Canopy Control during AFF/A License

[ArizonaStone 0]

Hello everybody! I recently got my A license and since have been going through ideas concerning my advancement as a skydiver. I have done much reading here and in the SIM and have compared it against my student training. I have come to many conclusions; but the one that bothers me the most, due to recent accidents, is the thoroughness of my canopy training.

I can barely land standing up and my patterns are iffy at best. Although most of my landings have been standups and I have only 2 or 3 close calls while in the air, I cannot shake my lack of confidence while under canopy. I feel my instructors grossly neglected the most dangerous part of a skydive.

To a large degree, I know I can land with minimal pain to myself. However, I feel that there was a lot that was not covered in my AFF/A training that could be an issue if the right situation presented itself. If it was covered, then it was in such a dismissive fashion as to come across as unimportant.

Does anyone else feel that they were thrown to the wolves as far as canopy control is concerned?

P.S. I am signing myself up for a canopy control course my next trip to the DZ.

"Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see."

-Benjamin Franklin

[sundevil777 102]

Quote

I can barely land standing up

Quote

Although most of my landings have been standups

Please explain the apparent contradiction.

Quote

I cannot shake my lack of confidence while under canopy

I would think a lot of people are uneasy under canopy when they're new. Hard for anyone to know if it is unusual in your case.

Did you try getting more information from your instructors, given that you felt they were "dismissive" about the importance when first presented to you? You don't have to wait for a canopy control course, tap into the knowledge of those that were there to train you. Get with them, other instructors, or others that you have reason to respect when they have some down time. Back when I learned, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, a lot of knowledge and experience was passed on that way - outside of formal training.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[JerseyShawn 0]

There is a lack of canopy training. Its up to you to take classes and seek out instruction it seems. Practice.

Im working on my A currently. The last few solo fun jumps I did I opened at 9000 (last out) to have time to play with my canopy without distractions of other around (still looking around for aircraft and such). I practiced a half braked pattern and landings. I wouldn't of tried it if I was in normal traffic, not yet at least because I wasn't sure where half brakes would land me. Did a rear riser pattern and landing too. Messed around trying one
and two stage flares to see my stall points.

Get some coaches and on a radio, open high and see what your canopy will let you do. Maybe some footage of your landings to be critiqued.

Oh, 2 or 3 close calls, I would of got advice after the first one. Be safe!

Edit: I was also doing 360s and 180s up high, checking my altimeter before and after I completed my turns to see how much altitude I lost with different turns. I can't remember the numbers, but Ill keep practicing to know my limitations. Keep practicing.

[wildWilly 0]

Welcome to the sky. We have all been where you are.
Signing up for a canopy course is a great idea.
I would strongly recommend getting hold of a copy of "The Parachute and it's Pilot" by Brian Germain and reading it 3 or 4 times. Lots of great information that all skydivers should know.

Willy

growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.

[bqmassey 0]

Yea, I definitely felt that the canopy stuff was a bit under-emphasized during my AFF.

When I went through the program, I, like everyone else, started on the radio. The radio is good, but I think a lot of instructors depend on it too much. If radio communication fails, the student (even on jump one) should have a damn good idea about how to get themselves down safely.

Even on the first jump, a typical student shouldn't need to be told when to make their turns and when to flare. If students were more prepared for the canopy flight, the instructors wouldn't need to be on the radio as much. Students shouldn't be learning the basics in the air, they should be practicing what they know.

The canopy flight is the part of the experience where the instructor can't save your life for you. It's serious stuff, and the AFF instructors should teach the canopy portion of the skydive as thoroughly as they would if there was no radio.

Anyways...

Some jumpers are all about the freefall portion of the jump, and only see the canopy as a way to get to the ground safely. Others take more interest in the canopy ride and understand it a little better. Seek those people out and talk to them about it. Some people will be happy to elaborate and give you ideas. Some might even jump with you.

One thing you might consider is picking out a specific target to aim for. Obviously, your first priority is to land safely, so don't do anything crazy to hit a small target, but having a more specific goal than to land anywhere inside the bounds of the landing area might give you better feedback to work off of.

I'm no expert canopy pilot, but doing that helped me a lot. When my goal was to hit the 2000' LZ, i got down just fine, but I wasn't building any mental picture of what the last stages of the descent should look like. I saw zero improvement in skill or confidence until I started working on my accuracy landings (for the A card).

"Aim small, miss small."

Good luck!

[ArizonaStone 0]

I suspected my barely standing up on landings but doing mostly standup landings remark would draw a comment and I should have corrected it earlier.

What I meant to convey was that while I can stand up on most landings I always feel as though I'm just barely doing so. Almost like if my flare was a bit off or the wind changed directions I would end up PLFing.
Perhaps it is just being new to the whole experience and not that odd at all.

To the other person who commented about instructors being dismissive. I never felt that my instructors were being intentionally dismissive, just that the tandem portion of their operation was more important and thus required more of their attention. Some of my instructors were more attentive and some would run off after landing and get geared up with a tandem or take care of some other business and my debrief was of secondary or tertiary importance. It wasn't just me though, it seemed all the students got the same treatment.

"Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see."

-Benjamin Franklin

[ArizonaStone 0]

To Shawn. When I say close calls, I mean two canopies flying within say 100-200 feet of each other. This may be a large gap to some but as a newbie it was pretty close to me.

One of the close calls was not my fault and was due to another student landing against the pattern. We veered out of each others way and all's well that end's well. The instructors comments were directed at our response to what happened. We were flying at each other with a separation of maybe 300 feet and we both moved to each others left. The instructor re-reminded us that we should always turn to the right in those types of situations. More training should be put into this type of stuff, not just mentioning it once in ground school.

Another of the close calls was an issue with canopy traffic where I found myself in a bad spot trying to start my pattern and another person had already started their pattern. This was after I got my A. So no one to blame but myself I suppose.

I'm not saying that my instructors were bad, but I feel more emphasis should be put into canopy control in student training, everywhere. Sometimes as students we don't know what questions to ask. Some questions are obvious and some are not.

"Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see."

-Benjamin Franklin

[in2jumping 0]

Seven to eight AFF jumps with 10 minutes of tunnel training then we cut them loose in a crowded sky full of varying speed canopies and swoopers at one of the busiest dropzones in the world with pretty much no canopy training. Then we wonder why 75% of the fatalities last year were under canopy with many of them being canopy collisions?

USPA really needs to get off their asses and get out of the 1980's training mentality and mandate another seven to eight dedicated canopy training jumps for graduation. Not every student is smart and concerned enough like AZStone to take the initiative to seek out their own training.