Tracking & line of flight

[lippy 918]

OK, I have a feeling I might get flamed here, but I just read the exit separation posts and this came into my head. I know that come breakoff everybody should track off of the line of flight (unless first or last group out), and this is what I normally do on a 4-way or smaller, assuming I know the way. But I also spend a good bit of time at unfamiliar DZs. Sometimes I'll spend an entire weekend at a place, and when I leave Sunday night I have no better idea which way North is then when I got there, and I usually have other things on my mind in the plane before exit then to make a note of which way we're heading. Even if I did, I'm not sure about taking the extra couple seconds at breakoff to account for jumprun as well as other jumpers in the group. I've never had a close call or collision like this. So am I a menace to the sky for assuming that the group behind isn't gonna follow us straight out, or is this how most people operate @ gotime?

I got nuthin

[quade 4]

If you're at a drop zone and don't know which way jumprun is or which way north is, then I'd say yes, you're a hazard.

Ask if you can't figure this stuff out yourself, ask manifest for a safety briefing for that drop zone.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[FrogNog 1]

At my DZ I was taught to track directly away from the center of the formation for 5 or so seconds at breakoff, and take care of the "line of flight" issue with exit separation. The reasoning was:
* tracking less than about 5 seconds would be a risk of not being far enough from your formation buddies.
* tracking more than about 5 seconds would be a risk of covering significant distance up the line of flight and therefore under other groups.
* when breaking off a formation of 4 people or more, if everyone goes directly away from the center to maximize their distance from each other, it is assumed at least one of them will be tracking more or less up the line of flight, and "correcting" this problem by adjusting the multi-person track distribution out from the formation is not the right thing to do.

I accepted this as a risk prioritization thing, where being too close to your formation buddies is the largest risk, and trying to "be smart" at breakoff time in re track directions was a risk that could be traded for other, lesser risks.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[tiigra 0]

Quote

I accepted this as a risk prioritization thing

You don´t have to prioritize. Why just not stop the skydive a little higher if you need extra time to find out which direction to track?

Break off isn´t the time to look which direction to track. Or as I have seen some freeflyer do: start looking where their buddies are. This has to be done before. Take the time you need to prepare for a safe break off.

[pilotdave 0]

ASSUMING (big assumption) that exit separation was proper, isn't breakoff tracking really taken into account? I mean, tracking off the line of flight is a bonus, but the time left between groups SHOULD be chosen so that there will be horizontal spacing between groups after both groups have broken off. Now a tracking dive or especially high breakoff/long track would be different.

Not saying tracking off the line of flight isn't a good thing, but I'm agreeing that separation from your own group and proper exit timing is more important.

Dave

[billvon 2,991]

> I know that come breakoff everybody should track off of the line
>of flight (unless first or last group out), and this is what I normally
>do on a 4-way or smaller, assuming I know the way.

On anything larger than a 2-way coach dive, track from the center of the formation without regard for line of flight. You are _far_ more likely to hit someone in your own group than someone from the next group; plan your breakoff to avoid your own group first. Use sufficient exit separation to prevent collisions between groups.

[JohnMitchell 16]

as long as you're tracking, make sure to look down for canopies and jumpers below you. If you ever screw up the exit spacing or tracking direction, this can still save your bacon