A questionable angle jump with varying skill levels leads to a messy break-off, a lazy track and a snivelling canopy that nearly results in a canopy collision. It started off as a five-way and this skydiver (POV) had a late exit, but the group wasn't staying together particularly well. Ultimately this jumper couldn't catch up to the group, so he did a slight turn, paused and then pitched. As the canopy snivelled for a second, suddenly he saw a yellow canopy rise up from behind him! Thankfully they didn't collide, but it was a close call!
Once this jumper gave up on trying to chase the group, it looks like they did a lazy track and slowed down after only a second or two. They may have thought that the sudden altitude difference between them and the group meant that they weren't in any danger of a midair collision with the jumpers below but, if that's the case, they were (obviously) very wrong. That lazy track didn't create enough horizontal separation from the other jumpers in the group.
Again, this was supposed to be a five-way angle jump but only three jumpers stayed together. One jumper — the one in orange — is completely gone after the first few seconds of the jump. This suggests that this jump had a few people who could keep up in a steep angle, and a few folks who were still learning. That is a dangerous mix which most load organizers and coaches try to avoid. An experienced angle organizer noted that this group was not very tight and that a few of the turns the leader initiated "could have created a head on collision if someone was chasing...". He added that he would "never do multiple corkscrews like that" unless he knew 100% that everyone was right there — visibly — with him.
This is another one of those cliches/truisms that gets tossed around a lot, but it's been around for a long time because it's true! When it comes to break-off, everyone in the air is trying to kill you and your only job is to create separation — both horizontally and vertically — between yourself and everyone else.
This jumper's lazy track didn't create enough horizontal separation away from the other jumpers, and it may have increased the fall rate (relative to someone tracking well) which reduced the vertical separation. When combined with a slow opening due to a snivelling canopy, it could have ended very badly. In this case, it was still uncomfortably close.
Even some of the top angle coaches in the world won't take more than 2 new angle flyers on a jump. Further, if someone more experienced joins, rather than going full throttle to have fun with their fellow ninjas, good coaches will cater to the newer jumpers and do what they can to keep everyone together. In short, if you want to work with newer angle flyers, focus on working with newer angle flyers. If you want to go steep and fast, tell them that you'll catch them on the next load when you can focus on them.
A questionable angle jump with varying skill levels leads to a messy break-off, a lazy track and a snivelling canopy that nearly results in a canopy collision. It started off as a five-way and this skydiver (POV) had a late exit, but the group wasn't staying together particularly well. Ultimately this jumper couldn't catch up to the group, so he did a slight turn, paused and then pitched. As the canopy snivelled for a second, suddenly he saw a yellow canopy rise up from behind him! Thankfully they didn't collide, but it was a close call!
Once this jumper gave up on trying to chase the group, it looks like they did a lazy track and slowed down after only a second or two. They may have thought that the sudden altitude difference between them and the group meant that they weren't in any danger of a midair collision with the jumpers below but, if that's the case, they were (obviously) very wrong. That lazy track didn't create enough horizontal separation from the other jumpers in the group.
Again, this was supposed to be a five-way angle jump but only three jumpers stayed together. One jumper — the one in orange — is completely gone after the first few seconds of the jump. This suggests that this jump had a few people who could keep up in a steep angle, and a few folks who were still learning. That is a dangerous mix which most load organizers and coaches try to avoid. An experienced angle organizer noted that this group was not very tight and that a few of the turns the leader initiated "could have created a head on collision if someone was chasing...". He added that he would "never do multiple corkscrews like that" unless he knew 100% that everyone was right there — visibly — with him.
This is another one of those cliches/truisms that gets tossed around a lot, but it's been around for a long time because it's true! When it comes to break-off, everyone in the air is trying to kill you and your only job is to create separation — both horizontally and vertically — between yourself and everyone else.
This jumper's lazy track didn't create enough horizontal separation away from the other jumpers, and it may have increased the fall rate (relative to someone tracking well) which reduced the vertical separation. When combined with a slow opening due to a snivelling canopy, it could have ended very badly. In this case, it was still uncomfortably close.
Even some of the top angle coaches in the world won't take more than 2 new angle flyers on a jump. Further, if someone more experienced joins, rather than going full throttle to have fun with their fellow ninjas, good coaches will cater to the newer jumpers and do what they can to keep everyone together. In short, if you want to work with newer angle flyers, focus on working with newer angle flyers. If you want to go steep and fast, tell them that you'll catch them on the next load when you can focus on them.
