DropZone

GLOSSARY

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AAD - Automatic Activation Device: senses rate of descent and altitude – mechanically activates reserve parachute if a skydiver passes below a set altitude at a high rate of descent.

A/C - Aircraft.

Accuracy - Also known as ‘precision landing’. Competition discipline in which the skydiver tries to land on a target three centimetres in diameter.

AFF - Accelerated Freefall training, comprising freefall jumps of forty seconds or longer, accompanied by a qualified jumpmaster.

AGL - Above Ground Level. Altitudes are in reference either to Ground Level or Sea Level (MSL). Skydivers always use AGL when referring to altitude.

Airspeed - Speed of a flying object through the air.

Altimeter - Device indicating altitude.

Base - Core around which a formation skydive is built. Can be a single person or a group.

Body position - Freefall body posture.

Boogie - Gathering of skydivers.

Bounce - To land at unsurvivable speed. Also to frap, or go in.

Box man - A neutral, face-to-earth body position in which the arms form right angles at shoulder and elbow, and the legs are spread at about forty-five degrees from the long axis and bent forty-five degrees at the knees. Generally considered the ideal position for formation skydiving.

Brakes - The brake lines of the canopy are also steering lines. Used together, they slow the parachute. Used independently, they result in a turn.

Break off - To cease formation skydiving by tracking away from the formation prior to deploying the canopy.

Burble - An area of low air pressure above a descending skydiver caused either by them in freefall or by their canopy in flight.

Call - Time remaining until you are to board the aircraft or jump out of it.

Canopy - Another name for parachute.

Crabbing - Canopy flown at an angle sideways to the ambient wind, resulting in a path across the ground that is sideways as well as forwards.

Creep - Practising formation skydiving sequences while lying on a creeper.

Creeper - A board with wheels on which a skydiver lies to simulate freefall manoeuvres.

Cut away - To release the main parachute. Standard emergency procedure prior to deploying the reserve.

Dirt dive - Skydive rehearsed on the ground.

Drogue - In a tandem jump, a drogue parachute is released shortly after exiting the aircraft to reduce the speed of descent. It is later used to deploy the main canopy.

Dropzone/ DZ - Skydiving landing zone.

Exit weight - Total weight of jumper, equipment and clothing.

Fall rate - Speed at which a skydiver falls. Matching fall rate is essential to successful formation skydiving. This is done with jumpsuits, weights and body position.

Flare - To pull down the brakes of the canopy, thus increasing the angle of attack and reducing the descent rate.

Floater - Skydivers who leave the plane before the base are called floaters since they must use a slow fall rate to get up to the base. Floating also refers to an exit position outside the plane.

Formation -1) A freefall skydiving formation of more than one jumper.

-2) A flight of more than one jump plane.

Freestyle - Acrobatic individual skydiving.

FS - Formation Skydiving. Skydivers attempt to go through a predetermined sequence of freefall formations.

GPS - Global Positioning System.

Grippers - Handholds built onto formation skydiving jumpsuits to make the suits easier to hold onto.

Hand deploy - To activate a canopy manually by deploying the pilot chute as opposed to pulling a ripcord.

Harness/ container - Webbing/fabric holding main and reserve canopies to the skydiver.

Heading - Direction in which the aircraft, skydiver or parachute is facing.

Hook knife - Small knife carried in jumpsuit or on rig to cut lines or webbing.

Jump run - Flight path taken by the jump plane.

Jumpsuit - An overall designed for skydiving.

Main - The primary canopy.

PLF - Parachute Landing Fall. A technique used to minimize injury during rough landings, a PLF distributes the landing shock along feet, calves, thighs, hips and shoulders.

Reserve - Auxiliary parachute carried on every intentional parachute jump.

Rig - Slang for the entire canopy, including main and reserve canopies and the harness/container.

Rigger - Someone who is qualified to pack and check the rig.

Ripcord - Deployment system on all reserves and most student parachutes. The ripcord is a piece of cable with a handle at one end and a pin at the other. When pulled, the pin comes out of the closing loop holding the container shut, and the pilot chute is released.

RSL - Reserve Static Line. A backup device for automatically deploying the reserve if the skydiver cuts away. Only effective in malfunctions where the main canopy is at least partially deployed.

RV - Rendezvous.

Skygod - Skydiver whose ego has grown faster than his ability.

Stall - When the angle of attack becomes too high to sustain lift.

Steering lines - The lines that run from the steering toggles to the trailing edge of the canopy.

Stering toggles - Handles attached to the ends of the steering lines.

Swoop -1) To dive down to a formation or individual in freefall.

-2) To aggressively approach the landing area in order to produce a long, flat flare and exciting landing.

Tandem - Two skydivers share a rig, one of whom is in a separate harness that attaches to the front of the other harness.

Terminal velocity - The speed at which drag matches gravity, resulting in a constant fall rate. Generally terminal velocity for formation skydiving is 120-135 mph.

Track - Body position that creates a high forward speed. Used to approach or veer away from other skydivers in freefall.

Wave off - Before deployment a skydiver makes a clearly defined arm motion to indicate to others nearby that he is about to open his canopy.

Wing loading - The weight a canopy can carry in relation to its surface area.

Wuffo - Slang for a person who doesn’t jump.