Prone position is a body position in which one lies flat with the chest down
and back up. In anatomical terms of location, the dorsal side is up, and the
ventral side is down. The supine position is the 180° contrast.
Etymology The word "prone," meaning "naturally
inclined to something, apt, liable," has been recorded in English since 1382; the
meaning "lying face-down" was first recorded in 1578, but is also referred
to as "lying down" or "going prone." "Prone" derives from the Latin pronus:
"bent forward, inclined to," from the adverbial form of the prefix pro-
"forward." Both the original, literal, and the derived figurative sense were
used in Latin, but the figurative is older in English.
Anatomy In anatomy, the prone position is a
position of the body lying face down. It is opposed to the supine position which
is face up. Using the terms defined in the anatomical position, the ventral
side is down, and the dorsal side is up. With respect to the forearm, prone
refers to that configuration where the palm of the hand is directed
posteriorly, and the radius and ulna are crossed.
Shooting In competitive shooting, the prone
position is the position of a shooter lying face down on the ground. It is
considered the easiest and most accurate position as the ground provides extra
stability. It is the starting position in three positions events. Currently the
Olympics only have one purely prone event, the fifty meters men's rifle
prone. Both men and women also have the fifty meters rifle three positions. Many
video games allow the player character to go into the prone position.
= 50m Prone Men= Male shooters shoot a .22LR calibre
rifle over a course of fire of 60 shots to count, after unlimited sighting
shots, in a time limit of 1 hour and 15 minutes. If necessary, an 'elimination'
course of fire may be undertaken to reduce the number of shooters to the
number that may fire simultaneously in a 'qualification' round. Each shot may
score from 0 to 10 points, with no decimal points The maximum score for an
elimination or qualification round is 600 points. The top 8 shooters in the
qualification round will be selected to shoot 'shot-for-shot' in an 'Olympic'
final. The final is 10 shots, shot after a five minute period for unlimited
sighters. The 10 shots are shot on command in a 45 second time-span, where
each shooter must shoot one shot. Following each individual finals shot,
the individual shooter's score for that shot is read to the audience. Shots in
the final are scored to one decimal place, e.g. a shooter may score 9.8 or
10.6 in the finals for a shot, whereas in the qualification or elimination
round those same shots would score 9 or 10 respectively. The maximum score for
10 shots in the finals is 109.0, with 10.9 being the maximum score for each
shot. The Finals score for the 10 shots is added to the score for the
qualification round. = UK Prone=
The UK national shooting body also has courses of fire for prone shooting at
multiple distances and targets. Commonly, this is split into what is
known as 'short' and 'long' ranges. UK Prone Short Range
The NSRA generally refers to shooting .22LR calibre rifles over a distance of
between 15 yards and 25 metres 'indoors' as being short range shooting. Targets
are generally outward gauging, except on some of the Schools and older targets.
Being indoors, no allowance is necessary for wind, light or other changes. Shots
are scored as decimal values from 0 to 10, with no decimal places.
UK Prone Long Range UK Long range shooting is generally over
either 50 yards, 50 metres or 100 yards distance outdoors. Targets vary, but
generally the ISSF 50M is used for 50 yards or 50 metres and a proportional
sized target is used for 100 yards. A 50-yard, 50-metre or 100-yard target is
generally constructed to allow 20 shots to count, to be executed during one
'detail' of 20 minutes duration. Sighting shots are included in that time
period. Outdoors, variables such as light, wind,
temperature, humidity and mirage affect the target image and bullet trajectory.
To help shooters, most ranges have wind flags placed at useful positions around
the range to display the wind conditions.
Pilots and the prone position The prone position is also used to
describe the way pilots and other crew may be positioned in an aircraft; lying
on their stomachs rather than seated in a normal upright position. During World
War II, the bomb aimer in some bombers would be positioned this way to be
better able to view the ground through a transparent panel or bubble in the nose
of a bomber. Later, it was suggested that a pilot in the prone position might
be more effective in some kinds of high-speed aircraft, because it would
permit the pilot to withstand a greater g-force in the upward and downward
direction with respect to the plane, and many speculative designs of the 1950s
featured this arrangement. However, it never became mainstream, as testing
revealed that the increased difficulty of operating aircraft controls in the
prone position outweighed the advantages. Two examples of this
approach are seen in the Savoia-Marchetti SM.93 and the Gloster
Meteor F8 "Prone Pilot". Modern hang gliders are typically piloted in the
prone position. See also
Lying position Positional asphyxia
Prone bike Recovery position
Supine position Sources
EtymologyOnLine