SamLaming 0 #1 May 31, 2011 Hola all. Had my first ever flat spin yesterday, enduced by someone swinging me upon letting go in a chest strap hanging rodeo. (I think it can be done but preferably with someone lighter than my bro...) Anyway, the reason I'm posting is to share a simple recovery technique - I tried to dive out, didn't feel much change, tried streching my leg wing to no avail, whilst I did not try balling up the approach I used stopped a VERY fast spin in a very short period of time - I've seen some videos of flat spins such as this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L0-y4x2KQM where it looks very 'verticle barrel roll' like - I'm not sure if my approach will work on these but if the spin is truely flat (you are face to earth the whole time) using the FS style 'side slide' technique of digging a knee in with an elbow (And thus cupping air against the direction of the spin using the arm wing, really catching the air with the wing, I'm not sure if the knee was actually doing much as the arm was definitely slowing it down most but it just felt natural) worked very quickly. I'm sorry if that seems like an obvious approach but I've not ever heard or read of anyone saying about this approach (it always seems to be ball up, arch or dive) and it worked better for me than arching/diving attemps (though I can't comment on the balling up though I imagine it'd be very hard to do at such speed of rotation). Safe jumping all! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 73 #2 May 31, 2011 Counter-steering a directional turn (like you did) is just normal steering/control manouvres. You turn left faster than you like, so you steer right to counter/stop it. So in that respect indeed an obvious (but good) approach. Its flying your body. The word flatspin is mostly an big made up horror word for a normal spin/instabilty from which someone doesnt instantly recover. The thing this magic horror word does for some people, is ring mega alarm bells in their head whenever they spin a little. And unlike you thinking clearly, I turn one direction, left counter steer and fix it. Their brain goes into a panic, the body goes into shock and crawl into a fetal position, bowels are emptied, and life flashes by like a 'people are great' youtube collection of stolen videos. I truly believe for many people the word/name flatspin becomes a self-fullfilling proficy they induce when any simple spin triggers that name/response. PANICCCC!Again...any spin is just a spin. It can be an incredible fast and out of control one. But still. Just a spin/turn you could potentialy counter with normal (be it sometimes very dynamic) steering input. Only if it picks up so much momentum/force that you forget your orientation and are unable to fix it, one should start to think about actual emergency procedures. JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SamLaming 0 #3 May 31, 2011 Not sure I'd call it a directional turn, it was more like a 'spin the bottle' style spin. Felt like it was 'on an axis' almost. Just sharing my little experience :) and thanks for the coaching Jarno, had an utterly fantastic time! Hope to see you about again soon. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pendragon 1 #4 May 31, 2011 Just to clear something up: Spin: rotation around an axis that lies "inside" the wing area. Often induced by stalling out the wing during a turn (easiest to do on wingsuits with correspondingly large armwings and smaller leg wings) Spiral: rotation around an axis that lies outside of the wing Wingsuit spins (as you've found out!) can be quite fast. Whilst what you did was great in terms of recovery, we generally teach the "balling up" method as usually spins are induced by pilot error in flight and balling up stops the wingsuit pilot from keeping their "propeller" like position. Many people who try to counteract the spin tend to make it worse. However, you develop your own ways of dealing with these things, and no one way is probably right for everyone, and many wingsuit pilots probably react and correct faster than they really think about it. Ultimately, you've been through it and got out of it - which isn't a bad thing!-- BASE #1182 Muff #3573 PFI #52; UK WSI #13 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SamLaming 0 #5 June 1, 2011 I see, thanks for the info... QuoteUltimately, you've been through it and got out of it - which isn't a bad thing! Like 1st reserve ride ever, I'm glad it's happened for just that reason. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
