Teaching techniques

[TerminalSteve 0]

It is my opinion that once you have the hang of closing 2nd, you have the basics for CRW. Once you can close 2nd, you should be able to adapt the angles and close 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on. The problem is, I find it quite tricky to teach. Some people get it very quickly, some people seem to take forever. Some people just seem to do completely weird things that even they can't account for afterwards.

Does anyone have any tips, tricks, aides or teaching methods they use and find particularly effective when teaching someone how to dock 2nd.

I basically want to broaden my ideas so I can give people the best and most helpful level of coaching I can.

Cheers in advance!

Steve

[StefB 0]

Same opinion here. We did a CRW beginner camp last month and i was "coach" and videot.

The objective for the first jump was contact to fabric and safe CF . Nothing too fancy. Teacher pins beginner to a stack. Beginner is pilot of the stack. Then plane and stack in exchange. Maybe some runback and sashays practice. This first jump was very important for the good spirit in our camp.

Our briefing for the next jumps was: Beginner is base and teacher pins him for a 2 way stack. Then beginner rotates and tries to pin the teacher (up and sideways, fall behind, slip sideways back, then frontriser to touchdown).

One try, if beginner come out of the move to low or behind no long approach, but the teacher rotates down to stack and the beginner has a new setup.

It helped to start with 4000m (4000m because the DZ offered no lower exit altitudes). But this altitude may exhaust the jumpers more and in our camp 3 jumps a day was almost the physical limit for the puppies.

The participants said it was very helpful to see the wrong/right movements in a teaching video before the jump and afterwards in the debrief videos. I think even the first non-successful attempts are a good learning tool for the next group.

Stefan

Photos from 3rd-5th jumps are on http://www.stefb.de/fsvsaar/2010crw/index.htm

[chuckbrown 0]

Personally, I never, ever, let a first time CRWbie pilot anything. They are always docking on the instructor. If the instructor isn't good enough to topdock, they shouldn't be instructing.

I'll dock on a CRWbie on the second jump, but never the first. I'm not putting my canopy under the control of anybody, until I know that they understand the basics of piloting by having watched the instructor first.

[skypuppy 1]

Quote

Personally, I never, ever, let a first time CRWbie pilot anything. They are always docking on the instructor. If the instructor isn't good enough to topdock, they shouldn't be instructing.

I'll dock on a CRWbie on the second jump, but never the first. I'm not putting my canopy under the control of anybody, until I know that they understand the basics of piloting by having watched the instructor first.

________________________________________________

I find that statement a bit strong. I will usually do only one or two 2-way jumps with someone new to give them the experience of flying close and grabbing nylon or having their canopy grabbed -- and I will either top-dock or dock on them from below, depending on how things work out.

After one or two jumps, I find it easier to use a 3-way or even 4-way jump to really give them a chance to learn docking. We usually have people who like to do 4-stacks for fun, and the formation slows down enuf that it is pretty easy for the neophyte to catch it and dock. Also, you pretty much know that it was the neophyte doing most of the work, as it is harder for the 3-stack to fly over and pin him, where on a 2-way jump the instructor might end up doing all the work and the student not get as much out of it.

After a few jumps where the student has successfully rotated, they are in a better position to figure out how to position themselves on an initial build out of the plane....

This is just what I do, YMMV. I tend to think 2-way can be way harder for less experienced people to do until they are semi-well-versed in crw with larger formations.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[chuckbrown 0]

It's real easy to have a student dock on the instructor for their first jump:

1. Student out first setting a heading.
2. Instructor flies back and sets up next to student. I find slightly high and forward of the student works best.
3. On command student turns canopy towards instructor.
4. Instructor gives input as necessary to help student dock.
5. After dock, instructor puts formation on heading.
6. Repeat.

This gives a student a practical demonstration of piloting skills before they start piloting, and after a few revolutions they start to feel comfortable docking their canopy and the instructor doesn't need to give as much input.

Sorry if my statement was a bit strong. I've had plenty of experience having CRWbies fly me to where I don't want to be (and not respond to instructions), so it's just my personal preference not to put my canopy in their hands until they're a little more aware of what's going on.

Another good first jump is to have the same as above, but also have another instructor dock on the 2 stack. Then, break it down and rebuild.