Where will 3 hours of tunnel time get you?

[Acoisa 0]

Just wondering:

Where will 3hrs of tunnel time get a flyer in terms of freeflying skills?

[Jewels 0]

Starting at what skill level?

TPM Sister #102

[RossDagley 0]

How long's a piece of string?

[Acoisa 0]

I'd say about 3 ft..

[leroydb 0]

I have about 750 ish skydives with the last 400-500 being either videoing tandems on my belly or flying birdman. So I had only maybe 5 at most quote unquote sitfly jumps; but those were made years ago when I had 100-200 skydives...

I went to the tunnel with the goal of learning to backfly for better tandem videos. After an hour in the tunnel I was able to go up, down, turn left and right, side slide and carve... You could probably progress alot faster if you got coaching though.

I am sure you could "sitfly" withing 3 hours, but how proficient would depend on your learning style, how quick you learn new things, and if you are not poor get coaching!

Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

[Acoisa 0]

Quote

Starting at what skill level?

Being able to sit and turn in a skydive but still moving backwards.. no backflying experience

[djd 0]

Quote

How long's a piece of string?

Id say about twice as far as from the middle to one end....

[NeedToJump 0]

It depends on where you go, if you get coaching, who the coach is (if you get coaching), where you are starting from and most importantly - you're attitude.

The only way to accurately answer your question is to do 3 hours of tunnel time and see where it gets you.

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

[DeadHead881 0]

I only have about 30 mins. in the tunnel and i must say it is well worth the investment... I live 5 mins away from the colorado tunnel and it is fantastic..I just turned 18 a few months ago and was sooo exited i could finally start skydiving! The day b4 i started my AFF I went out to the tunnel just to get two mins to kind of have an idea of what flying my body thro the air would be like...I learned a lot just on that first time and by 30 mins i am sitflying(no turns) but stable...I cant imagine how much your skills would improve with 3 hours of flight time....But like has been said already if u have the $$$$ then see what happens after 3 hours!!

What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail...

[michalm21 2]

One kid I met this summer, with less than 100 jumps and no prior tunnel time, learned a somehow solid tunnel sit in 45 minutes (he actually clicked after 30...). He had a good coach.
I have 2 hrs of tunnel time (all belly) and have another hour coming in 2 weeks I want to spend learning back and sit flying.
Will see if it gets me anywhere.

[hackish 8]

I did 15 min while in Florida. It made a HUGE difference in my belly flying skills. It's actually funny to watch the first and last minute to see the difference. With 3 hours in the tunnel I'm guessing you could learn a whole lot!

-Michael

[nayf69 0]

I've had just over 3 hours in the tunnel now (3:10) and I have 30 jumps I am now solidly sitflying with an instructor (up, down, 360 left, right, side slide and diagonals) and doing backfly to sitfly transistions confidently I am also going up then the instructor is running under me which is awesome!! So I would say that 3 hours would get you sitflying nicely, obviously depending on your speed of learning.

If you can't take care, take cover!!!

Nayf

[cocik 0]

It really depends on your learning style, coaching & the attention to individual details

I'm a belly flier, but after 3 hours (with almost no real skydive experience) I can fly the mantis (all possible directions & their combinations), I have solid experience with jumping over the instructor (both straight and in turns) & some basic 2-way skils (cogs, etc.)

I'm going to the tunnel again in 2 weeks time. I shall do more 2-way on my 4th hour and then fly an hour of 4-way (randoms only, no blocks). With a couple more hours of 4-way tunnel time during the spring & some exit/tracking coaching in the air, I may be ready to jump my first 4-way skydive in May

[chrismgtis 0]

Well, this kind of poll doesn't really make sense, because you're asking what 3 hours of tunnel time will get you by just being in the tunnel. It won't take you through some kind of skill progression like there is an order that we do these things in. It just depends on what you concentrate on your time in the tunnel. Working on belly flying skills won't get you anywhere as far as sit flying. It just depends on how much time you spend sit flying in the tunnel.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[cocik 0]

true
but I wanted to point out, that the outcome of the poll also depends on how comfortable you are with each particular step (i.e. whether you will spend more time mastering your backfly before moving to sitfly, or whether you just demonstrate all the skills needed to progress to sitfly - in case tunnel rules require that - and spend more time mastering sitfly)

nice list of steps in skill progression (FF) can be seen at SVCO website http://skyventurecolorado.com/index.php?page=80