Freeflying
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freeflying is a skydiving discipline which began circa 1986 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, Charles Bryan, Omar Alhegelan and Stefania Martinengo. Freeflying is now the fastest growing discipline in skydiving.[citation needed]
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. Freeflying is truly a three-dimensional art form that is constantly evolving and improving with its growth.
A freeflyer, in order to fully understand the aerodynamic power of his/her body in freefall, needs to first learn to control the all skydiving forms: box position (belly-to-earth, traditional skydiving position), back flying (back-to-earth), head-up flying, head-down flying, 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, either with vertical and/or 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, more extreme addition to skydiving, it is rapidly becoming the premier event in competitions and world records. Most new skydivers aspire to freefly and many skydivers who spent most of their time in traditional disciplines are showing interest.
[edit] Sit flying
Sit flying is a form of locomotion available to skydivers and vertical wind tunnel flyers. It describes the ability to 'fly' ones body in any direction while in a 'sit' position. It's called a 'sit' because it looks like the flyer is 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 (up and down movement) can also be made. This is done by presenting more surface area (wide legs and arms, higher drag, slower fall rate, upwards movement) or less surface area (arms up or even stand up, less drag, faster fall rate, downwards movement) from the flyers body to the wind.
[edit] Head down
Head down is a body orientation while skydiving. Many different body positions such as head down are also referred to as freeflying.
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. Being able to fly/fall head down takes a great deal of skill. Due to the increased speed, every movement made can cause the skydiver to become unstable or disoriented.
