The Accuracy Trick

[katzurki 0]

(I've searched. A few posts mention it, but none in detail, at least not obviously so. So let's have an easy to spot thread on this.
So what is the famous accuracy trick, and how do you make it work?

[Bandanarama 0]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=44352;search_string=accuracy%2045;#44352



Eric

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One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things. ~ Henry Miller

[katzurki 0]

Ah, that's about perfect. Thanks :)

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I knew that I had written a post on that subject. Actually though, that post is more about target accuracy approaches than it is what we call the "accuracy trick". A general description of the technique that we teach would be "the act of knowing exactly what point on the ground you are likely to land when flying at your current attitude." By attitude, I mean what percentage of brakes you are applying. Ultimately, what you do (under canopy obviously) is look ahead of and below you and try to find the point on the ground that is not moving. If the downward angle to the point you are trying to fly back to is getting steeper and the point on the ground is moving closer to you, then you can make it there. If the angle is getting flatter then you are simply not going to be able to make it to that point and you need to reassess your landing options. First, find that point on the ground that is not moving, then find a suitable landing place between that point and straight underneath you. We teach our students to do it at least twice under canopy: first, when they are still flying downwind after opening and about halfway back to the landing area; and second, after turning on final to ensure that their current flight path is: a) going to get them to the landing area, and b) not going to fly them into an obstacle. This last bit is very important. Often is the time that a student wants to turn onto final too high and too "steep" to where we want them to land. The sooner they realize they are too high and too close (by using the accuracy trick), the sooner they can make additional sashays, easy turns, or get into the brakes and adjust their glide slope to facilitate landing where they want.

Chuck

[AggieDave 6]

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the sooner they can make additional sashays

So, you're teaching students to do S-turns and rock back and forth on final approach? That way when they're licensed jumpers they have 10 people behind them those 10 people now are forced to go into brakes or fly away from that large portion of the landing area to keep out of this person's way?

Honestly, I really prefer Scott Miller's approach to this, I think he's qualified enough...

Anyways, his method is draw your landing patter out. If you enter your landing pattern and fly your pattern but still land 10ft from your target, you can then slide your entire pattern that 10ft and you'll now be accurate all day long (assuming the winds don't change drastically). Changing your pattern mid pattern not only screws everyone else in the pattern, you won't know how much to adjust your pattern by, the adjustments will be a total guess.


Chuck, sitting through Miller's courses a few times really taught me a lot, more then that, I learned how he teaches and have started applying how he teaches to even my Cat A tandem students, plus the AFF students I help with canopy control and my Coach students. Its really a good approach to doing things.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[mr2mk1g 10]

What does he teach students to do if they enter their pattern so far out from the point that they should have done their patern is going to take them into hazzards?

Presumably they're then to change their patern somehow by turning/breaking/flying away and re-entering the patern or something? What's his advice for that situation?

[AggieDave 6]

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What does he teach students to do if they enter their pattern so far out from the point that they should have done their patern is going to take them into hazzards?

Don't do it.

Ok, seriously though, basically its just avoid the obsticle, if on final, turning slightly off a bit of an angle, will produce a larger distance by the time you get to landing. Before that, it should be apparent during your downwind and your base leg if your pattern is dangerous. I know he's not a big fan of making any sort of agressive maneuvers on final; however, one of the first things you learn in his course is how to flat turn. Its for a reason. Pattern be damned you've got to land safe, however, you plan your canopy decent just as you would plan your skydive. The 7-P's right? If you're on final and you realize you're about to fly into that hanger, flat turn and avoid. If done at 200-300ft when you turn onto final, you shouldn't have to turn that much to avoid an obsticle.

At that point for your next jump, you slide your pattern back considerably (atleast the distance between your intended target and the obsticle you nearly hit).

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[bmcd308 0]

Does anyone even still talk about figure 8's?

It is in the Basic Canopy Flight video. That video does a great job discussing ground track vs. heading, something that those of us who have lived most of lives not in a moving airmass do not know about instinctively. It also has a great computer animation to explain the accuracy trick.

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www.jumpelvis.com

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Your are funny, Dave. Also, you are reading me wrong; I am not teaching any such a thing. The post was about "the accuracy trick", not how to teach an accuracy approach. What I meant in this instance was that if a person makes his/her final turn onto final and then finds, for whatever reason after doing that final accuracy trick, that they are in fact in danger of running headlong into the trees then they can THEN do whatever they need to do in order to get the canopy down safely (by means of small turns, sashays, or sinking it down). I don't care how good a canopy control class you taught, there will always be students who fly themselves into a corner. They either didn't pay attention to your "Scott Miller Approved" class and flew themselves in too tight or too long or, possibly, didn't respond to your radio commands. The intent of doing the accuracy trick after turning onto final (too late to change that now; it's done) is to let the person know in no uncertain terms where they are going to land now that they have committed to their, supposed, final turn. I hope you follow that.

And as to the "experienced enough" comment, I figure I qualify in that regard.

Chuck
D-12501
AFF/SL/TM-I, BMCI, PRO, MFFJM

[AggieDave 6]

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that they are in fact in danger of running headlong into the trees then they can THEN do whatever they need to do in order to get the canopy down safely

Then I did read you wrong.

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there will always be students who fly themselves into a corner.

I fully understand and have experienced that.

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They either didn't pay attention to your "Scott Miller Approved" class

I know you're trying to belittle what my DZ teaches, but out of the entire instruction staff we all agreed that Scott Miller has one of the most straight forward and correct approaches to practical canopy control out there today.

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And as to the "experienced enough" comment, I figure I qualify in that regard.

That was written for your benifit since you still see me with 100 jumps and a year in the sport. Basically I was stating that I wasn't making this stuff up, that its fundimentally sound teaching from one of the best canopy coaches in the US. Otherwise I know you would have dismissed what I had written as simply my opinion seeing my opinion from the 100-jump AggieDave perspective.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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I know you're trying to belittle what my DZ teaches, but out of the entire instruction staff we all agreed that Scott Miller has one of the most straight forward and correct approaches to practical canopy control out there today.

Nope, you are misconstruing my remarks again, Dave. I am not "belittleing" anything. What I am doing is simply pointing out that your original response to me intoned that I simply must be using a flawed techinique. I don't care what person your school gets it's canopy control model from so long as it's understandable at the first jump level. Our dropzone has been in operation for 35 years and while the tools to get the job done have changed over that time, the basic techniques for getting a parachute to the ground, where you want it, have not. "The accuracy trick", which by the way was the topic of this thread, has been around since people were modifying cheapos.

As a lifelong skydiver/instructor and now professional canopy pilot I have had the benefit of sitting through an aweful lot of seminars. I admire the people who have recently made a name for themselves (with great assistance from this very website) and now make a living teaching canopy flight, but I have not once heard either Brian or Scott teach anything on the basic level that was contrary to what most established dropzones have been teaching since skydiving became commercialized. Yes, I have sat through both of their courses. While it's true that there are a lot of really crappy dropzone schools out there, ours is not one of them. If Todd has found that Scott's sylabus is one he wanted to adopt in an effort to better his school then great; I am glad you guys got your money's worth. Continuing education is important to an instructor's/dropzone's health.

I don't know where your last comment came from. Your jump numbers and current instructional experience and my knowledge of your past experiences have no bearing on how I respond to your posts. If you come across as condescending, then I will call you on it. That doesn't mean that we are not going to drink a bunch of Shiner Bock together in two weeks and barf in front of your truck. You're my boy, Lund.

Chuck

[parachutist 2]

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"The accuracy trick", which by the way was the topic of this thread, has been around since people were modifying cheapos.

It's been around ever since human eyes evolved because it's not really a trick. It's learning to interpret the information that your eyes are receiving in a 3D environment. When we were kids we learned how to interpret right/left movement for turns on bicycles. The up/down we really had no need for. ("There's a big hill... gotta pedal harder" ... that's all the info you needed)

To understand the up/down you can learn how to interpret the information by simply walking down a hall. The same rules apply: The point that does not move up/down or right/left is the point your're going to run into if you keep walking forward. Anything that is moving down in your field of vision as you move forward ... you'll go beyond this. The flight path is a corridor similar to the hall you're walking down

[kelpdiver 2]

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Anyways, his method is draw your landing patter out. If you enter your landing pattern and fly your pattern but still land 10ft from your target, you can then slide your entire pattern that 10ft and you'll now be accurate all day long (assuming the winds don't change drastically).

There's a lousy assumption. Maybe you have constant winds, but in CA we can pretty much rely on the winds to change drastically in a somewhat predictable pattern. From one jump to the next, the accurate pattern will change substantially.

[bmcd308 0]

>> but in CA we can pretty much rely on the winds to change drastically<<

That's why your rigs are always dirty ....

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www.jumpelvis.com

[upndownshop 0]

Maybe you should take on SDU

I hear its your favorite...


cockatilliooooooossssssss at SF 05!!!!!!! cant wait to see you two barfing. Can we get a landing pattern for your barfing???

[slotperfect 7]

I learned this technique from John LeBlanc in 1993. His definition of it is in the attached article.

I had always used rear risers to make it back from long spots . . . after Scott Miller's course I am now using toggles. It depends on the canopy, but he really made a believer out of me.

I have been doing HAHOs all week, and have been using the Accuracy Trick successfully every jump. That and toggle input a la Scott Miller have put me on the DZ every time.

Edited to add the file

Arrive Safely

John