While I know as epic skydivers we are suppose to know spotting and proper exiting.
Heres an idea I would love!
When the device uploads your jump data to you DZ network it would pull in the latest wind data from the closest airport.
by using that data / Jump type / and known gear canopy glide type it could calculate a āmake it back to the Landing zoneā guess based on an opening of 3500 feet from exit.
We know this wonāt be perfect as sometimes the GPS can be funky.
as skydivers we dont need all the super data at altitude, this could be simplified by a RED or Green dot or bar to correlate with the door light.
100% this isnāt to remove the knowledge of spotting, but if we have the tool on our wrist, it could help if the uppers have shifted and we missed it on glance while running to the plane.
((also a tip for the canopy guide to LZ area indicator could and should turn off at 2500 feet. If you canāt at glance find the LZ at 2500 feet you probably shouldnāt own a dekunuā¦ the only time that would be most useful is at night or high pulls and should only be an assist feature, not 100% science ))
My DZ uses our airport wind meter which isnāt internet enabled, so the ānearestā station that the Dekunu uses to poll wind information is over a mile away, and on the side of a valley which in most cases is in the lee side of the prevailing wind, or in certain directions is subject to a lot of venturi. Moreover, ground winds in our location gives little to no insight on the strength and direction of the upper winds at various levels.
If you can accomplish the same test visually under canopy using the āspot testā in a matter of seconds, then why implement a potentially flawed system that would need to rely on a huge amount of variables?
I suggested the cutaway locator feature awhile back. Hopefully they are working on it. Spot Assist app offers that but you are guessing where you were when you cutaway. Seems that the accelerometers on the Dekunu would be able to show exactly where you were when you cutaway and using the winds aloft data available pretty much everywhere with any significant population, should get you pretty close to where your canopy ended up.
I feel like your pilot is probably pulling the uppers from the nearest airport via foreflight.
Which kinda re-validates my original request / post ā¦ does it not?
If Dekunu is trying to utilize a drop zone feature roadmap and you dont want to use data from the nearest airport because your pilot needs to give you manual winds aloft (which makes me scratch my head ā¦ but if he wants it manual for whatever reason) Most drop zones post some form of localized winds aloft so jumpers can read it and use the best judgement call based on that. I would hope your DZ does the sameā¦
Just add that info to the Dekunu drop zone system and have THAT system feed the info to devices on upload if that dz has internet. I canāt imagine drawing a geofence cone based on some variables would have so many variables that it wouldnāt be useful for exit / canopy cut away location based on device stats.
Beyond all thatā¦
Jumpers would love to glance at a web page of knowledge and see what the winds are doing at the DZ before heading out only to find the weather is garbage or miss out if the weather is amazing and garbage where they currently are.
my 2c
also,
ForeFlight is an app used by pilots worldwide as an aid for just about everything pilot chart related. Mostly used for weather / winds.
Hahaha fun times. Nah man essentially weāre a tandem factory with little outside jumpers, next to a huge lake and hours away from any airport with any decent weather measuringā¦and to avoid water landings our pilots are required to take manual winds aloft
Donāt forget the good old whiteboard with wind direction scribbled on it by the DZSO
There will be some huge differences country to country, our developers do also love a challenge though so donāt count anything out
))
fun times. Nah man essentially weāre a tandem factory with little outside jumpers, next to a huge lake and hours away from any airport with any decent weather measuringā¦and to avoid water landings our pilots are required to take manual winds aloft
