How do YOU turn with your feet in freefall?

[EDYDO 0]

I have often thought about how I turn with my feet in freefall. I do, but I don't know what it is that I do. Have any of you instructor types ever broken down exactly what it is we do with our feet to turn?

Ed

[billvon 3,070]

>Have any of you instructor types ever broken down exactly what it is
> we do with our feet to turn?

Lean your lower legs. To teach this, get someone on a creeper and have them rest their feet on a couch. Then tell them to use the couch to turn themselves. Turing in the air uses the same motion (for a completely different reason, though.)

[chuteless 1]

If you are falling nice and stable, and your legs are relatively straight behind you, the bending of one leg slightly will cause a turn. It can become a spin, even if two jumpers are hooked up, all one has to do is bend a leg, and the turn will begin.

It can also be done by drawing one hand and arm back is you are alone, and a slow turn will begin

I have seen jumpers with one leg bent slightly AND the arm drawn slightly back, and they couldnt figure out why they had a flat spin.

Bill Cole D-41

[FrogNog 1]

If you do it but don't know how, maybe you need to jump with someone with video.

And to answer the question, I don't yet turn with my feet in freefall. Almost there.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[Michele 1]

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I have seen jumpers with one leg bent slightly AND the arm drawn slightly back, and they couldnt figure out why they had a flat spin.

Uh, well, yes. I do do that. How'd you ever know?

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[EDYDO 0]

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If you are falling nice and stable, and your legs are relatively straight behind you, the bending of one leg slightly will cause a turn. It can become a spin, even if two jumpers are hooked up, all one has to do is bend a leg, and the turn will begin.

Bill Cole D-41

Interesting....Can it be compared to a tractor where you can turn it without using the steering wheel by slowing or stopping one back wheel? The moves are too subtle to be seen on video, at least for me to see. I have tried some of these movements on accuracy jumps (5000'), but when alone you never know if you are "arc" turning or "center point" turning.

Ed

[chuteless 1]

I suppose you might compare it to the tractor idea, but a tractoro is mechanical...in freefall is is aerodynamics, action and reaction of the hands/legs and the deflective air. Not quite tractor like.

When I began jumping in 1962, I had more than my share of flat spins, and it took some time before I managed to control them. Experimentation even long after being in control, showed that a stable fall can be altered into a slow spin simply by moving one arm OR leg. You must be fairly symmetrical when perfectly stable. Any alteration of an arm or leg will bring a re-action in falling.

Hope it helps.

Bill Cole

[mcrocker 0]

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I have often thought about how I turn with my feet in freefall. I do, but I don't know what it is that I do. Have any of you instructor types ever broken down exactly what it is we do with our feet to turn?

Ed

It is hard to explain but this is how I turn in RW. I don't so much turn with my feet as I do with my knee and lower calf,foot & booties. I take my knee and turn it out and 'swing' it around in the direction I want to turn in (from the top down, clockwise is left knee, ccw is right knee). I also raise the other leg slightly. This has the effect of catching more air on my inner knee, and lower leg and deflecting it a bit sideways. The result is I turn in the direction my knee is pointing. My arms are in the mantis position which looks like (from the elbows to the hands) /''\. To turn I lower the arm on the same side as the knee. So a left turn (counter clockwise from the top) is right knee and right arm. My arms look like /' ,/ Both of them are deflecting air to the right, forcing my upper body to go left (ccw). To side slide I do the same thing but use the opposite arm. To slide left I point my left knee (point knee in the direction you want it to go) and lower my right arm. To slide right I point my right knee and lower my left arm. I practiced this in the Orlando tunnel for a pretty long time with the help of Boxman and the tunnel staff. It was very unstable at first and I found myself having to think 'hrrm, I want to turn left so that is right knee and right arm...' After a while it comes as second nature and just happens automatically. If you hold it for a couple seconds you can really get ripping. After you get the turning part down you can start working on stopping your turn where you give a left turn input to start it. Go to neutral and then a right turn input to stop it. Buy the Skydive U. video it has a great example of this type of turning.

[EDYDO 0]

It is hard to explain but this is how I turn in RW. I don't so much turn with my feet as I do with my knee and lower calf,foot & booties. I take my knee and turn it out and 'swing' it around in the direction I want to turn in (from the top down, clockwise is left knee, ccw is right knee). I also raise the other leg slightly. This has the effect of catching more air on my inner knee, and lower leg and deflecting it a bit sideways. The result is I turn in the direction my knee is pointing. My arms are in the mantis position which looks like (from the elbows to the hands) /''\. To turn I lower the arm on the same side as the knee. So a left turn (counter clockwise from the top) is right knee and right arm. My arms look like /' ,/ Both of them are deflecting air to the right, forcing my upper body to go left (ccw). To side slide I do the same thing but use the opposite arm. To slide left I point my left knee (point knee in the direction you want it to go) and lower my right arm. To slide right I point my right knee and lower my left arm. I practiced this in the Orlando tunnel for a pretty long time with the help of Boxman and the tunnel staff. It was very unstable at first and I found myself having to think 'hrrm, I want to turn left so that is right knee and right arm...' After a while it comes as second nature and just happens automatically. If you hold it for a couple seconds you can really get ripping. After you get the turning part down you can start working on stopping your turn where you give a left turn input to start it. Go to neutral and then a right turn input to stop it. Buy the Skydive U. video it has a great example of this type of turning.

[DutchSkyCam 0]

I have over 2000 jumps and know I turn with my feet, knees, hips, body, arms and shoulders (did I forget a part of my body?).

The funny thing is: I don't know HOW i do it.

I just feel the wind and instinctively know what to do with my body to get to the place I want to be. I have never been tought to steer any different than the standard "student" method of dipping the shoulders.

I have seen my flying on video, and see what I do (mainly knees and lower legs) and I see the result but I don't have a clue how it works.

FEEL THE WIND...

[EDYDO 0]

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I have over 2000 jumps and know I turn with my feet, knees, hips, body, arms and shoulders (did I forget a part of my body?).

The funny thing is: I don't know HOW i do it.


This thread reminds me of the old story about the centipede being asked how he could coordinate moving all of those feet. He thought about it, analyzed it and then began tripping over his own feet.

Ed

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