Freeflying

Freeflying is a skydiving discipline which began circa 1994 by a group of skydivers who wanted to experiment with non-traditional forms of flight. This group, called "The Freefly Clowns" was founded by Olav Zipser, along with Mike Vail, Omar Alhegelan, Charles Bryan, and Stefania Martinengo. [ cite web
url=http://www.bpa.org.uk/skydive/pages/articles/jun00/birthoffreefly.htm
title=Birth of Freefly
accessdate=2007-01-27
last=Malone
first=Jo
month=June | year=2000
publisher=British Parachute Association ]

Explanation

Freeflying is an expansion of skydiving which includes the traditional belly-to-earth positions, but extends into vertical flight where the flyer is in an upright position (falling feet first) or in an inverted position (falling head first). These positions increase freefall speeds and make new types of formations and routines possible.

A freeflyer, in order to fully understand the aerodynamic power of his/her body in freefall, needs to first learn to control all of the skydiving forms: box position (belly-to-earth, traditional skydiving position), back flying (back-to-earth), head-up flying, head-down flying, and side flying. These positions are not held for the duration of a skydive. Freeflying can, and usually does, involve constant transitions in position and speeds, with vertical and horizontal orientations. This can involve constantly flowing skydives, with all positions explored, or more static skydives where flyers are concentrating on building a large formation while flying in one of these freefly positions.

Due to the increased freefall speed and potentially faster horizontal speeds, freeflying has dangers beyond that of a normal skydive. Extra care must be taken for freefall skydive groups to stay away from belly-to-earth skydivers to avoid collisions. Since most parachutes are not designed to be opened at speeds higher than that of normal belly flying, freeflyers must transition back to the "belly to earth" position and slow down their descent for several seconds before deploying their parachute.

While freeflying is a younger and more extreme addition to skydiving, it is becoming a popular event in competitions and world records (see Vertical Formation Skydiving).

Back flying

Back flying is generally the first technique you will learn when beginning free fly training with a coach or in a vertical wind tunnel. The ability to fly on your back in a stable and controlled fashion is critical so that when you flip out of some of the more advanced positions (which will inevitably happen when learning to sit fly or fly head down) you can stay in control and not endanger yourself or other skydivers. When back flying, your back should be parallel to the relative wind, with your legs bent at 90 degree angles at both the hips and knees. Wind from the tunnel or from free-fall should therefore hit the flyer on the calves and back. Your arms will generally reach fairly straight into the air (along the path of the relative wind), but can be adjusted to catch wind for the purpose of slowing your speed and/or rotating your body position. Speed and orientation can also be controlled by using your legs to change your surface area and/or push the wind away at an angle that will cause body rotation.

it flying

Sit flying is called such because it looks similar to the position one takes while sitting in a chair.

The correct position for flying a sit is to orient yourself feet first toward the relative wind and maintain 90-degree angle bends at the knees, hips, and shoulders. Wind from the tunnel or from free-fall should be hitting the flyer on the feet, hamstrings, bottom, and the underside of the arms. To move around relative to the tunnel or other jumpers, the flyer simply redirects the airflow the opposite direction the jumper wants to go. Newtonian mechanics then push the flyer in the desired direction. Fall rate changes (descending faster or slower) can also be made. This is done by presenting more surface area (wide legs and arms, higher drag, slower fall rate) or less surface area (arms up or even stand up, less drag, faster fall rate) from the flyers body to the relative wind.

Head down

A person falling in the "head down" position has less surface area exposed to the air while falling, which results in much faster fall rates. Average speeds while flying head down are around 160 mph. Due to the increased speed, every movement made can cause the skydiver to become unstable or disoriented.

ee also

*Freestyle skydiving
*Freefall
*Parachuting

References