Running Out of Options

[Gato 0]

This is an excerpt from a post I made in GSD, but it's a topic that belongs here. I realize this may be a bit narcissistic, but I thought this experience over the weekend on my 18th jump might be worth discussing.

"......Completely boned myself on the landing pattern - I forgot the rules about the wind, and couldn't see the direction the windsock was facing, resulting in a downwind, buttsliding landing about 50 feet from a truck parked near the bonfire pit.

- There is a reason we are taught to pick a suitable landing target BEFORE WE ENTER THE PLANE. I hate to admit it, but my decision to make a downwind landing wasn't based on a coherent choice - it was all I had left! I was too low to turn crosswind or upwind, and the fact that I didn't knock the absolute shit out of myself on a GMC is purely luck. I will never, let me say again - NEVER leave the ground without knowing my pattern, and what the winds are doing. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad it happened, so I can learn from it, and I was suitably debriefed on why I cannot let that happen again."
***

What do you think? Has this happened to you, and if so, how/why?

T.I.N.S.

[livendive 8]

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This is an excerpt from a post I made in GSD, but it's a topic that belongs here. I realize this may be a bit narcissistic, but I thought this experience over the weekend on my 18th jump might be worth discussing.

"......Completely boned myself on the landing pattern - I forgot the rules about the wind, and couldn't see the direction the windsock was facing, resulting in a downwind, buttsliding landing about 50 feet from a truck parked near the bonfire pit.

- There is a reason we are taught to pick a suitable landing target BEFORE WE ENTER THE PLANE. I hate to admit it, but my decision to make a downwind landing wasn't based on a coherent choice - it was all I had left! I was too low to turn crosswind or upwind, and the fact that I didn't knock the absolute shit out of myself on a GMC is purely luck. I will never, let me say again - NEVER leave the ground without knowing planning my pattern, and what the winds are doing. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad it happened, so I can learn from it, and I was suitably debriefed on why I cannot let that happen again."
***

What do you think? Has this happened to you, and if so, how/why?

Fixed it for you. At some point in your future, likely sooner than later, you'll find yourself with a bad spot, unable to land according to your original plan. You'll then be in the air coming up with a new plan. The higher you decide on a new plan, the more time you'll have to fine tune and execute it. And yes, if you wait till you're 50 feet off the ground, your options will be very few...actually more like a couple minor variants of one option.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[NWFlyer 2]

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NEVER leave the ground without knowing my pattern, and what the winds are doing.

This is an excellent habit to get into. I'm surprised your DZ doesn't have you do this - when I was a student I had to estimate where I would open based on the day's winds and draw out my planned pattern on a little piece of paper for every single jump.

That said... even pre-planning is not always going to keep you from landing downwind. The rule at the DZ might be "first person down sets the pattern" and that person might set a downwind pattern. You can yell at him or her after you're down, but you still need to follow the rules and respect the pattern. On Saturday I landed my second jump of the day in about a 5-6 mph downwind because that's what the pattern was, and I could see the sock as I was setting up so I knew I was in for a quick landing and planned my pattern accordingly to allow plenty of space and landed in the middle of the landing area. No problem.
(Relatively) fixed obstacles like trucks shouldn't surprise you, but sometimes obstacles do surprise you - something you didn't expect in an out landing area, people who cut you off in the pattern, or the whuffo who runs across the landing area to take a photo of his girlfriend who is still 2000 feet up on the tandem that's coming in well behind you. If you haven't already, now's about the time in your progression that you should be learning about techniques like flat turns and braked turns. They're very valuable techniques for making subtle moves in the pattern that can give you options when you feel like you don't have any. Ask your instructors about 'em.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[wildfan75 1]

After having a self induced 2 out and cutting away my main on freefall #6, I did my landing pattern on my reserve according to my landing pattern...from the previous weekend. Yep, that's right, on jump #6, I landed downwind on my reserve. It wasn't until 2 weeks later that someone told me that I did that.

I'm the person that everyone used to come out and watch land because I was sure to biff it. I went through flaring unevenly, I went through flaring too high, flaring too late, everything.

I had people meet me half way back to the clubhouse asking "Other than your ego, are you okay?" on more than one occasion.

I expected the bowling speech several times.

One Sunday morning I spent about 2 hours going over landing and flaring with our then current S&TA. I got on top of picnic tables to try to figure out perspective, I watched videos, I asked every stupid question there ever was about landings.

People don't come out to watch me land anymore (except when I downsized). I miss have an audience.

Don't beat yourself up for mistakes. Learn from them and become better. In fact, don't think of them as mistakes. Think of them as opportunties to learn and improve from!

[airtwardo 7]

NEVER leave the ground without knowing my pattern, and what the winds are doing.

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Well you know what ya did wrong and how to correct it, ANOTHER 'Good On You' !


One or two suggestions I might make~

Ingrain it into you routine to watch at least one load prior to going up to to instill a mental picture regarding the pattern.

VISUALIZE in your mind what both a left and right hand pattern might look like from your perspective in the saddle...

What altitudes and over what areas of the field 'might' you be making your turns, ~ Downwind, Base & Final...you will of course have to be making dynamic adjustments and corrections when 'actually' doing it, but if you have a general sight picture in your mind, it makes the approach much easier.

Another thing I always do...my routine...is to take a handful of grass, dirt, whatever...throw it up before each jump and get a 'mini-wind line'.

I look upwind and take a direction I'll be facing on landing and file that into the hard drive.

It of course could change before I land, but generally it's accurate enough to get down okay should I not be able to see the sock.

Another little exercise I highly recommend is to look out the AC during the climb, what if there were an in air emergency requiring a bail out off site...where would I land, what direction would I be facing?

Learn to pick up wind speed & direction cues from the surrounding areas...are there any smokestacks or open fires burning that you can trace the smoke?

Look down at the movement of the lower clouds across the ground...follow their shadows to get a general speed & direction.

You jump in the Midwest, more often than not, at sunset the winds will rotate clockwise anywhere from 45 to 180 degrees...keep that in mind on late jumps and keep a keen eye.

The 'skydiving experience' doesn't start at manifest or dirt diving, it starts when you shut off the car...What are the winds doing, any dust devils, how hot is it, is the pilot flyin' safe or doing inverted low passes...

Start forming a series of safety centered 'routines' that you will do every time you jump.

Always keep it in the back of your head that if something doesn't 'feel' right, it's probably not...stop and start the routine over....you may have missed something.

~keep your eyes and ears open, watch what others are doing...if you don't know why, then ask.

Have fun & be safe!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Scubadivemaster 3]

Maybe learning this lesson well at 18 jumps while you are still on a 300 ft canopy is a blessing. Would have been much worse under a more aggressively loaded canopy.

More than deciding which direction you are going to land before you get on the plane, at 18 jumps you should be actively walking the landing area and planning your entire pattern. Walk to the point on the ground below your the spot where you plan on entering the pattern. Tell yourself, "I will be here at 1000ft" (modified appropriately for wind conditions), walk your proposed line of flight for the downwind to the spot you will turn on base. Tell yourself "Here is where I will be turning onto base. I will be at 600 ft." Walk your line of flight to your planned turn onto final. Tell yourself "Here is where I will turn onto final. I will be at 300 ft".

It helps if you pick points on the ground that are easily distinguishable. (e.g. the point of entry is over the big yellow airplane, the turn to base is at the junction of the taxiway and the landing area. The turn to final is before the trees at the far end of the landing area, etc. )

By actually walking the landing area, you may see that your plan is in error. "Oh Christ, If I turn in on final here, I'll overshoot the landing area" or "Hey, with the wind blowing this way, if I turn onto final here, I'm going to land in the rotors off the hangar."

Ask a coach to walk the landing pattern with you and plan how to lengthen or shorten the legs if you are not arriving at the planned spots at the planned altitude. They can also point out things you may not see, like where the rotors are with those particular wind conditions. They should be able to give you some good advice such as "With the wind like it is today, do not go beyond these trees or you may not make it back."

When you get open under canopy, fly your plan! No plan perfectly survives contact with reality, but having that plan in place and trying to stick to it will make you a better and safer canopy pilot. Of course, you'll still screw up, but you'll know why and where you screwed up, and be better for it than the guy who spirals down and only has landing direction planned. He has learned nothing.

Does all this sound obvious? It did to me when I took the ground portion on a canopy course. When I actually started to do it, it changed my entire canopy experience.

You are participating in one of the only activities on earth where you can walk around on the ground with your arms over your head like you are flying the canopy, simulating your turns, and no one is going to look at you and say, "What an idiot!" Take advantage!

Just don't make airplane sound effects while you do it.

[danielcroft 2]

17 jumps here.

How do you calculate your glide ratio to know where those 1k/600/300 points will be? I make a plan in my head before I jump. I know where the holding area is, where the general area of each leg begins but I'm not sure where exactly I'll end up. Based on (limited) experience, I'm learning what my glide ratio will be but I'm just not sure how to adjust that based on wind, etc.

[Gato 0]

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This is an excellent habit to get into. I'm surprised your DZ doesn't have you do this - when I was a student I had to estimate where I would open based on the day's winds and draw out my planned pattern on a little piece of paper for every single jump.

Well, it is usually done on every jump, and I did do it before the first jump of that day, but I think I was a bit disoriented after the second jump/deployment, and lost awareness of where I was in relation to the landing area. Basically, I spent too much time screwing around doing turns and whatnot that I screwed myself out of an optimal landing scenario.

Thanks for the suggestions, and if you're into it, I invite you to read the post from which this comes:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3228260;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

T.I.N.S.

[Gato 0]

Thanks, everybody, for your observations and suggestions.

Please understand, as you read and assess that I have 18 jumps, that there have only been 6 this year, starting less than a month ago. Currency, and remembering every detail of what I knew well last year is a factor in this jump's outcome.

I'm not trying to make excuses, but currency is an issue.

I am jumping as much as I can afford to now, so I'm sure things will improve.

T.I.N.S.

[Scubadivemaster 3]

Daniel-

There is something called the accuracy trick. Rather than repeat the excellent descriptions others have written, I will refer you the the search function for "accuracy trick". It should really help you see what your glide angle is, and adjust it as necessary.

[airtwardo 7]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=44352#44352

Not a 'trick'...

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[firstime 0]

nice post Jim, muscle memory,muscle memory

[danielcroft 2]

Thanks for that. I've definitely been able to see my target (not moving up or down) but the bit I was confused about was distance to target when I'm starting on final. Maybe I'm confused, it wouldn't be the first time. ;)

[virgin-burner 1]

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NEVER leave the ground without knowing my pattern, and what the winds are doing.

This is an excellent habit to get into.

yea, especially when the winds turn 180°..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[phoenixlpr 0]

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NEVER leave the ground without knowing my pattern, and what the winds are doing.

This is an excellent habit to get into.

yea, especially when the winds turn 180°..

So? Wind speed does matter too. I feel bad seeing junior jumpers chasing the windsock on summer days when the windsock is moved only by thermals.

[virgin-burner 1]

if i understand you right, you're talking about a nilwind day where the sock pretty much "just hangs down".. here, thats a rather rare instance..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Chrisky 0]

That is why it is always a good idea to have a landing direction indicator, preferrably one that is set by a ground crew member and not being changed after canopies are open.

The instance of the windsock turning 180° is very very rare on days where you have a significant wind speed. Windsocks turning are usually low-wind days where it's more important for everyone to land in the SAME direction rather than against a 1-2 kts wind.

A canopy collision in 5-30m altitude is much more dangerous than a controlled downwind/crosswind flare can ever be. Stay calm and hit the ground running.

My 2 ¢.

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[NWFlyer 2]

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NEVER leave the ground without knowing my pattern, and what the winds are doing.

This is an excellent habit to get into.

yea, especially when the winds turn 180°..

So? It's still good to plan out a pattern before you go up. Then when you get out and the winds have shifted you just need to mentally shift your pre-planned pattern, not plan from scratch.

At least, that's what Scott Miller recommended in his canopy course. But what does he know?

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Gato 0]

Nice to see a useful discussion on this topic. I love being useful.

I've had a few days to process what exactly happened on this jump that may have contributed to my ending up with a downwind landing. The main thing I've realized is that I hadn't really run out of options - I saw the truck on the side of the field way before my approach to the landing area, and knew I could avoid it. If I hadn't been in a mild panic, all I would've had to do was turn left (into the wind, and a clear field) instead of right (downwind, where there were obstacles that could kill me). I forgot that final approach is in direct opposition to my downwind leg, unless the winds change direction in the middle of the pattern flight.

A lot of things directly relate to "new" experiences, requirements, and stimuli. Some of the new things over the weekend:

- Wearing a wrist mount altimeter for the first time.
- First exposure to the freefall environment, and the requisite sped-up thought processes.
- First occasion to use an altimeter instead of counting.
- First time flying in extreme heat combined with almost no wind.
- Adjusting to not only altimeter-based deployment, but also to 2 different deployment altitudes, 3500' and 4000' above ground level.
- Not really new, but greater confidence/overconfidence in my canopy-piloting abilities, or lack thereof.

There can be no measure of how drastically my perspective of this sport has changed. It feels a lot like how I felt after my first S/L jumps, only about 10 times better.

Thanks, everybody.

T.I.N.S.

[virgin-burner 1]

of course you think about possible landing patterns. but its not only one that is possible. the most places i've been to, you have two directions to land.

what i tried to say is, it wont be much use if you're only having one detailed plan. what if you come from a long spot, and instead of a right hand pattern, you have to do a left hand pattern, as you're running out of height. of course, you could still try to make it, chances are tough, you'll hook yourself in, as you're running out of options. its a good thing to not only have multiple plans ready, but also to be able to adapt to new situations..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Chrisky 0]

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the most places i've been to, you have two directions to land.

I sure hope you had two directions to approach and one to land.

If you're running low from a long spot, doing a righthand turn in an otherwise lefthand pattern is not a biggie. That is, as you get in so low that all you do is a straight in approach with a right turn STRAIGH TO FINAL. BUT if you have enough altitude left to actually fly a PATTERN with an Upwind/Base/Downwind leg, you better do it left hand as the others do.

You dont have to do a 270° left turn to "do a lefthand approach" when you only have enough space for a flat 90° right turn before touchdown.

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[virgin-burner 1]

the places i've been to usually allow to land parallel to the runway. so, on that imaginary line, you land wether up or down. i dont know if i can make myself clear enough..

completely agree as to do it as the others do, if your plan works out that way.

what worried me a bit was, if i understood right before, was to make up a plan before boarding and sticking only to that one.

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[brucet7 0]

I consider a good plan as that from which one can deviate as necessity requires. Rarely in life do plans go as planned. My army buddy talks about battle plans. "A battle plan is only good until one first engages the enemy."

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

[virgin-burner 1]

yea, completely as what i'm trying to state..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[mrbiceps 0]

I have a question about this topic. We had light winds a few weeks ago. I was doing aff stage 4. We stood on the ground and decided i would be at the end of the runway about 50 meters into the next paddock at 1000 ft. Then i would start my downwind run. i should be at the other end of the runway at 750 feet and turn right, i then should be at 500 feet above the dam and turn right for landing approach. So i am under canopy at about 3000 feet and i realise that the wind arrow is pointing in a totally different direction than when we were planning our landing. I am confused right now. do i abandon the plan and come up with another one or stick to the original plan? Has the wind changed that much in the past 30 minutes or is the arrow stuffed? I decided to stick to the original plan which worked out 100%. the instructor said that due to the variable and light winds the arrow could be anywhere.
So is it a waste of time even planning a landing patern as the wind may have changed in the 20-30 minutes it takes to get up to altitude?
Did i make the right move sticking to the original plan? What if the wind had started blowing hard in that time and here i am coming in super fast on a downwind run?