Skydiving
This page is a chapter in 'BASE Wiki Getting into BASE'
Skydiving: Of all things you can do to prepare for BASE, skydiving can be the time best spent. However, make sure you focus on the right things. Being great at freeflying and swooping wont hurt your BASE performance, but there are other things you could be doing that will prepare you much better. If you dont already skydive, put BASE out of your mind for a while and stick to being a skydiver. Go through your AFF, PFF, static-line progression or whatever it is called and do what your instructor and jump-master recommend. This will not only be safer, it will also make you familiar with some of the vocabulary that the rest of this website contains.
Number of Skydives
The debate on how many skydives a person needs before he can get into BASE is a recurring and heated one. The problem is that BASE is a complicated sport with a broad range of required techniques. Its preparation cant be captured in a specific number of skydives. Those that try are bound to be corrected quickly with some random number that will be wrong in the eyes of a third group of people. Since it is such a popular discussion however, BASE wiki has dedicated an entire page to it. It provides an easy answer, followed by a more difficult and more useful answer. You decide: How many skydives do i need?
BASE Is Not Skydiving
While skydiving is great preparation for BASE, it is very different too. BASE introduces a large number of risks that skydivers simply dont have to worry about. Tom Begic has written [Skydiving is not BASE]] explaining the differences.
Skydiving Exercises
Wait until you have your A-license or at least thirty jumps before considering to try the drills listed below. Even better, postpone it for a while and go have fun in other skydiving disciplines like freeflying or relative work. Skydiving is a great sport. Dont miss out on the fun just so you can rush into BASE.
Remember that BASE isnt going anywhere!
Always ask around before attempting any of the drills below. Talk to your instructor, jump-master, and other jumpers at the dropzone. Not everybody will always agree with you, but at the very least you should be able to form an educated opinion on whether or not you are ready for the drills below. Learning to form such opinions is an important skill that youll need for BASE.
Remember that BASE isnt going anywhere!
Always ask around before attempting any of the drills below. Talk to your instructor, jump-master, and other jumpers at the dropzone. Not everybody will always agree with you, but at the very least you should be able to form an educated opinion on whether or not you are ready for the drills below. Learning to form such opinions is an important skill that youll need for BASE.
Canopy Choice
Ideally, your skydiving should happen on a similar canopy to the one you intend to use in BASE. From ideal scenario to not ideal but possible, the following canopies can be used:
- The very BASE canopy you intend to use for your own BASE jumps.
- An old used BASEcanopy, probably unvented.
- A canopy relative work (CRW) or accuracy seven cell canopy.
- A big student nine cell, possibly rented at your dropzone.
- Your own canopy, as long as its not a heavily loaded crossbraced swoop canopy.
In Freefall
Great freefall skills are not crucial to being a successful BASE jumper. They dont hurt, but all BASE jumps start in dead air. All the skills you use to move your body at terminal speed wont help when youre falling at sub terminal speeds. In fact, sometimes they can be counter productive. This is why platform diving is a great addition to your path into BASE, because it teaches you body awareness and stability control in dead air. That said, there is one important skill that can be practiced during freefall, namely tracking. Given that the biggest enemy in BASE is the object behind you, it makes sense to find ways to get as far away from it as possible. The first few seconds, only a strong launch, potentially helped by a running exit, is going to help you gain distance from the object. At some point, your body will meet air resistance, and itll become possible to leverage this to track away from the object. It is this latter part that you can successfully practice on your skydives. Talk to experienced skydivers and your instructor to learn how to track. Then do tracking-dives where you leave the plane at high altitude and do nothing but tracking for the entire duration of the jump. Experiment with your body position and see how it affects your speed. Look at the ground to gain a sense of speed or, even better, do tracking dives with a coach or a friend and use the relative speed of the other person to judge your tracking skills. In BASE there are different schools of thought as to what body position is best for tracking. Furthermore, the transition from dead-air to a terminal track introduces new challenges. Being able to track away as early as possible in the jump is what can give you the extra distance youll need to turn the canopy around in case of an offheading. BASE specific tracking is discussed in more detail on the tracking.
Body Position
The first thing to focus on during the opening sequence is your body position. Keep your body level with the horizon throughout the opening sequence, from the moment you reach back for your pilot chute to the moment the inflated canopy jerks you upright in the harness. Dropping a shoulder at any point can be the difference between getting an on heading opening, getting an offheading or even linetwist. The important point is to make sure that both risers get loaded and tensioned at the same time during the deployment sequence. If one riser is loaded before the other, it will initiate a turn in that direction. Do some skydives where you actually deploy while dropping a shoulder or going unstable to experience what kind of effect it can have. This only tells you something about slider up jumps, but its an interesting experiment nonetheless.
Watch Your Heading
During and after your opening sequence, keep an eye on your heading. Find a reference point on the ground or horizon and see if you are flying towards it once youre under canopy. You can keep track of your heading in your logbook and see if it improves over a number of jumps. Being able to see and feel what your heading is going to be as your canopy inflates is going to help you to deal with it as quickly as possible.
[youtube]HGA49oC2t-0[/youtube]
Off heading opening..
[youtube]HGA49oC2t-0[/youtube]
Off heading opening..
On Opening
Analyzing a jump from exit to landing, the time in which the canopy comes out of the container and inflates is the most crucial. While the jump isnt over until you land (and get away) safely, a successful opening of the parachute in the direction you want to fly will greatly improve your chances of having a successful jump all together. The key importance here is flying in the direction you want to fly. In BASE, that means away from the object. On your skydives, start analyzing your openings with a focus on heading. Learning to get consistent on-heading openings and learning to correct your heading quickly can someday save your life.
Reach for Risers or Toggles
Every now and then, for some reason, your heading isnt quite what you wanted it to be. In BASE, this means you might find yourself flying towards a solid object. It is highly advisable to do something about it. You need to be able to reach for your rear risers to fly backward or do a riser turn, or reach for toggles to do a toggle turn. Quickly, before you hit the object. The debate on when to use risers or toggles is presented on the page about Offheadings. On your skydives, practice both reaching for risers and toggles as quickly as possible, being careful not to let it affect your stability (which would encourage off headings). Some jumpers can be seen reaching back for their risers as soon as they have pitched their pilot chute. Their hands are basically reaching back, waiting for the risers to appear out of the container and slam into their hands. Very good jumpers can sometimes even use riser input while the canopy is still inflating to avoid linetwist or offheadings. Obviously just holding your risers or toggles isnt going to help you much. You need to apply input to correct a potentially disastrous situation. This is what youll practice under canopy.
Under Canopy
The best skydiving time you can spend preparing for BASE will be under canopy. Try the drills below immediately after opening (to learn how to quickly deal with offheadings) but continue to practice this until you need to start thinking about landing safely. Never compromise your landing to do more exercises; make sure you leave sufficient altitude to fly a correct landing pattern. Always be aware of the airspace around you and make avoiding other jumpers your first priority. A good strategy is to get out of the plane last and pull high. This will keep you away from other jumpers, and gives you lots of time to play with your canopy. Discuss your plan with the jump-master and other jumpers on the load.
Stalling
The stall point of your canopy is a crucial characteristic you want to learn. Ideally you are flying the same canopy you intend to use for BASE, but if not it is still important to learn the stall point. There are several different configurations in which you need to find the stall point.
- After opening, with the brakes still stowed, using rear risers.
- Using the toggles.
- Dropping the toggles, using rear risers again.
Riser Turns
Once you know how to stall your canopy, it is time to play with riser turns. Obviously you are already familiar with turning with toggles, but it is important to learn how to steer with your risers as well, for two reasons.
- Immediately after opening, you will be able to reach for your risers much faster than for your toggles. So when time is lacking, you might be better off reaching for risers rather than risking a mis-grab of your toggles.
- On most slider down jumps, you will use the Line Release Mod (LRM). Unfortunately, a drawback of the LRM is that in some rare occasions you might lose a toggle, meaning you will be forced to steer and land using your risers. It is therefore an essential skill.
Flying Backwards
This was already briefly touched upon when you practiced stalling. If you give enough input on your risers or your toggles and verge on stalling, you will be able to fly backward. Note that the word flying takes on a different meaning here. Compared to the usual forward flight of your canopy, flying backward is really nothing more than gracefully falling in the opposite direction. The canopy stays inflated above your head, but its shape is so deformed that it creates enough drag to take you in the opposite direction. Youll never create a lot of horizontal speed flying backwards. Your vertical speed will increase significantly though, and it is not recommended to land a backward flying canopy, not even if it is BASE sized. The only exception is on actual BASE jumps when your choice ends up being between flying backward and stalling it into the ground, or hitting the object and then hitting the ground. When practicing to fly backward, try applying more or less input on one riser or toggle and learn to turn while flying backwards.
Heading Correction
Having practiced all of the above, you now have the three ingredients to deal with a potential object strike.
- Being quick on risers or toggles
- Being able to fly backwards
- Being able to turn
Flying with One Toggle and One Riser
On slider down BASE jumps you will probably be using the line release mod, which helps you in case of a line over. However, occasionally a premature toggle fire means you will lose your toggle. This means you now have to steer using your rear riser. You have already practiced steering using both risers, now practice steering using one riser and one toggle. See how the inputs differ from each other. Also practice flying with risers when you have one toggle still stowed, and the other one released. If a toggle release on opening, your canopy will start a turn. On a BASE jump, you want to counter this turn quickly to keep flying straight and away from the object. You will need to provide riser input to do this. Most people will drop the other toggle too when they accidentally lose one. The advantage is that their steering mechanism is symmetrical again, now using two risers instead of one riser and one toggle. However, if you lose a toggle during opening, you need to be able to correct as quickly as possible, and using riser input is going to be the fastest. Once you are flying straight, you can decide to drop the other toggle or not.
Flat Turns
On BASE jumps you often have to make turns much closer to the ground than any skydiver will recommend you do. When you do a steep turn on a small skydiving canopy, you will swing out from underneath your canopy. At some point you will have to swing back underneath it. If you hit the ground while doing this, you become another low-turn incident, which seems to be the biggest cause of accidents in skydiving. Fortunately your large and docile BASE canopy, combined with a technique called flat-turning, will allow you to turn close to the ground and still land safely without injury. Practice flat turns with sufficient altitude first. Once you are comfortable with them, you can consider taking them lower. Remember that it is your responsibility to watch for other traffic in the air. A flat turn is performed by slowly giving equal input on both toggles. Then, by letting one toggle up, you will perform a slow turn in the opposite direction. This turn will consume little altitude, and you will remain close to vertical underneath your parachute. Once you are good at it, you can try initiating a flat turn by giving input on both toggles, but more on one side than on the other.
Low approaches
In skydiving the landing pattern starts at high altitude, often as high as 1000 feet. In BASE, a lot of jumps are lower than that, which means your flight pattern has to be executed below that as well. On the ideal object, your landing pattern will be nothing but a direct straight in approach. With an on heading opening, you just fly straight, flare, and land. Unfortunately, obstacles like buildings, trees, cars, etcetera, combined with wind considerations, often means your flight pattern will include some steering.
This means you need to be able to fly your canopy close to the ground, without hooking yourself into it. This is where your flat turn experience comes in handy. Your skydiving course made you aware that turns low to the ground are to be avoided. And indeed, an aggressive turn low to the ground can easily be deadly if you dont have enough time to plane out the canopy. Flat turns are different however. Make sure you practice them at higher altitude (as described above) and when you get a feel for them, try to take them lower. Progress to lower and lower altitudes, to the point where you are comfortable doing two full 90 degree turns below 300 feet.
That means, flying with the wind, then doing one 90 degree flat turn, flying straight for a bit, and then doing another one, and then bringing it in for landing. When you start doing this, it becomes especially important you talk to the jump master and your instructors. Make sure that they agree you are ready to do this, and also that everybody on the load is aware of your unusual landing pattern. It is your responsibility to avoid collisions with other canopy pilots.
This means you need to be able to fly your canopy close to the ground, without hooking yourself into it. This is where your flat turn experience comes in handy. Your skydiving course made you aware that turns low to the ground are to be avoided. And indeed, an aggressive turn low to the ground can easily be deadly if you dont have enough time to plane out the canopy. Flat turns are different however. Make sure you practice them at higher altitude (as described above) and when you get a feel for them, try to take them lower. Progress to lower and lower altitudes, to the point where you are comfortable doing two full 90 degree turns below 300 feet.
That means, flying with the wind, then doing one 90 degree flat turn, flying straight for a bit, and then doing another one, and then bringing it in for landing. When you start doing this, it becomes especially important you talk to the jump master and your instructors. Make sure that they agree you are ready to do this, and also that everybody on the load is aware of your unusual landing pattern. It is your responsibility to avoid collisions with other canopy pilots.
Steep approaches
As mentioned earlier when talking about accuracy, practice steep approaches. That means setting up as if you are going to overshoot the object, and then going into a deep brake to sink the canopy down close to vertically. You want to practice this because someday you will find yourself close to a landing area but much higher than ideal. Sinking your canopy down almost vertically will save your life. There is a potential danger; sinking your canopy means you will be hovering close to the stall point. Actually stalling your canopy close to the ground can be dangerous (causing a sudden surge coming out of the stall), so you want to know where your stall point is before you start practicing this. As usual, play under canopy with sufficient altitude, and once youre comfortable start taking it lower.
[youtube]ZUoTdHfPfyM[/youtube]
[youtube]ZUoTdHfPfyM[/youtube]
Landing
Although it is argued that the opening sequence is the most crucial component of a successful BASE jump, if you fail to land your canopy safely, your jump cannot be called a success. BASE landings are generally more technical than those you will on most dropzones. You will dodge objects, trees, fences, sometimes even cars, sometimes to fly to a landing area that can be smaller than the square footage of your own canopy. It is therefore important to work on your landing skills on every skydive.
Accuracy
On every jump, before starting your landing pattern, pick a spot where you are going to land. This does not always have to be the bowl in your dropzones landing field. Just pick a safe spot, away from other canopy traffic. Try to land there, and keep track of your landing accuracy over a large number of jumps. Make sure you improve. It helps if you are jumping a seven-cell canopy, or even better your BASE canopy. It allows you to set up high, and do a steep approach, sinking it and descending nearly vertical. A general rule of thumb on BASE canopies is that you want to err on the side of being too high. BASE canopies generally have a very steep angle of attack, and when flying close to your stall point youll be able to put it almost straight down. That said, sometimes overshooting a landing area is more dangerous than undershooting. Always take all dangers into account and make backup plans ordering them from safe to less-than-ideal to potentially deadly. There are plenty of resources on learning accuracy. Talk to your instructor and some of the old-timers on your dropzone. Theyll have great accuracy tips. Within no-time, youll be putting your toes on the penny in the center of the bowl.
PLF
You will have been taught the parachute landing fall (PLF) during your skydiving course. However, as soon as you could land on your feet you probably forgot about the PLF and continued landing on your feet. In BASE, the need for a well executed PLF comes up much more often. Think about the following scenarios, that in skydiving are much less likely:
- A night-jump where depth perception is trickier.
- A secondary landing area that is sloped and full of boulders.
- The only available landing area forces you to land downwind.
- The only available landing area involves a low-turn that even with a flat turn will give you a lot of forward speed on landing.
Rear riser landings
Most short-delay BASE jumping will be done using the line release mod (LRM). Dont worry about understanding what the LRM is for (although BASE WIKI can tell you, including whether or not to use it on skydives), just remember that the LRM can result in losing one or two toggles, meaning you will have to land on your risers. Some people prefer to land on one riser and one toggle when they lose one. You can decide to practice this too. Most people however just drop the other toggle as well and decide to land on both rear risers. The symmetry can make landing easier. Talk to your instructor to learn how to do rear riser landings. The important thing is to err on the side of not flaring at all. Most people that have never tried a rear riser landing and are suddenly forced to do one, apply the same strategy they use for toggle flares. They pull down hard, causing the canopy to stall ten feet above the ground, dropping them down on the ground hard. Instead, pull down lightly on the risers creating more glide. When in doubt; PLF.
Originally Posted by Jaap Suter
Down and Crosswind Landings
Most BASE jumps happen in low-wind conditions. Nonetheless, even in low (4 kph, 3 mph) winds, a downwind landing can give you more speed than you are used to. It is therefore recommended to do several downwind and crosswind landings so you can get comfortable with them. Start in minimal winds and slowly work your way up to stronger wind scenarios. Dont do sudden turns low to the ground if the extra speed surprises you. Instead, use your PLF skills to save yourself. Make sure everybody on the load is aware of your plans and prefer to land after everybody else has landed. The last thing a canopy pilot wants to see on landing is you coming from the other direction.
Flare Turns
Sometimes you will find yourself having to land amidst a turn. You try to avoid this in BASE by jumping easier sites or having a better flight plan, but one never knows what can happen and therefore it is useful to practice these type of landings on your skydives. Fly in straight, and then simply flare slightly more on one toggle than on the other. Start of gently, maybe banking in only five degrees on landing. The more comfortable you get, the bigger the turn you can make. Good canopy pilots can turn as much as 45 degrees during their flare. When in doubt; PLF.
Drills
Originally Posted by -"Mick Knutson"
- Perform 10 hop-n-pops, landing within 10' into the wind.
- Perform 10 hop-n-pops, landing within 10' cross wind right.
- Perform 10 hop-n-pops, landing within 10' cross wind left.
- Perform 10 hop-n-pops, landing within 10' down wind.
Now, the 1st bullshit response I got from this request 8 times out of 10, was "but I am jumping at Greeny, or Potato Bridge and the landing is huge.
I personally have had very unexpected downwind landings at most places I have jumped. And even though those 2 objects have large landing areas, there are also parts where there is just a goat trail and accuracy while downwind landing on a goat trail can either be really bad, or enough to walk away. I practiced my downwind landings, am came out walking away.
Then most urban jumps have a single car parking spot to land in. Thus, the 10' marker is actually more than what was available on many of my urban jumps.
Conclusion
90% of all injuries occur on landings. Most of which are due to issue with accuracy.
This video shows the beginning attempts to steer a parachute in line twists:
[youtube]piKLeRkQQv8[/youtube]
This video shows the beginning attempts to steer a parachute in line twists:
[youtube]piKLeRkQQv8[/youtube]
Malfunctions
Some people wonder why one would practice malfunctions. It just puts the jumper in a potentially dangerous situation without a reason. The key-word here is potential. A malfunction doesnt become a problem until the jumper is unable to do something about it. It is therefore highly recommended to practice some easily solvable malfunctions in a forgiving environment, such that when they do occur in high stress situations, you will be better equipped to deal with them. That said, make sure you have many skydives. The canopy should be an extension of your body and you should have sufficient gear knowledge to analyze the potential consequences. Always talk to your DZO, instructor and jump master about your intentions.
Check the Problems section of this website for more information on different BASE malfunctions. Some have information on how to best practice them on skydives. The following easily solvable problems are fun to play with on a skydive:
Check the Problems section of this website for more information on different BASE malfunctions. Some have information on how to best practice them on skydives. The following easily solvable problems are fun to play with on a skydive:
- Premature Brake Release
- Line Twist
Other Practice
There are other disciplines and skills you can practice at the dropzone that will aid in your BASE progression.
CRW
CRW (Canopy Relative Work, sometimes called Canopy Formation Skydiving) can be valuable preparation for BASE. CRW develops an in-depth understanding of a 7-cell parachute, from both rigging and flying standpoints, both of which are important in BASE. The average jumper will spend perhaps seven to ten minutes, on a CRW jump, under a canopy which is similar in many respects to a BASE canopy certainly better preparation than one minute or less under a highly-loaded elliptical canopy. Additionally, CRW particularly at a competition level demands consistent, on-heading openings in which the jumper is active, and immediate control of the canopy after it is opened. If you want to get the most out of your CRW jumps, find yourself an experienced coach. Mastery of all of the controls (front risers, rear risers, toggles, and harness steering) on a ram-air canopy requires time and effort, but can pay big dividends in the demanding environment of BASE.
Balloon and Helicopter Jumps
As mentioned earlier, BASE jumps start in dead air and skydiving wont give you the environment to practice these type of exits in. It is therefore recommended you get into platform diving or gymnastics. Nonetheless, when you get the chance to do balloon or helicopter jumps, do some. Especially balloon jumps are very similar to BASE exits, except you wont risk object strike. Helicopter jumps are a little different because of the prop-blast, but they can still be quite a useful experience. At least one major manufacturer used a balloon to drop its first jump course students. They have now switched to using the PotatoBridge but balloons continue to be great experience to practice dead air exits and transitions to sub terminal and terminal. See the section on exits for more information.
Night Jumps
While your first BASE jumps will happen in broad daylight, there will come a time you find yourself at the edge in the dark. If you have previous experience landing in the dark, you will have more time to enjoy the jump without worrying too much about what landing in the dark is like. The big problems with landing in the dark are depth perception (its harder to judge when the start the flare) and obstacle avoidance; cars, trees and most importantly power-lines are much harder to see. It is highly recommended to do several night skydives, to get more experience with what flying and landing in the dark is like. When in doubt; PLF. In fact, BASE WIKI highly recommends a PLF for your first few night BASE jumps, even when you think you can stand them up. Remember, doing a PLF is always less embarrassing than fracturing your femur.
Canopy Control Courses
Many dropzones invite famous canopy pilots and organize canopy control courses. Most of these are aimed towards people with an intention of getting into swooping. Nonetheless, taking one of these courses is highly recommended as there are many things to learn from such experienced canopy pilots. They probably dont visit your dropzone every day, so take the opportunity to ask away!
Become a Canopy Expert
There are many more resources on canopy control out there. Learn about CRW, accuracy and general canopy steering characteristics. Try to fly many different canopies so you can compare them and have broader experience. Consolidated Rigging has an article on skydiving exercises for BASE (PDF). Dropzone.com has several articles on canopy control. While not targeted to BASE, they contain a wealth of information that will help you in your BASE career too.
BLiNC Magazine strongly encourages readers to comment on its content. Read the Disclaimer and the policy on Site Naming. Posting a comment releases it in the Public Domain. These comments will be moderated. If you see inappropriate content, please notify the administrator
All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author. All images and words are protected by U.S. and International Copyright laws. Copyright 1994-2011
BLiNC Magazine strongly encourages readers to comment on its content. Read the Disclaimer and the policy on Site Naming. Posting a comment releases it in the Public Domain. These comments will be moderated. If you see inappropriate content, please notify the administrator
All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author. All images and words are protected by U.S. and International Copyright laws. Copyright 1994-2011
Categories:
Category General
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base jumping, canopy, canopy control, deployment, gear, incident, line release mod, malfunctions, problems, skydiving
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