Stuck on your Back

[BrianSGermain 1]

Stuck on your Back

A common phase that many new freefliers run into is being stuck on their back, despite their best efforts to get upright. Here are some tips to help you out of the "turtle" or "freak" position, an into an attitude that falls fast enough to fly with other freefliers.

The first thing is, you are probably flying with your shoulders forward, with your elbows neutral. This does not counter-balance your knees, which are out in front of you. You need an equal amount of drag behind you to balance out your knees when in a chair. Push your shoulders and elbows back against the wind.

The second issue is your lower body. If your feet are too far in front of you, the relative wind will be hitting the back of your lower legs, which creates a balance in the "freak" position. This is good for slow falling, but not for the high speed chair. Make sure your calves are parallel to the wind flow.

If you find yourself on your back, don't struggle. Get comfortable with being on your back, it is an important position. Use your lower legs to turn you (tipping to the right turns to the right). Once you are relaxed in the back-flying position, simply pull your heels in toward your butt while pushing your shoulder and elbows behind you. This will increase the dorsal drag, and off-set the center of lift toward the aft of the aircraft. This will alter your pitch to an upright attitude. Once you are upright, just assume a balanced chair, and relax your muscles as much as possible. Push up into a stand-up periodically to verify that you are centered. If it feels physically difficult to go in and out of the chair or remain upright, something about your body position is creating a tendency to put you on your back.

Once you are upright, make sure your body is open. If you are crouched forward, your will have a tendency to backslide and fall fast. Further, a cannon-ball position makes it hard to take docks with your hands. Opening up and pushing your shoulders against the relative wind behind you will allow you to use your hands without compromising your attitude. Also, many people find it easier to fly this position with their knees further apart, say, shoulder width or a bit more.

Once you are feeling good about your chair, and are able to stand at will, it's time to start doing some flips and returning to your feet as the home-base attitude. Front loops and back loops are quite easy. Just add some drag in front of you, and off you go backwards. For cartwheels, just remove drag from one side by bringing one arm in to your side, and that side will sink toward the earth. Keep looking at the horizon as you cartwheel over, and keep your heels in toward your butt. This will keep you on axis, and allow you to flip without loosing sight of your flying partner.

The secret to learning to sit fly, above all else, is to keep doing it. If you get frustrated and stop trying, you will never learn this essential skill. Skydiving is about learning to fly in all attitudes, and upright is the most versatile body position of all. You have a wider speed-range than any other body position, and have better visibility than any of the other options. Each time you lose your feet and flip out, just laugh and shake it off. That will keep you in a positive frame of mind, and allow you to remain loose enough to actually fly. Anger and panic are the opposite of flying. Enjoy the learning process!

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!!

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Instructional Videos:www.AdventureWisdom.com
Keynote Speaking:www.TranscendingFEAR.com
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[sinjin 0]

thanks for the post brian, i am a new freeflyer and i found the post useful.

blues

pablo

dont let life pass you by

[bigdad510 1]

Thanks for the post. I want to learn a sit just so I can fall a little faster when doing some video with big boys.

I have a Q. Can you sit fly in an RW suit with booties? I know that all the sit flyers at my DZ wear freefly pants or a baggie top in the arms to fly. I'm looking to see if I can still wear my rw suit incase I want to dramatically slow down and fly on my belly. Maybe thats the wrong approach.

The one time I did try to sit fly, I was on my back in a spin and couldn't get out, so I went belly to earth.

Thanks! Blue Skies!

Brad

[BrianSGermain 1]

Quote

Thanks for the post. I want to learn a sit just so I can fall a little faster when doing some video with big boys.

I have a Q. Can you sit fly in an RW suit with booties? I know that all the sit flyers at my DZ wear freefly pants or a baggie top in the arms to fly. I'm looking to see if I can still wear my rw suit incase I want to dramatically slow down and fly on my belly. Maybe thats the wrong approach.

The one time I did try to sit fly, I was on my back in a spin and couldn't get out, so I went belly to earth.

Thanks! Blue Skies!

The trouble with RW suits is the booties. That doesn't mean that you can't get upright, but you will have a hard time keeping your feet underneath you. If you are wearing booties, just keep your lower legs flat to the wind-flow, slightly flared out to the sides. This is called "knee flying". It is not as maneuverable as a freefly "chair" position, but it is very stable. You can do flips on all axis and return to the knee-fly position as your home base.

If you are serious about freeflying, you will have to leave your RW suit on the ground. You can use a suit made for freeflying, or go with street clothes. If you choose to go without a suit, be sure to tuck your top into your pants or even your legstraps so it doesn't fly up and cover your handles while you are in an upright attitude.

In the end, it is your body that does the flying, not the suit. Having no drag on your body works fine, although you do sacrifice some maneuverablility. Try shorts (or tight pants) and a sweatshirt, or even a "Sit Suit" to gett started. That places the majority of your drag on your upper body, which makes it easier to remain in an upright attitude. Think of an arrow. The feathers on the tail, and the point is sharp. This is a balanced, stable arrangement, so you aren't forced to work so hard to remain on your feet.

Hope this helps!
I wrote a book on this, as well as a DVD. I think you will enjoy them. The title is "Vertical Journey":
www.BrianGermain.com


Brian Germain
www.BigAir Sportz.com

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

[everymansaved 0]

Thanks Brian, this is all excelent advice. My copies of Parachute and its Pilot and Vertical Journey are on the way, I can't wait!!

God made firefighters so paramedics would have heroes...and someone can put out the trailer fires.

[crazydiver 0]

Quote

I'm looking to see if I can still wear my rw suit incase I want to dramatically slow down and fly on my belly. Maybe thats the wrong approach.

Why couldn't you fly on your belly without an RW suit? Half the people who use RW suits don't even get the full potential out of the booties. FYI...I haven't worn an RW suit nor a suit with booties in over 2000 jumps and often do RW jumps and plenty of video and AFF jumps.

RW suits are definetly useful for competition and hardcore belly flying, but useless for many disciplines. Don't feel forced to be constrained only to that suit. THe range you have in a FF suit is much more as well.

Plus with FF suits, you don't have to wear spandex...

Cheers,
Travis

[SkyChimp 0]

Thanks you very much for that post!!! I printed that for reference as I was having that problem.

Does anyone else find it funny that we made a SPORT out of an EMERGENCY PROCEDURE?!?!

[DoZ3r 0]

Nice post!
Now I'm just waiting for some blue skies over Denmark!, so I can do more attempts on my sit!

Blue Skies - DoZ3r

If everything seems under control.. You're just not going fast enough..!