posted Apr 9th, 2016 - Wind tunnels and indoor training as a relevant tool for formation skydiving competitors have been the topic of many stories posted by the SUN PATH PRODUCTS NSL NEWS over the years. I have added several Turning Points columns to cover this territory, which keeps growing every year. It will continue to grow and bring beautiful things to the skydiving world - and by that I mean the skydiving world where you jump from airplanes.

There is one downer though that I have seen often, especially when teams and competitors transition back from intensive indoor training to their home DZs and try to apply what has been worked on and learned in the wind tunnel. In fact, I have mentioned this before when I researched the difference of the scoring level at indoor and outdoor meets.

Of course, it was no surprise that the indoor scoring level turned out to be significantly higher than the outdoor averages. Teams and competitors should be prepared to face a 4- to 5-point difference of the meet average when they compete at outdoor meets, depending on the performance level. I was looking at the psychology of this potentially sobering experience when I wrote about it.

TURNING POINTS: Do it on the hill

This time, I am trying to be more practical, and I am singling out one component of a competition jump that has the biggest impact on the scoring level.

It is not only the missing skydiving gear that makes it much easier to move - significantly quicker - in the flying chamber. There is also a lower stress level, as you don't have to deal with the ride to altitude, exiting from a perfectly functioning plane and landing safely under your parachute. This psychology does not necessarily affect athletic performance too much if you are mentally well trained; however, exit and sub-terminal flying surely do, and nobody can escape that.

High-profile indoor meets have tried to simulate the exit from a jump plane as much as possible by adjusting the rules to specify the door frame of the flying chamber as the threshold to "freefall air." It forces the 4-way teams to put some effort into the specific moves after entering the flying chamber and before the page-after-page routine begins. It is still not the same, not by far...

The exit from a jump plane is still a completely different story, even though you hit the air in a similar way. The air that faces you when you exit a jump plane has a vertical angle, and the visuals are very different. On top of that, the air speed is much slower, which creates the so-called sub-terminal page. It's the phase when the airspeed of the jump plane turns into the terminal velocity of freefall. It's also called "the hill" or "soft air."

Exit from a jump plane and sub-terminal page alone steal at least a few points compared to entering the flying chamber of a wind tunnel and contribute heavily to the significantly lower meet averages.

There is even more behind the unique and beautiful combination of exit and sub-terminal page. It is by far the most important part of a competition jump. Nothing pays off more than a successful start into the 35 seconds of working time, and nothing hurts more than a tunneled exit, or problems on "the hill" and in "soft air."

The challenge is even greater, as this part of a competition jump, or any skydive, gets the least training of all components that add up to a successful performance. Any maneuver, move or 4-way block technique can be practiced unlimited times in the flying chamber of a wind tunnel, or gets at least several repetitions during a training jump.

Exit and sub-terminal page, you get only once - and only with an exit from a jump plane. No wind tunnel can simulate the exit from a jump plane realistically. I am working on a tunnel design for exit practice, but it will take a while until it will be ready, and it may never be...

You cannot fly back into the jump plane after exit, repeat it and do better on the hill. All you can do is use the remainder of the freefall time to get as much as possible out of the practice in terminal velocity, land your parachute safely before grabbing gear and trying again after riding to altitude. I love it.

Exit and sub-terminal are the most beautiful and most challenging part of a skydive, and you have to appreciate it every time you get it. It will also be rewarded more than anything else. You can outperform the tunnel rat who does not know well enough how to jump from a plane and move on the hill.

A great exit and a great first page will put you ahead of all other teams who are not so good with it. At the very least you will get a head start and the opponents will have to catch up.

Most of all, it just feels great to master a challenging exit, break it early, follow up with a nice maneuver on the hill and start the competition round with a first-class first page. Just make sure you practice it often enough - it doesn't come easily.