Horizontal Distance - Getting Back

[russellr 0]

Hi
This is all new to me and hope someone can help.

I was heading back to the dropzone and realised that it might be tight to make it back.
Putting aside landing off, I had two options:
1 – Dump 1000 ft higher and return under canopy or
2 – Continue in flight to normal height and deploy as normal.

So the question is this: for a loss of 1000 ft of altitude, would I cover a greater (horizontal) distance under canopy or flying birdman?

Canopy is a Sabre(1) with a wing loading of about 1.0

Regards


Russell

[bodypilot1 0]

IMO I don't think it's a question anyone could answer, without knowing the glide ratio you are getting in flight, while flying your wingsuit.




Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[Extrakt 0]

Pro track for vertical speed,

And get your horizontal measured by gps.

How you measure it by gps im not sure.

"If murder and suicide are illegal, then why is it ok to kill yourself and others with cigarettes?????"

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[Pendragon 1]

If you've got a tail-wind going back to the dropzone (i.e. taking it out long), it always makes sense to dump higher as you will improve your minimum sink rate (by doing this you hang around in the moving airmass [moving relative to the ground] and are carried with it for longer - same argument as why flat flyers should go out first when there are strong uppers).

Going into wind is less clear cut - max glide will be slightly faster than min sink - but I was under the impression that canopies had better glide ratios than wingsuits, and certainly more consistent!

You have to remember that the position of max glide (relative to the ground) on a wing moves depending on the strength of the head/tailwind.

So I would conclude that you're always better off dumping high, even if that's less fun!

(you just need to plan your flight better!)

Hope that helps..

--
BASE #1182
Muff #3573
PFI #52; UK WSI #13

[DaMan 0]

Quote

Hi
This is all new to me and hope someone can help.

I was heading back to the dropzone and realised that it might be tight to make it back.
Putting aside landing off, I had two options:
1 – Dump 1000 ft higher and return under canopy or
2 – Continue in flight to normal height and deploy as normal.

So the question is this: for a loss of 1000 ft of altitude, would I cover a greater (horizontal) distance under canopy or flying birdman?

Canopy is a Sabre(1) with a wing loading of about 1.0

Regards


Russell

So, what did you do - or is this just hypothetical?

If you're asking what would I do and if your profile is correct (you don't normally jump wingsuit - no insult, trying to explain my reasoning)...

If that's all true...canopy would be your best bet unless you are downwind in high winds - with a big canopy you aren't going to get much penetration, but you can swoop your suit to get more distance (if you're going to be close to the DZ).

Flying a wingsuit means a higher chance of off landings - accept that and plan for outs..."got to get back" might put you in the hospital, but a short walk to get a ride only takes a little time out of the day. Having said that, I would have been looking at my outs before the deploy decision and factored that into my line of flight too.

Just my $.02

Z-Flock 8
Discotec Rodriguez

Too bad weapons grade stupidity doesn't lead to sterility.

[LouDiamond 1]

The generic answer to this question, without getting into the GR and numbers is: The canopy will get you back as opposed to the suit.

If you are jumping a big canopy and you're already donwind, you're prob going to land off but you improve your chances under canopy as you can get into your rears and flatten you glide angle. I personally will go to my canopy if it looks like I might not make it back by flying alone. It's too easy to try and fly it back and end up putting yourself low with no outs or low with complications and no outs for a landing.

Imagine pushing it to get back, opening low, having a post opening issue and then landing in anything but an open field. It is a far better and WISER option to put yourself under canopy while you still have altitude, get on the rears and then find your out early. It's last second changes that bite people in the ass when landing out.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
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[nicknitro71 0]

To add what DaMan said it really matters what the uppers and lowers are doing.

If you are flying into the wind keep flying the suit. If the opposite is true than dump higher.

Now if the upper and lower winds come from different directions (very common in our area) you have to know the altitude they switch and the direction of both to make the most correct decision.

In my case no matter where I am and what they winds do I dump between 3 and 4 K and take it from there. I like landing out anyway

Memento Audere Semper

903

[VectorBoy 0]

That is a very difficult question.

Pull high? Some people don't know how to fly thier canopy for maximum forward penetration with decent glide into headwinds. Instead they rely on common "what to do ifs".

Pull normal? Even less people have experience flying their wingsuit for penetration into headwinds. But if you are wings stowed under canopy higher you do have more time to develope your options for an out landing than if you pull normal.

[leoholanda 0]

Quote

Hi
This is all new to me and hope someone can help.

I was heading back to the dropzone and realised that it might be tight to make it back.
Putting aside landing off, I had two options:
1 – Dump 1000 ft higher and return under canopy or
2 – Continue in flight to normal height and deploy as normal.

So the question is this: for a loss of 1000 ft of altitude, would I cover a greater (horizontal) distance under canopy or flying birdman?

Canopy is a Sabre(1) with a wing loading of about 1.0

Regards


Russell

Hi Russel, I agree with everybody that this is a difficult question. Just to give you a concrete answer, this is the jump profile given by the GPS I used.

My glide ratio is about 0.9. Which is not too good as this experienced guys. In my case, I would dump higher. In this jump, I pulled at 4000ft. As you can see in the profile graphic, the glide ratio after the pull is better than before. I'm using a silhouette with a wing load of about 1.1 in which the glide ratio is about 2.5.

Leo Holanda

[bodypilot1 0]

What GPS are you using?




Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[leoholanda 0]

Quote

What GPS are you using?

Ed

I got the garmin foretrex suggested by KrisFlyZ (see the GPS thread).

But the softwares I'm using to analyze the jumps are two:

- GPS Track Maker for getting all the data, analyze total speeds, distances, and jump profile (the graphic i attached).
- 3DTracer for getting a 3D animation of the jump and other live info.

Leo Holanda

[bodypilot1 0]

Thanks




Be safe
Ed

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com