Looking for the package of canopy flight documents? The attachments are at the bottom of the page. In the skydiving world there is an increasing awareness of the need to help skydivers become more educated about flying their canopies. Canopies have a wider performance range than in the early days of ram-air flight, and skydivers expect to do more under canopy than simple arrive safely at the ground. Even that in itself has become more of a challenge due to the high speeds attainable. I will use the term "Canopy flight" to describe the topic which has also been known as "canopy piloting", "canopy handling", or "canopy skills". After completing the basic student requirements, skydivers are often left on their own to learn about canopy flight. Canopy piloting courses have become more popular, but these tend to be quite expensive. Here in Canada, it also often means a big trip to the USA, or having to fly in one of the big name people. At the local dropzone level, I felt there needed to be education for jumpers that is more accessible, that lies somewhere between nothing at all and a high priced expert. The experts may be great but they can't be everywhere at once. My focus is on the novice to intermediate level jumper. While jumpers at any level might want to brush up on topics like canopy aerodynamics, I'm not teaching competitive swooping. Canopy Flight Seminars To start helping other jumpers educate themselves, I put together a large collection of documents on Canopy Flight. In 2008, this was first in the form of a large binder at Skydive Toronto, one drop zone at which I jump. In 2008 I ran a canopy flight seminar there, and in 2009 ran seminars at both Skydive Toronto and the Parachute School of Toronto. Working from 30 pages of notes, and with time to answer plenty of questions, these are all day seminars. Jumpers have the opportunity to compare experiences, and to talk further about any issues that were of particular interest to them. Seminar topics included:
Aerodynamics (and in particular its practical effects on skydivers in the air) Deployment & opening In-flight (e.g., dealing with winds & spots) The circuit & approach Landing & flare (a big topic) Downsizing & wing loading Turbulence Introduction to high speed approaches Gear issues You can download a Canopy Flight document package from this page: The document package gives skydivers a suggested "things to read" list to work with, all in one place. This beats having to tell jumpers that the way to become a better canopy pilot is to "read what's out there on the web." Topics in the package are typically those listed above for the seminar. I wanted to make the group of documents available to other skydivers in Canada and elsewhere. The package consists of documents that I collected in 2008 onwards. The docs are offered in one big .zip file, take it or leave it. The second file to download is an Index or Overview that groups the documents by category, discusses what is in them, what I feel their value is, and where they came from. The summary can be downloaded separately to provide a preview. Although I wrote a couple of the articles, most documents are by other authors and are freely available on the web. There are articles from John LeBlanc at Performance Designs, Brian Germain, Scott Miller, and many others. Once you see what they've written you are of course welcome to go to their own web sites to learn more about what they have to say and what they have to offer for skydivers. A small number of the documents have had comments of my own added to them. This includes cases where I feel information is not good advice or needs to be qualified. Even the best experts can be critiqued, and some information becomes less relevant over time. My background 2500+ skydives on 90+ different canopies CSPA Coach 1 & 2, Instructor A & B, PFF (provisional), Rigger A (Rigging services available in Toronto.) BASc Aerospace engineering, Canadian Intermediate Paragliding licence, Private Pilot Licence Peter Chapman Toronto, Canada Feedback by email welcome.  Disclaimer: Listening to me may get you killed. Not listening to me may do the same. |
Education for Canopy Flight Skills
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60s accuracy
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