backflying through deployment?

[kaustik 3]

I met a wingsuiter the other night who told me that you can pitch while flying on your back, lean/arch back hard and you'll do a split s of sorts and end up flying your canopy the opposite direction you were flying your wingsuit. Has anyone done this? Is there any video?

The future belongs to those of us still willing to get our hands dirty.

[The111 0]

There are lots of things that can be done; there are even more that shouldn't. This sounds incredibly stupid, and any experienced skydiver (wingsuit flyer or not) should immediately recognize it as such.

Not to mention it doesn't really make sense.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[kallend 1,623]

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There are lots of things that can be done; there are even more that shouldn't. This sounds incredibly stupid, and any experienced skydiver (wingsuit flyer or not) should immediately recognize it as such.

Not to mention it doesn't really make sense.

Indeed. It sounds like a really good way to get entangled in your lines.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[bodypilot1 0]

this one time at bandcamp!......

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[LouDiamond 1]

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I met a wingsuiter the other night who told me that you can pitch while flying on your back, lean/arch back hard and you'll do a split s of sorts and end up flying your canopy the opposite direction you were flying your wingsuit. Has anyone done this? Is there any video?

There are probably 2 or 3 people who are still around this forum that remember several years back when an individual on the west coast once claimed to a few non wingsuit flying skydivers that they could fly their wingsuit sideways, as in 90 degrees relative to the earth sustained( like a fighter jet). That person and the person you spoke to are full of shit. Yes, you can/could deploy your main while back flying but ask yourself, how smart is it to deploy your main while on your back on a regular skydive? Unless its a life or death situation, its fucking stupid to do, period. But I wouldn't be surprised in the least if there was an ass clown out there that has done it. I'll even bet they claim to be the first or that its a record of some sort Stupidity knows no limits.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
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[Sangi 0]

I had a backflying deployment during my AFF

"Dream as you'll live forever, live as you'll die today." James Dean

[Ronaldo 0]

The main bag will possibly hit your feet causing it to spin, probably giving you really nice line twists.
You body will rotate a higher angle than in a conventional ws deployment which can increase the forces applied to your body.

Engineering Law #5: The most vital dimension on any plan drawing stands the most chance of being omitted

[mccordia 73]

Backflying at your best, you'll still be making more than a 180 degree flip, and your lines could possibly tear through your legwing on a forcefull/quick opening...sounds like a great plan...

Do get video when you try!

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[The111 0]

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The main bag will possibly hit your feet

I doubt it. As soon as you throw the PC it is going to go straight up, it doesn't care that you are on your back. The force of the PC alone might be enough to start rolling you over, if it's not it will be pulling the bag around the side of your body most likely and you'd get rolled over either there or slightly afterwards as the canopy gets pulled out. The whole "180" idea seems to assume that because you are upside down your canopy will deploy upside down and then you'll do flip to right yourself. It doesn't work that way. You'd probably just do half a barrel roll and get lots of linetwists from the uneven harness weight.

Still stupid.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[scytale 2]

Please, if anyone tries this, get it on video. I'm sure it would be entertaining to watch

[stoney3434 0]

While not totally related to this thread ( yes--deploying intentionally on your back is totally stupid!) this thread has made me think of something that could burn one of us someday,... so I thought I would mention it here.

Based on my experiencing "my own stupidity" ( again) recently at Sebastian,.. I now "believe" and "suggest" that no wing-suiter should remain flying on their back below 4500 feet ( 5 to 10 seconds after a 5000 to 5500ft break-off from a flock)----or even on a solo flight, "UNLESS" they "ABSOLUTELY KNOW" there is NO CHANCE of another wingsuiter from their flight (or another earlier jumper) being already open ahead and below them.

You just CAN'T see what you CAN'T see in front of you and possibly coming at you when you are flying on your back.

That's ok at higher altitudes ( unless maybe there's a big bird, ( hawks and vultures at Sebsatian),..a glider or aircraft below you and ahead of you that you can't see coming,....and that's a very low risk thing.

But as you get lower and nearer to potential deployment altitudes,... I believe back flying risks can get a bit higher.

Here's how "I screwed up" and how in doing so, I got this idea about the potential safelty of low altitude backflying:

I forgot to reset my deployment alert altitudes on both my helmet ditters after the last jump one day at Sebastian( I was stinging a mid-size flock on that jump and I wanted to open higher on that jump to have some extra altitude to work with in getting back to the DZ. ,..so I set my ditters 1000 ft higher)

Anyway,...I completely forgot to reset the altitudes at the end of the day. On my first jump the next day, I flew near the front of the flock and at break-off at 5500ft I maxed myself out slightly off staright forward away from the flock leader.

When my deployment alerts sounded,...( at 4000 ft again) I kicked my legs and I deployed ( so I was opening at about 3900 and open by 3400 ior 3500 ft. instead of at my usual 2400 to 2500 ft .

I then saw two wingsuit flyers pass me about 50 yards or so off on both sides of me WHILE THEY WERE STILL ON THEIR BACKS ! They saw me then also as they flew by.

While our horizontal seperation was safe enough (in this case),..when they asked me on the ground why I opened high and I then figured out why I had,...I also started to think about how safe it was to be back flying after breakoff and approaching the usual deployment altitudes.

I just thought I would mention this and now let those of you who back fly down lower give it some thought...

On my belly I can see forward and see any tandem chutes,.. ( stupid-stoney).. or student chutes open down and now out in front of me,..and that allows me to avoid them and pick my opening line......

On your back as you get lower,....doing that seems a bit riskier....

Stoney

Life is what happens while we are making other plans.

[The111 0]

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when they asked me on the ground why I opened high

Obviously it depends on the jump and the requirements, but in general there is nothing wrong with opening at 4000ft on a wingsuit jump... that's what I do when I am wearing my cameras.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[normiss 622]

Suddenly, somehow, everything makes sense.

[Butters 0]

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when they asked me on the ground why I opened high

Obviously it depends on the jump and the requirements, but in general there is nothing wrong with opening at 4000ft on a wingsuit jump...

Or 5000ft ... In a fantasy world, you would know when everyone was deploying and everyone would deploy when (and where) they were suppose to. In the real world, everything you knew in the past can change in the present and everything that was suppose to happen probably won't happen. I thought it would be common sense that backflying would be dangerous after breakoff when flocking (and potentially solos) ...

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[mccordia 73]

Hi Stoney,

Yea..seeing a duo scarry roll at 4500 ft, and then pass you quite close backflying was a scary thing.

I think everyone does something like this at some point. Be it filming someone else breakoff on thier backs as a cameraflyer, or just having fun at breakoff.

Backflying at the end of a jump is cool, but keeping an eye on airspace and having 4500 or so as a basement altitude for stuff where your eye isnt 100% on whats happening in front/bellow you is a good one..
As 4500 is usually the altitude at which you start meeting canopies on (intentional) high pulls such as AFF, Tandem etc.

As you mentioned, always checking below for clear airspace and no low flyers (who also should get away from bellow/in front of formations when low) is a definate lesson we can take away from that one.


On thing Ive also seen cause several scary situations over the last few years, is someone (inluding me) flying 2 different speeds at breakoff.
Doing the first 5000ft to 4000ft backflying (fast) shooting someones high opening or playing around with rolls or whatever, and then transitioning to belly and putting a last 1000ft full flight in. At that point, everyone is up and ahead of you, and people deploying at 3500ft or so will be snivveling into the altitude you are max cruising through (again, behind everyone...instead of being ahead and flying into clear airspace).

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[Butters 0]

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While our horizontal seperation was safe enough (in this case),..when they asked me on the ground why I opened high and I then figured out why I had,...I also started to think about how safe it was to be back flying after breakoff and approaching the usual deployment altitudes.

I just thought I would mention this and now let those of you who back fly down lower give it some thought...

On my belly I can see forward and see any tandem chutes,.. ( stupid-stoney).. or student chutes open down and now out in front of me,..and that allows me to avoid them and pick my opening line......

On your back as you get lower,....doing that seems a bit riskier....

It's nice to see some safety issues being addressed. Hopefully people learn some of these lessons the easy way because eventually luck will run out ... then it's the hard way.

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On thing Ive also seen cause several scary situations over the last few years, is someone (inluding me) flying 2 different speeds at breakoff.
Doing the first 5000ft to 4000ft backflying (fast) shooting someones high opening or playing around with rolls or whatever, and then transitioning to belly and putting a last 1000ft full flight in. At that point, everyone is up and ahead of you, and people deploying at 3500ft or so will be snivveling into the altitude you are max cruising through (again, behind everyone...instead of being ahead and flying into clear airspace).

Good point. A lesson I learned the lucky way ... you need to be looking for people slightly above and in front of you, below you, and slightly below and behind you during breakoff. In the first and second case, someone might kill you. In the third case, you might kill someone (and yourself).

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch