Practice on the ground
Going on a trip? Trip practice pack: Skytime
Turn simulator: 90°, 270°, 450°
Choose the turn, its direction, the wind and your wing loading, then fly it. Drag the view to rotate it; use Top for the ground track and Side for the dive and recovery.
Compared with a 90° at wing loading 1.0, calm air
Wind on final: 14 km/h · 8 kn headwind.
Text version of this chart
Ratios from a conceptual model, not a measurement of any canopy and not a height to start a turn.
| Measure | Compared with a 90° at WL 1.0, calm |
|---|---|
| Height used | 2.2× |
| Turn share | 53% |
| Recovery length | 1.2× |
| Ground on final | 0.7× |
What changes in these conditions — and what to keep doing
- A 270 spends much longer in the turn than a 90, so the dive builds further and the recovery needs more height and distance. Most of the extra height goes in the second half of the turn.
- A headwind on final means slow ground speed: the set-up point over the ground moves closer to the landing area, and the canopy covers less ground in the recovery.
- Plan the pattern and the set-up point on the ground with the day's wind before boarding.
- Look in the direction of the turn and clear the airspace before and during it — the lower canopy has right of way.
- Have an abort ready: stop the turn, level the wing, land straight ahead where there is space. An abort is always a good decision.
- Turn direction follows the drop zone's pattern for the day; the turn height comes from your coach, for your wing, on the day.
After the turn
- The wing swings back. When the turn input stops, the canopy is still diving. It pitches back over your head like a pendulum; the descent rate eases — that's the recovery arc.
- The extra speed carries you. The dive's speed turns into a plane-out along the ground. After a 450 there is more of it than after a 270: a longer, faster surf before the flare.
- More turn, more ground. A 450 covers more ground and drifts further with the wind, so where you end up depends more on the set-up and the day's wind.
- Look before the flare. After a big turn you arrive somewhere new: check the landing area and traffic ahead. The lower canopy has right of way.
- Same flare. Wing level, eyes forward, a smooth symmetrical flare. You have more airspeed than usual, so the flare has more energy.
- If it isn't right, stop it. Stopping a turn and arresting a dive with both toggles are drills practised high, so they're automatic if a turn ever ends lower than planned.
In your data: the 270 page marks turn end, peak descent, the recovery arc and stable final for every jump — compare your 270s and 450s side by side on Compare.
Test it up high, with your coach
- Stop a hard turn
- Arrest a front-riser dive
- Rear-riser stalls (before using rears to plane out)
- Harness turns
- Find the sweet spot
- Coordinated turns
A 450 belongs inside a coached progression, after the 270 is consistent. Your coach sets the heights.
Model: canopy speed and descent scale with √(wing loading); the turn is flown at a steady rate and the dive builds while it lasts; wind moves the whole track. Uncalibrated and conceptual — your FlySight data on the 270 page shows how your own turns really used height.
Sweet-spot catcher
Five rounds, five different canopy set-ups. Read the horizon, the body swing and the pressure — then hold the sweet spot for two seconds without stalling.
Up high, full flight. Add toggle slowly until the canopy levels out, and hold it there for two seconds. Each round is a different canopy set-up, so the sweet spot is never in the same place.
A ground game built on the conceptual control-range model. The real drill is flown high, with your coach, after reading your canopy's manual.
Name the zone
You get what the wing is doing; you name the zone — toggles, rear risers or front risers.
Landing quiz
Crosswind, downwind, stalls, dives and gusts — ten questions, each answer explained.
Crosswind landing: which comes first in the published landing priorities?
Your badges
Badges record learning on the ground. They are not a rating, a licence or permission to try anything in the air.
Your Academy progress
What you opened, marked as practised and answered — saved in this browser. Sign in to keep it on every device. A record for you and your coach, not a grade or permission to progress.
Nothing yet. Open a topic, mark a drill as practised or answer a quiz and it shows here. Academy topics
Related: Sweet spot & stall explorer · Drill library · 270 Hub