By what reference do you initiate your approach?

[LearningTOfly 0]

As you're flying your approach to landing (high performance)- is your primary source of altitude awareness at the high key point your altimeter or your eyes?

My habit is to use my visual reference to the ground to que the stages of my approach. During a 'pre landing chack', I'll verify my altitude to determine what I need to do to arrive where I want, and at the altitude I want for the high key. Thereafter, it's all eyes.

[Maxim 0]

I use my alti to initiate my turn. from then on in its all ground visuals.

Life is Great. Even Greater what we do with it.

[AggieDave 6]

How about both? I use my alti to fly my approach and to judge what general altitude I'm at for my base leg into my turn over a course. I use my eyes to verify that altitude, as well as dive and approach to the course. I adjust the dive according to my eyes, I setup my swoop pattern according to my alti. I start the approach according to my eyes. I'm using the tools available to make myself as consistant as I can be at my experience level.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Sabre1Lucke 0]

I couldn't explain it better!
I do exactly the same as AggieDave explained above.

[rhys 0]

I voted for alti bus as mentioned i use it only initially. but i can't imagine anyone staring at thier alti throuout thier whole approach so i guess i'm an alti man.

i only have 50 jumps on my fx 89 so i am still playing with the height still. 500' seems to work well for 270

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Visual refereces only work when you jump at the same dropzone and swoop the same area of that dropzone every time. Jump at a place with a lot of such references such as Raeford, The Ranch, or anywhere else with big trees or building and you will immediately be screwed the first time you try to judge your setup to swoop the pond at Perris. You simply must use an accurate altimeter if you wish to ever get any degree of accuracy in your landings. Yes, your eyes can tell you if you have turned too low or how your turn is progressing, but the setup is the key to a good landing and you won't ever figure your setup out without repeated jumps with a Neptune or some other accurate device. Yes, you can swoop the beer line without one, but if you want to land on a declared target or swoop through gates, you had better figure out your setup altitude.

[PhreeZone 20]

Just don't get fixated on the Neptune and say at 575 feet I must turn no matter what. Conditions change and just because the altitude was at that exact foot yesterday does not mean it is the same exact elevation to start today. I believe that a recent fatality was partually due to the thinking that the Neptune was almost infalliable and the jumper trusted the Neptune more then visual input in making his turns.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

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[dharma1976 0]

truthfully it is a altitude check points on altimeter and then all visual once turn to final comes on

D

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CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[perse 0]

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Just don't get fixated on the Neptune and say at 575 feet I must turn no matter what. Conditions change and just because the altitude was at that exact foot yesterday does not mean it is the same exact elevation to start today.

Conditions change also when you do it visually....
Why would it be better to start the dive (visual reference) from ABOUT 600ft than from exactly (altimeter like neptune, optima..) 600 ft even though the conditions make your canopy dive a little bit differently.
Think if the conditions are such that the canopy will dive some 20ft more and at the same time you estimate the altitude some 40ft too low with your eyes........ Yes..with good luck you might estimate the altitude so that you initiate your turn 20ft higher


Why not use an audible (optima etc.) to fly the pattern and to start the dive + use neptune to verify the altitude and checking the speed of decent when flying the pattern+ verify the altitude visually when initiating the dive after the audible signal. So that's 3 times check for the altitude, from which 2 are accurate and the last one is your own visual reference...Which you will be using for the rest of your swoop to check the altitude..

[chachi 0]

i use my neptune to setup my pattern. i try to be at my initiation point on time and use my neptune to assit me in knowing whether i am at initiation point, high / low. from then on it's all eyes through the gate. aggie dave's explanation made sense. i use my eyes throughout to visually verify what my neptune is telling me.

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500' seems to work well for 270

i think if you are turning at 500' on an fx89 you are probably coming out low most often. maybe not low i'll slam into the ground but low i should have let the canopy recover itself low. then again you could be super lightly loading. i fly a vx94 at 2.1 without weights and start my turn optimally between 675' and 725'.