AFFI practice in wind tunnel

[labrys 0]

Has anyone out there used the tunnel to practice for AFFI? Is there enough room and speed variance to make it practical or is the space and speed too limited?

Owned by Remi #?

[ficus 0]

I did 15-20 minutes of "AFFI practice" in the tunnel in preparation for my course: a mix of spin stops, rollovers, and general body position corrections.

It was very useful for spin stops.

Rollovers were okay but not as good as in the air due to the lack of a rig.

Body position stuff was useful too, just to get your eyes in the mode of constantly scanning. Obviously you can't do any of the major separation work.

I would not travel to a wind tunnel for AFFI training, but if you have one you can use locally (and an experienced instructor to play student for you) I think it is beneficial.

[labrys 0]

Quote

Body position stuff was useful too, just to get your eyes in the mode of constantly scanning. Obviously you can't do any of the major separation work.

Hey... I hadn't thought about the possibilty of practicing the body scan in the tunnel. That seems like a true potential. Bottom end should be something useful to practice also, you think?

Owned by Remi #?

[ficus 0]

Quote

Hey... I hadn't thought about the possibilty of practicing the body scan in the tunnel. That seems like a true potential. Bottom end should be something useful to practice also, you think?

This was not as useful for me in the tunnel without my altimeter (and the student/evaluator's altimeter, the only one that counts). But I did try to do it when the lights flashed at 5 seconds, which gave a reasonable approximation of the timing and rhythm of the "six second dance".

[RoryJ 0]

I did some AFFI training in Paraclete XP which gives you a decidedly large amount of room to chase a student in. My friend wore a dummy rig and I did a shit-ton of roll-overs and stop spins. When it came to the course they were quite easy. All you have to do is stay close enough to just go in there and perform the needed maneuver.

It is good for peace of mind on a few things, if you think that your belly skills are less than 100%.

Not again!

[matthewcline 0]

You can do the whole dive minus exit in a tunnel. Kip Lohmiller (wintering in Sabastian I believe) has used the Tunnel as a prep for some courses.

It helps.
My issue was slow fall rate, the XP tunnel helped me a bunch.
After earning a rating tunnels are good to use it as a tool to help in situations you may not have practiced with a live student, this keeps you current on all aspects.

Matt

An Instructors first concern is student safety.
So, start being safe, first!!!

[tdog 0]

I had over 100 roll overs and 100 spin stops in the tunnel before practicing in the sky.

Your "partner" will want to wear a jumpsuit with grippers, grabbing skin thru the jumpsuit hurts... NOT MY FAULT. He should have known - no rig + no grippers = gotta grab something. ;-)

[tetra316 0]

Contact the Colorado tunnel, Jason I believe. We had a couple people this summer do about an hour prep time with him before taking the course. They used a dummy rig and were able to do everything except the diving part obviously.

[RossDagley 0]

Yes. It was invaluable for me (and my teammate) to help gain the AFFI rating - countless spinstops and rollovers.

We were/are both full time tunnel instructors by day, so having some flying skills helped a lot too. The only thing it doesn't help with is the exits. And our course director did love his pike exit

[riddler 0]

I have an AFFI rating, and I still practice AFF drills every time I go to the tunnel. Even after getting the rating, my skills are improving. But yes, before I got the rating, I practiced loads for AFFI in the tunnel. Bottom line is, without the tunnel, I could not have passed the AFFI arial evals. With the tunnel, it was still hard work, but I passed on the first try.

BTW - a lot of people think the Ground prep is harder than the arial evals. I helped teach the AFFI course several times over a few years to get ready for that.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Likewise, I have practiced AFF drills in the tunnel almost every single time I have been in the cone. It is an invaluable tool for practicing spin stops, maintaining proximity, and roll-over drills.

Chuck