Downplane

[PhreeZone 15]

Whats everyone's favorite method of going to a downplane and holding it? I've heard 2 different methods so far and suspect there are many mroe out there.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

As I stated earlier, the way I have done it for about 15 years is as follows:

Build a two-stack and fly it around for a while. Once you get low enough to make a good showing (the whole point in demos), fly the formation over the top of the landing area or show site. On our demo team, we normally transition at between 2000 and 1500 feet. Once nearly straight overhead, bottom man reaches up and grabs the feet of the top guy as he grabs the lines and unhooks his feet from under your slider or cross-connectors. Top guy lowers himself down by the lines low enough that the bottom guy can grab the backs of the top guy's legstraps. This will put the "top" guy right in front of the "bottom" guy. From there, once the bottom guy has the legstrap grips, the top guy releases the lines and prepares to "catch" the legs of the bottom guy. Bottom guy says "left leg" and kicks his left left leg up between the legs of the "front" guy. "Front" guy leans forward in the harness and grabs that left leg and pulls the person's leg into his chest. Next, the "back" (formerly "bottom") guy says "right leg" and kicks it up and under, crossing the legs at about the calve muscle. Top guy pulls both legs up high and grips very tightly across the the chest. The front guy has not had his toggles in his hands, obviously, since he maneuvered the stack straight overhead. Next, "rear" guy says "taking it down!" and leans back, takes his toggles in his hands, then pulls the right toggle briskly until both mains are directly opposite one another. Once the "grips" (formerly "front") guy feels his partner's legs "untwist", he immediately wraps his legs around the other persons; this helps immensely in being able to keep it together for extended periods. The "rear" guy now turns the downplane so that it is pointed left and right of the show-line or whatever spectators you choose to impress. Having canopies flying "towards and away" from the crowd is not the hot ticket for several reasons: a) when you finally break it off, one person will be aimed straight at people (bad); and b) it looks more spectacular to see two canopies sort of "bomb-burst" left and right after the break. Anway, different dropzones have different rules, but my team's SOP for breakoff is 300 feet AGL. Realize that this is with REAL demo parachutes (StarTrac 1 and 2's). The SOP at most dropzones I have been to is 500 feet minimum and that is plenty low to make people go "ooh, ah". It is imperative that the guy with the grips keep tight hold and wrap his legs around the "pilot" upon rotation. Poor grips and you will not be able to hold the formation for more than a few seconds, even if you are a stud. On "break", the grip man simply releases, then immediately takes control of his toggles. On show site, when we do a downplane, both participants just split the target or land in the general area. Actually, normally, we will roll the target up before the CRW guys land, so the crowd doesn't think they were aiming at the X.

Chuck