Freeflying
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FreeFlying: skydive the free Flying
Freefly 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 (the ultimate Clown), along with Mike Vail (FFC#2), Charles Bryan (FFC#3), Omar Alhegelan (FFC#4) and Stefania Martinengo (FFC#5). Freeflying is now the fastest growing discipline in parachuting.
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 movements and changes in position and speeds, either with vertically speeds and/or horizontally. 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 increases in speed and movement, freeflying is also more dangerous than what people imagine a "normal" skydive would be.
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.
THE HISTORY of FREEFLY (original Text of the FAI International Aeronautic Federation) www.FAI.org
Freeflying is the latest event in sport parachuting. Freeflying is the only event which incorporates all dimensional axes during the freefall part of a parachute jump. First tried in the beginning of the nineties it was soon found that many people wanted to do it: to be able to control your body and enjoy the sky in all possible positions. The most popular position though is the so called "head-down" position. Jumpers fall with their head towards the earth, seeing the whole world upside down. Needless to say, this is more difficult than it sounds as the most relaxed position puts you on your belly.
Soon after freeflying was invented, people started to compete. Several formats were tried by various organisers. The main component though is that all acts are filmed by a freefall videographer. Pete McKeeman from SkySports International took up the first serious freeflying events. Later, Olav Zipser followed with the "Space Games". The formats tried were 3-way teams, human pylon racing, manoeuvrability races with a skyball as reference and more.
The International Parachuting Commission (IPC) viewed these developments and took action in 1998. At the IPC meeting in Canberra 2000 this resulted in the inclusion of freeflying as an official event. The adopted format is the a 3-way team, one of the members being the videographer. The event consists of 7 jumps, 2 of which are compulsory routines and 5 free routines. Jumps will be scored by a panel of 5 judges, the compulsories on control of the 4 drawn compulsory moves, the free rounds on technical and presentation.
The first worldcup freeflying was held in Eloy, Arizona, USA in November 2000 while the first world championships was held in Granada, Spain during the 2nd World Air Games, June 2001.
Top teams are currently training full time and making more than 1000 jumps a year. This high dedication and quality results in extremely spectacular freefall footage. All this footage is gathered at IPC competitions on high quality tapes and available to the media.
further Info:
Common freefly body positions include:
Freeflying is especially noted for its varying terminal velocities. While in the standard "boxman" position (belly to earth), a skydiver's descent rate following initial acceleration remains at roughly 120 mph. Variations in jumpsuit construction and the skydiver's weight will affect this fall rate typically no more than 10 mph more or less.
However, freefliers often use body positions that present less surface area to the relative wind. For example, a freeflier might dive straight, head-down to the earth using legs and arms to adjust orientation and speed and to remain stable. In such a position, a freeflier may obtain speeds up to 270 km/h (170 mph). Freefliers may exceed this rate, but generally only by making a special effort to streamline both their body and their equipment, or by jumping from a higher altitude. Joseph Kittinger reached 988 km/h (614 mph). Whether or not he broke the sound barrier has been the subject of debate.
Freefliers usually jump in groups. Each jumper uses the others as a relative reference to help judge his or her own trajectory. Together, they may perform acrobatic maneuvers, make contact with each other (dock), or simply photograph or video each other in freefall. This is typically called "relative work, or RW."
Freefly positions, other than belly-to-earth, tend to be less "stable." That is, they require increased skill and concentration from the skydiver to maintain. Since changes in position, intentional or otherwise, may also cause a change in terminal velocity, Freefliers must take special care when jumping with others. Freefliers in control of their dive can make contact (dock) with each other safely, called "vertical relative work, or VRW." Unstable freefliers may experience rapid velocity changes and collide with one another at high rates of speeds. When a freeflier slows down quickly and accidentally, he/she is said to have "corked," because the other jumpers see him/her rapidly going 'up' like a cork being shot off a champagne bottle. These speeds can kill outright, dismember, or disable one or both jumpers. As a result, freeflying is considered more risky than flat or belly flying.
The difference in difficulty between freeflying and flat (belly) flying can be seen in their respective world records. The world's largest, completed, flat flying skydiving formation consisted of 357 skydivers (set in Thailand, 6 February 2004) (See http://www.theworldteam.com/). The world's largest "freeflying" formation (head down) consisted of only 53 skydivers (set during March 2005).
In spite of the increased difficulty and danger of this type of skydiving, freeflying is rapidly growing in popularity in the skydiving community as a whole, and within the youngest skydiving generation especially. The rush by skydiving equipment manufacturers to modify their equipment designs to support the special needs of freefliers illustrates this growing popularity.