Landings suck!

[Pammi 0]

Alright already! I give! I admit, I land for shit, and I'm beginning to think it really is a girl thing! I'm sorry to be a traiter gals, but after seeing a lot of buttslides and face plants similar to my own, I have to start wondering, "What the hell?!"
I'm getting sick and damned tired of busting my ass, hands and knees on my landings! LOL! (that one on the runway really sucked ass!) And now I can't even butt-slide it cuz they have me freaked out about how I can damage my back doing that. My poor knees are gonna be quite scarred now! HAHA!
I hearby take MY seat as the PLF- Queen!!
P
(But hey, at least nothing is broken on ME! DOH! That one's gonna bite me in the karmic-ass I bet! LOL!)
Merrick's SCR Ceremony

[wildblue 7]

not trying to be a huge smartass (ok.. maybe I am)
flare higher

[Jessica 0]

Pammi -- betcher not completing yer flare.
I was having the exact same problem -- went 25 jumps without a single stand-up. Try doing lots of practice flares up high, and really look at how deep your toggles are when your canopy stalls.
Then, on landing, apply the Three "Oh Shits" rule -- don't flare until the 3rd time you say "oh shit," then do a smooth, DEEP flare.
This is how I solved it, and I was sure I'd be like, 40 years in the sport, a member of Arizona Airspeed, and PLFing all my landings.

[freaksister 0]

poor Pammi...she'll get it one of these days...I do, sometimes! lol I think its a mental block, hon. Seriously, after I told myself I could stand em up and run 'em out, its been lots better. So don't keep telling yourself you suck,ok? There was no wind that day at Quincy, and we were all screaming in. You landed on the runway, yes, but I've done that too, and girl, you KNOW it could have been worse! yes, scarred knees are better than a paralyzed body. Butt-slides are OUT! Hang in there girl. Jump on a day when there is a good, steady, 15 mph wind, not real gusty, just steady, and that will help your landings! :)
and Jess is right: FINISH the flare. I have to consciously tell myself this on no wind days! It is easy to flare about half way, esp. if you flare too high, and panic because you are all floaty over the ground...just breathe and remember to finish that flare right before your feet touch the ground. That is what I had to do, anyway...I stood up most of my landings and then started this bad habit of flaring half way...and couldn't figure out wtf i was doing! somebody told me and i worked it out...(so far!)
Sis
Before you judge me, take a look at you...

[mattb 0]

Quote

flare higher

I don't know - my landings got better when I learned to flare at the right height instead of too high. Perhaps the proper smart ass reponse is "flair at the right time".
-mob

[freeflir29 0]

Another trick I was taught as a student was ..." Dont flare until you can see individual blades of grass" It actually works. Of course.....in the case of landing on a runway....well......dont. It's hard and prone to a high volume of traffic. In your case it will also wear out the seat of your pants quickly. LMAO
P.S. I was having trouble with my new canopy a while back until I took a good long look at the brake lines while I was flying. I finally figured out they were too short. Added two inches and it was a whole new canopy. Even swoops!
"I used to know a girl...She had two pirced nipples and a black tattoo"-Everclear
Clay

[Slappie 9]

Well if you do land on the runway at least the plane can't hurt you. You're on such an adrenilin rush nothing can hurt you... I'm not one to say many smartass remarks but I've stuck all my landing even the tandems...Gota jump baybay!! Blue Skies!

[wildblue 7]

That would have been my non-smart ass response... along with flare all the way, don't stare down at the ground (look more at the horizon), and don't always assume you're going to screw it up (one of those mental things, if you think you're going to land hard, you probably will)
Pammi - have you ever stalled your canopy up high?

[chicagoskydiver 0]

I really agree with Jessica.....experiment with the canopy up high and get comfortable flying in deep brakes. Take note of how the canopy reacts and how far you have to pull the toggles down to get the canopy flying at the minimum speed. Do practice landing flairs on EVERY jump - above 1,000 feet of course. This helped me tremendously. I stand up almost all my landings now. When I was a student at Skydive Chicago, they used to call me ditch digger because of my landings. So there you go. Also, you may want to get the "Fly Like a Pro" video, it has a lot of good stuff in it.
Hackey

[Pammi 0]

Quote

Pammi -- betcher not completing yer flare.

Is that typed Texas accent? LOL!
Thanks guys. I think it's a combination of things...I actually landed better when I first got the canopy. I think the more I mess up, the more I THINK I'm going to, and do. I was a little wigged after Merrick's bad landing too, which didn't help.
I actually do practice up high, on nearly every jump, doing a smooth flare, then finishing it out, but it just never turns out that way when I land. I think I'm going to try Skreamer's idea and have someone tape my landings too on the ground so that I can actually see what I'm doing. It helped a lot in freefall, so might help here also!
P
Merrick's SCR Ceremony

[MarkM 0]

I think part of the problem is that the student canopies are so big.
If you're a 180 lb guy you can get a decent flair from one.
But if your a 120 lb chick flaring won't do shit.

[Vallerina 2]

I completely understand!!! My instructor kept telling me to look directly down at the ground, and when I could see individual blades of grass...FLARE! It works for some, not for me (I maybe stood two landings using that method.) Now, I look out at the horizon and have improved dramatically. Plus, I bought a brand new, really hot jumpsuit that I don't want to dirty up (motivation to stand on my feet!)
"To alcohol! The cause of-and solution to-all of life's problems!" -Homer Simpson

[Dar 0]

MarkM, I don't see how you think it has to do with student canopies being so big.... and I don't think it's just a GIRL problem...
I stood up my Level 3 AFF with a huge student canopy... I only weigh 140... and I'm a GIRL.
So that puts those 2 theories to shit.
Blues!
Dar
"Too much listening
Not enough living" - Vertical Horizon

[freeflir29 0]

"So that puts those 2 theories to shit."-Dar
It's just cause your so damn good.
"I used to know a girl...She had two pirced nipples and a black tattoo"-Everclear
Clay

[Staso 0]

in response to:
---
That would have been my non-smart ass response... along with flare all the way, don't stare down at the ground (look more at the horizon) ...
---
i think it's supposed to help when you plan to PLF, because you can't really see how high you are and don't
expect the impact and it makes it easy to absorb it. i personnaly wanna know when i touch the ground,
because i want to run it out or at least do couple of steps and i don;t plan to PLF it.
Stan
C-31743.

[favaks 0]

Do a two-stage flare. I flare half way, depending on the canopy, just a tad later than I think I should. When I feel my feet touch the ground, I flare all the way. Don't think about having to touch down with your feet, let the ground come and flare. The parachute will hold you up.
-favaks

[Dar 0]

--
"It's just cause you're so damn good."
--
Thanks Clay. It's not the only thing I'm good at.
Blues!
Dar
"Don't let the world get you down
Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold" - Incubus

[freeflir29 0]

"Thanks Clay. It's not the only thing I'm good at."
Good Girl!
"I used to know a girl...She had two pirced nipples and a black tattoo"-Everclear
Clay

[FallinWoman 1]

Pammi, I am right there with you. I have 73 jumps and still rarely land on my feet.
I have determined (thru video) that I am flaring at the right time. People have told me that I just sort of crumple when I hit the ground. Finally someone asked if I look down.
Well, no, you told me not to in the first jump class.
Now they are suggesting that I flare without looking down, and then look, so I am not surprised by the ground.
So far, I haven't remembered to try that, but I will let you know if it helps!!
Blue skies,
Anne

[skybytch 273]

Pammi and Anne... what are you loading your mains at?
I know I harp on this subject (a lot ), but if you are loading it at more than 1.0 - 1.1, you might consider flying something a bit larger for awhile.
If you're biffing more than half your landings on what you've got, there's a good chance you're going to hurt yourself eventually (*points at self as proof of this theory*). Why risk it? Fly something bigger (safer) until you've smoothed out your flare and are consistently getting good landings - then go back to what you are jumping now if you want to. Personally, I don't want to get hurt again so I'm sticking to a 1.0 - 1.1 wingloading on a Spectre-type canopy for the rest of my skydiving career - I know I can stand that up everytime.
pull and flare,
lisa

[FallinWoman 1]

i biff in at 0.8, 1.0, 1.1.
I don't hurt myself, the ground just always surprises me. As soon as my feet touch, I just cave and plf.
The main I just bought will be loaded at 1.05:1. Anything bigger than that and I am not comfortable jumping with much wind- I end up going backwards!!
Blue skies,
Anne

[Iflyme 0]

Pammi, I'm with Spectre on this one -- the video(s) of your landing(s) will be the best tool to deciper exactly why you aren't standing them up... could be brakes lines too long/short, flare problems, maybe even what you are doing with your legs -- but the video can be analyzed in slow-mo to determine EXACTLY what the problem is...

[Merrick 0]

Quote

"I think part of the problem is that the student canopies are so big."

Yeah, I don't think that's really the problem either, Pam hasn't flown a student canopy in over 35 jumps.
I might as well give my two cents here... Pam 100% without a doubt knows how to land. She knows when to flare, she generally does a two-stage flare, finishes out her flare 95% of the time, and she planes the canopy our very nicely. In my opinion, the problem is in her head, she is absolutely convinced that she "CAN'T LAND!" I've watched several of her landings & every time she slides in on her butt or face plants I'm completely baffled. There are times while I'm watching her I'm just thinking, "ahhh, sweet!" Then I hear..."Oooomph!" WTF was that!!
The butt slides are easy, I think the ground coming up at her kind of psyches her out, so she just lifts her legs & waits for it to come to her! As for when she puts her legs down to step out of her landing, why she biffs is a complete mystery to me. Only thing I can think of is that she's trying to put her feet down & run out of it a little to soon. I think, like many of you said, the best answer is to get some good video of her landings (which shouldn't be hard with my ass crippled and grounded for the next couple months) & go over them with some really good canopy pilots.
Sweetie, I know that you can do it..... you KNOW how to land (I've seen you do it, several times), you just have to convince yourself that it's NOT a girl thing, that you CAN actually do it.... then DO it. In fact, I can't believe that you even consider that it's some sort of girl handicap, you turning into one of those annoying little "girly girls" on me?!? Tell ya what, next tournament Samantha wants to compete in, we'll tell her that there's no way she can win cuz she's a girl, & the boys are all physically stronger and they'll beat her down regardless! get my point? love ya!
"If words were wisdom, I'd be talkin' even more.."

[freeflir29 0]

Not making any jokes here but how's your eyesight Pammi? If you had a little near or farsightedness it might make it hard for you to coordinate your landings.
"I used to know a girl...She had two pirced nipples and a black tattoo"-Everclear
Clay

[wingnut 0]

i hear ya guys one the proper flare point. i'm still trying to figure out my sabre on no wind days. they still make fun of me from when i slid into a compost pile. on moderate wind days i can stand it up no problem..... i hate no wind days...... good luck on figureing it out.

"if dreams are like movies, then memories are like films about ghosts"-counting crows