Opening in High Winds Aloft

[hankusaurelius 0]

Question. I was told that if the winds aloft are high at opening altitude, it is important to open facing directly into the wind or directly downwind. Why is this true?

[mjosparky 4]

hankusaurelius

Question. I was told that if the winds aloft are high at opening altitude, it is important to open facing directly into the wind or directly downwind. Why is this true?

I would go back and ask the person that told you this.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[billeisele 130]

untrue

Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

[councilman24 37]

Find someone else to give you advice.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[diablopilot 2]

Don't ask that person for advice again.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[faulk04 0]

hankusaurelius

Question. I was told that if the winds aloft are high at opening altitude, it is important to open facing directly into the wind or directly downwind. Why is this true?

are you asking this due to the question Mike Mullins posted on facebook to get a free jump? If so go look at his answer :)

[DocPop 1]

hankusaurelius

Question. I was told that if the winds aloft are high at opening altitude, it is important to open facing directly into the wind or directly downwind. Why is this true?

Wind is irrelevant* under canopy unless you are considering your movement relative to the ground (eg. landing or trying to make it back to a certain point upwind).

*Obviously I am not including things like wind shear, dust devils or turbulence.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[ridebmxbikes 0]

Just had a thread on this not too long ago. May find some nice info here

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4572196;search_string=facing%20into%20the%20wind;#4572196

[slotperfect 7]

I have no idea what this person's context was when he/she made the comment, but the actual opening of the canopy won't be affected by high winds aloft.

Orientation to the wind line, however, does become very important. In very high winds aloft, I like to face into the direction of the winds at opening altitude. Assuming an upwind jump run, this keeps me facing directly into the upstairs winds while I handle all of my post-opening tasks prior to clearing my brakes and actively flying the canopy. I control my heading during these tasks with my lower body using harness inputs to stay pointed in the desired direction.

Now once I clear my brakes I have preserved as much linear distance between myself and my pattern entry point as possible, and have remained directly on the wind line. In cases when the winds at opening altitude are stronger than the inherent forward speed of the canopy I am jumping, I have the advantage of the forward airspeed of the canopy reducing my (backward) ground speed as much as possible to keep me upwind until I choose to change position. At that point I have also prevented straying laterally off the wind line requiring some sort of olympic effort to crab back onto it and ensure I reach my pattern entry point.

At my experience level I like jumping in high winds under canopy because it requires my "A Game" and I get better by working through the challenges high winds present. Bear in mind that I trained into that over a lot of years and a lot of jumps. Anyone can do that with good coaching, choosing reasonable goals and choosing the right conditions for each stage in their progression.

Cheers . . .

Arrive Safely

John

[Aaron_O 0]

Are you suggesting flying up the line of flight? That might not be such a good thing considering people may be exiting the aircraft after you, especially when the winds aloft are high.

[slotperfect 7]

In the conditions I am speaking of, facing into line of flight will allow me to hold my position over the ground or move backward (negative ground speed) as little as possible, but not travel back up line of flight.

Having inventoried the load already at the mockup and knowing who exited behind me, I keep those jumpers in sight - I look for each of them as soon as I open.

With proper exit separation due to the aircraft's reduced groundspeed (another subject altogether) I have plenty of space to set myself up for successful pattern entry.

Arrive Safely

John

[shropshire 0]

hankusaurelius

Question. I was told that if the winds aloft are high at opening altitude, it is important to open facing directly into the wind or directly downwind. Why is this true?

How do you KNOW if you are facing into WIND? .

There is ONLY one type of wind that a canopy knows about .. but hey, that's all relative

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Southern_Man 0]

shropshire

***Question. I was told that if the winds aloft are high at opening altitude, it is important to open facing directly into the wind or directly downwind. Why is this true?

How do you KNOW if you are facing into WIND? .

There is ONLY one type of wind that a canopy knows about .. but hey, that's all relative

Hey Einstein, quit confusing everybody

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[Boogers 0]

shropshire

How do you KNOW if you are facing into WIND? .

By reading the winds-aloft report at the beginning of the day.

https://aviationweather.gov/products/nws/winds/

Hopefully, the DZ has it written on a chalk board where everyone can see it.

[ridebmxbikes 0]

Boogers

***How do you KNOW if you are facing into WIND? .

By reading the winds-aloft report at the beginning of the day.

Haha! Who does that?!

[Boogers 0]

ridebmxbikes

******How do you KNOW if you are facing into WIND? .

By reading the winds-aloft report at the beginning of the day.

Haha! Who does that?!

I hope you're not spotting for a high opening...

[Pablo.Moreno 0]

At our DZ every student has to SPOT the plane at least three times and land with in 50 meters of the target before they get their solo. (Which means they try to figured what the ground winds are doing, winds at opening and half way).
It is funny when we all go to a boogie and ask: "How does the guy at the door of the otter tells the pilot where to go in JR??"

Related to the post:
It doesn't matter which direction you face on opening, and a good practice is, after opening always fly perpendicular away from the line of flight as long as none is there.