Practice flaring with rear risers often

[thrillseek 0]

This past week at WFFC i broke a steering line on deployment. With a little effort and care, the canopy was landable. If not for practicing this manuever before and hearing about it only a night before in a seminar, i might have cutaway. Flying the controlable canopy you already have is a smart choice, but it requires practice. Next jump you do, regardless of how many jumps you have, do one of these at altitude with your canopy. It'll pay off in the long run.

[JFC3 0]

You know I always heard the same although admittedly I've never actually practiced this. But since you have the experience of having done this now let me ask: was the flare particularly sensative? I've always imagined that if I were to yank my rear risers as I would my toggles I would pop up a lot.

I've flown rear risers and even flared a bit high up but as we all know it's hard to get a very good perspective on these things in the sky.

Curious, Thanks.

"Five days? But I'm angry now!"

[faulknerwn 38]

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You know I always heard the same although admittedly I've never actually practiced this. But since you have the experience of having done this now let me ask: was the flare particularly sensative? I've always imagined that if I were to yank my rear risers as I would my toggles I would pop up a lot.

I

When landing on rear-risers the flare is a lot more sensitive. The biggest mistake people make when doing this is pulling down too far on the risers. Its a LOT easier to stall on the risers than the brakes - and you're not likely to slow down quite as much horizontally as you would with brakes. So people tend to keep flaring past the stall points on the risers. Practice up high.

W

[conoro 0]

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When landing on rear-risers the flare is a lot more sensitive. The biggest mistake people make when doing this is pulling down too far on the risers

That makes sense - the rear risers being connected to a much larger area of the canopy than the steering lines alone. That's obvious enough but I hadn't thought about the stall point. The only time I practiced this manuevour was under a Manta on a day with some wind. Gave me a feel for it at least.

Here's another thing to practice:

There have been threads on braked/flat flared turns that I decided to follow and try out a few weeks ago. I'm convinced it was a good idea although people did wonder what the hell I was up to doing turns in mid flare... (Also, I discovered that practising flare turns forces you to fly the canopy all the way to the ground instead of doing passive one/two stage flares).

Sunday afternoon... Downwind leg, I decide to skip the crosswind leg and instead I start an aggressive 180 degree toggle turn. I'm possibly at 100 ft (maybe more) flying a PD-170 at 1:1. Third of the way through I abort the turn, converting to a braked turn instead. Level out at 30 ft maybe. Land no problem short of where I meant to be.
I got a brief talking to, but at least I got a "good job on the flat turn" bit thrown in. I _might_ have made it through the entire 180 otherwise, but I could have thumped it in fairly hard... Cancelling the turn altogether was not an option unless I wanted to land in the packing area.

Just like to thank those that have posted information that, if we read it and act on it, becomes rather useful in situations where we wouldn't know what to do. Low turns are something you don't want to execute badly.

[billvon 2,998]

>I've always imagined that if I were to yank my rear risers as I would
> my toggles I would pop up a lot.

1. It takes a lot more effort to flare with rear risers; get a good grip.

2. Pull down _only_ until you plane out. Don't try to get much more flare than that. If you are 2 inches above the ground and are planing out, you can pull a little more, since at that point a sudden stall isn't as painful.

3. Be prepared to PLF. You'll land going a lot faster.

[billvon 2,998]

>Also, I discovered that practising flare turns forces you to fly the
> canopy all the way to the ground instead of doing passive one/two
> stage flares.

Yep, and this is one of the most important results of learning to flare turn. Nothing scares me more than hearing someone jump a 1.5:1 canopy for the first time and ask something like "So should I use a two stage flare?" Sorta like flying a constant-speed prop plane for the first time and saying "So this prop control is just like a throttle, right?" If you're asking questions like that, you're not ready.

[thrillseek 0]

Landing on rear risers is a sensitive manuver when you are used to using toggles all the time--not to mention a nerve-racking experience. Depending on what you are flying and at what wing loading, it can be an exercise in moderation. Mine was under an eliptical canopy loaded at 1.31 and it didn't take as much as i remembered needing on my old canopy that was 1:1. Just remember that this is a situation that calls for level-headedness and NOT panic. Practice, Practice, Practice!!

[skymedic 0]

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"So this prop control is just like a throttle, right?"

or the ol...."whats manifold pressure again???" and "what does that have to do with how much power I have left??".....

or "what do you mean I can't fly it at max rpm and max rich?"

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....