i come home from a launch it's would be great if i could keep one canopy for one with and another canopy for another

ground launching isn't a massive thing int he uk at the moment but me and a pal have been out and "done" a few hills over here, there is again just no way of me popping over the america to do a course in ground launching, i'll learn as i go .. it's the only way i can......

[Spizzzarko 0]

check it.

[andyflylife 0]

ground launching isn't a massive thing int he uk at the moment but me and a pal have been out and "done" a few hills over here, there is again just no way of me popping over the america to do a course in ground launching, i'll learn as i go .. it's the only way i can......

[Jumpmunki 0]

kinky.. go for it mate, but i wouldn't try and launch the falcon, i'd be more tempted to use a zp canopy ....

spiz .. the image doens't work ...

[andyflylife 0]

yeah i know the canopy isn't great but i dont want to split my Sabre skydiving canopy from my rig just yet. The Falcon should be fairly docile though (loaded at 0.9) and hopefully shouldnt be to mad for a newbie. Ive got a PD 170 9 cell to try after that then i'll go ZP if that goes ok.
Must be worth a try seen as i own them both and there just gathering dust!!

I'll let you know.

"swooper 24/7, 365!"
ME on Myspace
My Project playlist

[frenchyflyer 0]

Just my 2 cents after looking at your picture: Make sure you have a direct line free of obstacles from the point you'll start running until the planned landing area.

Chances are that you will only be running all the way down on your first attempt so you don't want to end up going full speed into the trees (or even if you take off, say, 5 feet of the ground, that will not be enough to clear the tree line).

Be safe, enjoy!

[andyflylife 0]

Cool, thanks for the advice. The picture doesnt really show it very well though. The flat clear piece of landing area at the bottom of the slope is about 100' long then theres a small fence, then a track then some trees and then a steep enbankment down to a river, all of which run at right angles to the slope! Believe it or not all those are between the landing area and the cars that you can see in the picture!
Its not quite as scary as it sounds, but i'm definately taking it into consideration before launching. ive thought of starting half way up first to try and access the glide angle etc.. Do you think that would be a good idea??

The attached picture shows the hill from above, the red line shows the bottom of the slope/start of 100-120' landing area. The blue line is the river!

"swooper 24/7, 365!"
ME on Myspace
My Project playlist