I am curious how many other experienced BASE jumpers regularly hook turn on BASE jumps? How many of you actually ever touch the front risers of your BASE canopy? From what I've seen this summer, most BASE jumpers DO NOT. This is an important aspect of flying. I have more to say, but I hope this starts a discussion about the most important part of our sport...landing.
sorry to flame you but...........STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!
Spoken like a typical BASE geek who never learned to fly a parachute properly -- why do you think these bozoes jump student-size canopies?
And it gives you your answer: They don't use their front risers because... they don't know how!
I discovered my front risers in BASE when I was getting blown off coarse by a X-wind and turbulence was lifting my canopy. I used my front risers to cut through the side drafts and turbulence so I could stay on target. Since then (100 jumps ago)I started using my front risers alot. They can realy help you in some situations and get you into trouble twice as fast. I wouldn't advise anyone to hook it on a BASE jump but ya gotta admit, there is no feeling like whippin' a big ol' FATTY hook turn next to a big ol' FATTY wall!!! ( landing area permitting of coarse):*
I love using risers (I'm a toggle turkey (CRW jumper). Hook Turns??? Come to Australia and show us!!!!!!! Jumping in windy conditions, I'd like to say more, but you seem to know what you are doing?????:'(
Been there, done that, luckily survived/not seriously injured.
end cells met in front of the canopy, lost all lift, barely got it reinflated but not flying before pounding in on the infamous plowed field.
The drag on terminal PC's should not be a prob with larger BASE canopies, smaller ones could be a prob, But with Large PC's,The initial increase in airspeed effects the PC exponentially, distorting the airfoil by applying it's exp. increased drag to the center cell and allowing the end cells to out fly the center progressing to a full collapse. Nasty..I occassionally use FR's on terminal setup ONLY! Have fun, Be safe,
take care.
space.
Any walk you jump away from was a good one! tw01
:7 :7 :7
Funny you mentioned this as I bought my rig used and it has dive loops on the front risers (of course it also had velcro to tie down the slider on the rear risers also????)but I never touch em, mostly because I'm only under canopy on most jumps for less than...say 7 seconds. But read my name, I'm sure I'll get to use them some day, probably only for overshooting the LZ vs. hooking it. As for hooking it, I LOVE to hook my skydiving rig...of course I don't love to skydive like I used to either...BASE addict.:-)
Space has a great point. I've never seen one totaly fold up but the PC is a problem. I can feel it on my rig when I accelerate a landing. Thanx for the insight Space! Jeff
I hooked in my Raven on a skydive and was lucky to walk away, and this was with a skydiving pilot chute from a decent height. Docile seven cells are not designed to swoop, they take forever to come out of the dive at the best of times never mind with a large pilot chute.
I have to say though, the ground rush was worth it, although I wouldn't do it again :-)
I think using front risers allows you to access the complete performance envelope of your canopy--which can be quite important.
I think hook turns are almost never useful in the BASE environment.
Here's a question for you:
Have you ever used your front risers for anything other than a hook turn?
I have dive loops on my front risers as well-- but they're not there for hooking.
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@ucdavis.edu
I actually use them a lot, mainly plain old front riser dives. I think I use them more than I should, just because I am so used to the comfortable speed feeling from 3000+ Stilleto 120 jumps, where I have consistently performed front riser 180s and 270s. I really need to explore the deep brake side of the envelope, but for me that slow mushy feeling sucks right now.
Also, I hadn't really considered the whole big PC side of things either, so thanks to whoever brought that up.
Also, I have a question: I have a habit of using risers to correct any off-heading openings (the wisdom of which has been addressed often on this board). My question is not whether this is appropriate or not, but whether my canopy appears to be set up correctly (in terms of brake setting). Mojo 240, medium loading. Basically, I have seen videos of myself correcting off heading openings with what I would call somewhat aggressive (let's say 6" to 7") pulls on a rear riser with brakes stowed in DBS and that side of the canopy stalling in a scary manner. It sure turns fast but it looks pretty ugly. Am I being too aggressive? I know this is one of those "you kinda have to see it" questions but if everyone says "Hell, I can pull that sucker to my waist and it doesn't stall," then that may be an indicator of something.
This must be a troll, right? I use a lot of front riser to land my 92 Jedei when I'm skydiving, and I use front risers, for example, to slow down the outside of a wing dock. But I'll tell you I was really happy with my "student-size" canopy and its deep-brake flying characteristics when unexpected winds and admittedly poor decisions pushed me over the trees on a cliff jump last weekend.
I know the guy who jumped after me must have been pretty happy with all that nylon when his canopy collapsed at 50 feet moving from a 15 mph wind into the still air near the ground.
I've made the decision before not to skydive in turbulent conditions because I enjoy a high-performance landing, but there are some conditions in which that kind of landing is inappropriate. I think this is even more the case in BASE jumping, where conditions can be completely unpredictable.
I think the front risers allow a skilled pilot to access certain parts of the performance envelope of the canopy, but I think it's equally important to be comfortable with the part of the envelope which is accessed without the front risers. I can't imagine that a truly skilled pilot would rebuke others for flying a forgiving canopy in an unforgiving environment.
Michael
I find with my v-tec Fox 245, loaded to about 170 lbs exit weight, deep brakes, no slider, if I pull six inches of rear riser to correct an off-heading, my canopy goes nowhere because I am putting too much input into the riser, and presumably this is stalling the canopy. If I am more gentle on the riser, the canopy turns nicely. I would say if your canopy is turning quickly when you use that much rear riser, you're doing something right.
Michael
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