Your Audible – more than a hard deck

Flying with an audible altimeter in your helmet is a mandatory requirement to jump with the Aussie Bigways team.

This tip explains how you can use your audible to reduce risk in our team jumps.

When rules are not explained or understood they might be given lip service. In this case, lip service can cost you or your team mates their lives.

What audibles do

Original audibles offered a warning for track-off and deployment. There was typically only one volume option, settings were hard to change and broad in their height range.

Current technology now offers multiple freefall alarms in one unit as well as alarms that can be used to guide canopy landing patterns, all set to trigger at a very precise altitude with a variety of volumes and alarm tones available.

Risk increases in a Bigway

In a Bigway, risk is increased due to the number of people in proximity, in freefall and under canopy.

The P3 Bigway Methodology helps mitigate risks through defined processes to exit, approach, dock, fly in slot, track-off and land.

Even if we follow these processes, the bigway environment increases the risk of distraction and loss of altitude awareness. Typical triggers include:
– A funnel
– A collision on exit, approach, track-off
– Being overly focused on flying your slot
– Seeing someone below you or close to you at deployment time
– Prioritizing landing area over pattern

How to use your audible to reduce Bigway risks

Risks can be reduced by using freefall alarms for:
– Initial track-off
– Your tracking group track-off
– The flare out of your tracking group
– Your deployment
– Your hard deck – Always use one setting for your hard deck.

Other considerations:
– If you rely on other people to trigger you joining your tracking group, you are likely to be late. If there are later tracking groups behind you, your delay will reduce their safety net and your own.
– Some organizers nominate a ‘hard deck’ for the first tracking group.

⇒ In this situation the planned track-off for the first group might be signaled by a kick from the base, say at 6000ft and a hard deck of 5500ft based on audibles.
⇒ If there is no kick it means the organizer is using the extra 500 feet for a completion.
⇒ It tends to be personal preference whether to set an alarm for the planned track-off height or the hard deck and manage the related circumstances ‘manually’.
⇒ It has been known for the organiser to lose altitude awareness and for people to rely on the organiser to the point where they stay with the group even after their hard deck alarm sounds. Freefall safety is everyone’s responsibility. Hard deck means hard deck, get out no matter what.

– As a tracking leader it helps to have a setting available to signal your tracking group flare out. The other option is to count. This is not very reliable.
– Set your deployment altitude for just before you want to have your pilot chute in the wind.

⇒ Practice looking around you as you track so that you know where other people are in relation to you.
⇒ When deployment height arrives, you should be able to stop hard (quickly) as you give a final check and wave.
⇒ If you set your audible well in advance of deployment (say 300-500 feet) you will naturally slow down in your track when it goes off. By doing this you reduce the space for the people behind you. This is very dangerous.

– Align your settings to suit your slot and the rules for each jump.

⇒ If you don’t know how to do this, ask someone to teach you.
⇒ If you leave settings the same and think you will mentally manage any differences required on each jump, you are increasing risk significantly and unnecessarily.

– If you can’t hear your audible, ask someone to help you.

⇒ It may be a case of increasing the volume, changing the batteries or aligning the alarm more closely to your ear.
⇒ If none of these things work, try another model or brand of audible until you find one that works for you.

My personal toolkit

I use a ‘Quattro’ audible altimeter from Larsen and Brusgaard. It has four freefall alarm settings. After my hard deck, I typically use an alarm for the start of my tracking group, one for my tracking group flare out and one for my deployment.

If I only need three alarms, as in a 4-way context for team track off, deployment and hard deck, two alarms can be set at the same altitude and I will only hear one alarm sound.

I would welcome feedback on your personal toolkit preference and how you manage risk.

Melissa

Melissa is a member of the Aussie Bigways coaching team and the Australian Skydiving Team.  She is an experienced skydiving competitor and coach with a history of National and World level representation in 4-way, 8-way and Bigway Formation Skydiving.

Contact Melissa to discuss how her Supercharge coached programs can help you develop the flying skills you need to achieve your goals.

melissaharvie@gmail.com  0408 553 561