flare turn ???

[karel 0]

Bill - thanks for article "10 things to help u survive".
I use flat turn all the time and it's a lifesaver. But how about flare turn??? Once I was about to hit an obstacle on ground, I needed
to avoid it and I THINK what I did was that I pulled one toggle much (but how much???) more than the other one, maybe I flared
little higher too. The result was that I did avoid the obstacle but I
also bounced of ground 5 feet (that's what other jumpers said)
and next day my whole body hurt. I survived it by luck.
So, how do you make FLARE TURN, I am going to need it, always
make mistakes w/ my approach plan.
Thanks & BlueSkies Karel

[robellis 0]

By "Flare Turn" do you mean when you carve along the ground during a swoop? If so, it's achieved by letting up on one toggle *slightly* when you are in full swoop - similar to a flat turn up high.
If you aren't swooping long though - dont do it. If you don't get a long enough swoop, carving will leave you without the time to rectify the turn, ensuring that you land badly. You have to do everything real smooth. It ain't fun landing in a turn - and this is essentially what you are doing - the likelyhood is that you'll twist an ankle because you can't run it out.
Have fun!
n9

[billvon 2,990]

>So, how do you make FLARE TURN, I am going to need it, always
make mistakes w/ my approach plan.
Basically you flare the same as you always do, but flare slightly more with one hand than the other. This starts the turn. Before your feet touch down you _must_ stop the turn by continuing to flare, but also bringing the opposite toggle down even further.
This is useful in the following situations:
1. Keeping yourself going straight. Many jumpers "stick out their hand to break their fall" during the flare, which of course turns them hard in that direction. Learning to turn yourself cures you of this, because you learn to automatically compensate for that tendency.
2. Landing exactly where you want. Important if you have a rough landing area, and being a foot off means landing in a prickly weed.
3. Avoiding obstacles. Small turns (to, say 45 degrees) can be easily effected, and larger turns can still be made to avoid the kid that just ran out in front of you, even if it makes the landing ugly.
Some tips on doing them:
1. Start the flare going straight, with both hands coming down the same amount.
2. At some point bring one toggle a little lower than the other. Resist the urge to stick that hand out to "protect yourself."
3. Once you turn even a little, continue the flare by bringing the _other_ toggle lower. This will straighten you out.
4. End with your feet touching down with the toggles both pulled down the same amount. Don't give up when your feet touch - keep flying the canopy until you've stopped and all your weight is on your feet.
----------------------------------------------
Someone else wrote:
>If you aren't swooping long though - dont do it.
Why not? I've flare-turned Mantas.
>If you don't get a long enough swoop, carving will leave you without the time to rectify the turn, ensuring that you land badly.
You have to land going straight. You can flare-turn anything, you just have to make sure that you end up going straight and with both toggles even. With something like a Manta, the whole process takes about two seconds, and you can only turn about 45 degrees. The lack of planeout hurts you (less time) but the slower airspeed helps you (takes less lift to turn.)
-bill von

[hcsvader 1]

Bump,

I was wondering if anyne has suggestions on how to practice a flare turn.
I found this technique very useful recently while landing out in the the desert in eloy. I can't remeber how I knew how to do this, for me it was just combining a flat turn in to my flare.

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

[JohnMitchell 16]

I've never refered to it as a flare turn. We just called it flying your canopy all the way down. Very common practice doing classic accuracy. Just remember what Billvon said about having your toggles equal when you land.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

I was wondering if anyne has suggestions on how to practice a flare turn.

Just do it. Start with fewer degrees of turn so that you're less likely to run out of lift. Start with small inputs - as Brian Germain notes this is like ballet not boxing. If that scares you too much your parachute is too small so upsize until that doesn't limit you. Consider wearing pants over your leg straps so grass stains are more likely to end up there than on your rig and note that you better be sure your leg straps are tight and threaded correctly. If you're too afraid of getting dirt on your nice rig you now know why used gear is recommended for people learning to skydive.

[sparkie 0]

it also helps to look to where you want to go to. Kind of like riding a motorbike through a corner.

Also, keep in "fly mode" as long as possible. From what i see at my own dz and others is that many many people go into "walk/run/land mode" way too soon.

a pilot never really wants to land ;) The best you can do is put off that moment as long as possible

[danielcroft 2]

Quote

I've never refered to it as a flare turn. We just called it flying your canopy all the way down. Very common practice doing classic accuracy. Just remember what Billvon said about having your toggles equal when you land.

That's what I was thinking, I still like to practice doing deliberate flare turns when I have enough empty space. Plus, it's part of Bill's downsizing checklist.