When I was just off student status I bought an unmarked Lightning from a dealer in Florida who advertised it as a "zp PD 218." I took it to terminal over 200 times. My openings were so hard that people would come out of the hanger to see what just happened. At a crew camp I was talking to Mike Lewis and when I described it to him he said, "That was my first Lightning!" I got real good at sitting up after pulling, and I had lots of freefalls when I didn't want to pull at all. Sold it to a CRW dog and bought a Spectre. It sniveled so long I almost cut it away on my first jump with it!
Got to rate Lightning as number 1, even with a sport slider.
(This post was edited by Croc on May 25, 2012, 5:52 PM)
Agreed that the Lightning opened hard as did the Pursuits. But to be number one it would have to open hard enough to severe a main lift web and then some!
So, after the first ten jumps or so, why did you jump it 190 times more? :)
I've owned and jumped the following skydiving canopies (in descending order of #jumps): Sabre 2 170 Lightning 143 Sabre 135 Merit 170 Springo 120
The hardest opening I've ever had was on the merit. The openings were normally fast, but not painful. But that particular opening sure made me see some beautiful stars. Only hard opening so far, knock on wood.
The softest opening canopy was the Sabre 2. Took forever to open and the end cells always needed some help.
The sabre and the springo opened/opens perfect. Fast but not too fast, on heading. Only had one spinner on the springo, but I think that was because of an incorrectly stowed toggle. Sure was a ride.
