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One of the suggestions for getting ready for BD is to do Balloon or Helicopter jumps. I am planning on doing some balloon jumps this month in Eloy, using skydiving gear. Any suggestions for how I can make the most of this experience in hopes of getting ready for this year's BD? Exits, body position, etc? I have just over 100 skydives, and no base jumps. Any help would be appreciated.

If you're going to do your first base jump at BD, you want to go handheld there. So a good exercise would be imitating a handheld 2s delay. Exit looking above the horizon (~30-45 degrees) and try to put your body in perfect horizontal or slightly head-high position by 2 seconds, then "throw" forward and up an imaginary PC in your hand, while maintaining stable body position for at least another 1.5s (time to linestretch & inflation).

Out of group of 6-8 jumpers, exit first. You want to imitate solid launch point. Balloon gives in when there's not much weight in the basket, so the launch is "soft" in this case.

Burner has a special platform outside the basket, ask him to install it. It will give you better imitation of the launch platform at BD than the soft edge of the basket.

And tell Mr. Burner Yuri said "hi".

http://www.dropzone.com/...etail_page.cgi?ID=64

Pay really close attention to how low it looks at 3,4,5,600'!!! That's where you'll find yourself if Bridge day and BASE gets it's hooks in ya.

jon

excellent advice. Iwished I had known some of that before my first base jump.

I have many balloon jumps, if you kick off the basket you can be the pilot is going to be plenty pissed at you and may not let you back on his balloon. My father is a pilot instructor and jumper I had about 20 balloon jumps before my first 100 skydives. Trust me, it is good for you to have wieght in the basket but not good for the aircraft. treat the thing with respect, these pilots are doing this for a hobby most fo the time and they either break even or loose money with it. Also it is going to give when you push off, so just practice good dead air body position and forget about practicing the launch. You can practice a launch at a swimming pool solid dive or edge. stepping off with out trying to force a belly down posistion.

Pretty good. the platform will help in regards to standing at the edge of the launch point at the bridge but no so much pushing off.


Just my thoughts weather anyone agrees with them or not. Doesn't mean what I type here is law.

And tell Mr. Burner Yuri said "hi".

Burner's probably one of the best balloon pilots you can do your balloon jumps with.

I've heard lots of stories about the hobbyist balloon pilots. Skydivers talk them into taking them up and then the pilots are just as new to it as the skydivers are. They freak out and sink the balloons hard to prepare for the loss of ballast or they'll get pissed if you push off and make the balloon swing even the slightest bit.

Burner does thousand(s) of jumps every season.

I've never seen Burner try to lose altitude during the exits, nor have I ever heard him say anything about someone pushing off. He may call you wussy names for using the platform on the side of the balloon, but that's just in jest.

I agree with Yuri's advice on how to best use your jumps in preparation for BASE. Pretend the balloon is 600 feet off the ground. If you get to terminal, you've gone too far.

Also, looking at or above the horizon on exit isn't the only way to prevent going head low. I personally look at my impact point during exit on nearly every BASE jump I do. Just remember there's no relative wind to push on. It's all about what rotation your body has at exit time and what you do with your foot/feet as you exit to add to/subtract from it. Be in control. Practice.

While most of the experienced jumpers I know look down on some or all of their exits, my experience working with students has been that usually need to look up to get the exit nailed, and that only after several jumps (when the body position is getting ingrained) can they start to look around. I actually had one student who I told to look down to early in his training sequence (I think it was the 4th or 5th jump) who did a complete front flip and pretty much gave me a heart attack.

That jumper (I assume you only had one student that did that) is a friend of mine.

That is probably part of why he isn't BASE jumping anymore. I think that BASE might have been just one of those things he wanted to try, but we might never know now. I'm pretty sure that freaked him out pretty good.

Great guy though, and in better shape than most people I know. (not that that has anything to do with it)

Tom,

Up where? Chin up 45 degrees above the horizon, or head back straight up?

I tell students to look out at the horizon. This works for about 70%. The rest have to look even higher up (maybe 40 degrees above the horizon).

There have been a couple good threads about this, if you search this forum. Here's some advice, for example. There are more, though.

There is no magic recipe for doing this. You have to find a technique that works for you. The best way to do this is practice.

Great link to someone asking the same questions. I'll be back to ask "What the hell did I do wrong?" in a couple of weeks.

Thanks all for the suggestions and help. Glad to know to ask for the exit platform from Burner, etc.

I've said this before, but one of the things I love about this sport(?lifestyle?) is that even the "Greats" are happy to give the beginner pointers. Unlike anything I have been involved in before.

This advise worked for me...

How ever you exit, make sure it is "solid"

Maybe go hand held and practice a GOOD SOLID pitch, and if possible fly the canopy you are planning to jump at bridge day, and pack it the same way?!?!?

Good Luck
-A