When did you start flying an elliptical?

[Amazon 7]

Hmmm next week maybe???

ONe of these days my brand new Samurai will get here.. I have about 110 jumps this year so far.. and about 300 sumpin in the last year since I started jumping again after a 22 year lay off... oh and I hade about 450 sumpin back then.. but at least half of those were rounds
Wingloading right now is 1 to 1 and 1.2 to 1.. and going to the eliptical 1.4 to 1....

And I have been jumping a Lotus.. same size for about 30 jumps.. so.. yeah I know I am good to go..but I will still take baby steps and learn to fly it up high where there is nothing hard to run into with my old body

[Garycal 0]

Good idea I do a lot of riser turns and fly in partial brakes up high and practice hard turns so I get a good idea of how long it takes to get level. Ellipticals are fun to fly but play with them at a safe altutude. I was on a load with you last spring or summer in Hollister didnt get a chance to say hi. So now ill say hi

[speedy 0]

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Speedy...if you were 1.5 under that 149, you would still be 1.3 under a 169. This isn't a race, slow down and learn how to fly a canopy at 1:1 before trying to get so damn agressive.

Kris... I think you've got a little confused. I agree with you totally. I was saying that 1.5 is too high for someone with 170 jumps.

I liked the comment from a guy at our dropzone that recently bought a Crossfire. He's been doing loads of jumps from 5K just to fly his new canopy. I asked him if he had got to know his canopy yet. His answer? Ask me again after I have 500 jumps on it

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[speedy 0]

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Yeah, but very light elipticals that require LONG periods on the risers to complete turns, rather than the "snappy" Stilleto, Heatwave etc ilk.

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I find the "snappiness" in velocity tends to be in the vertical if you know what I mean. You pull on the front riser and you get that sinking feeling in your stomach, just like when an elevator starts to go down.

The brake lines on a velocity only seem to be useful for 3 things :
1. Getting back from long spots
2. Flare
3. Digging out of the corner (One should not make this a habit)

For steering the rear risers are much more fun.

Dave

Fallschirmsport Marl

[NoShitThereIWas 0]

Your profile says you have less than 1 jump? You must have more if you are already flying a Spectre. You are absolutely wise to listen to the instructor who told your friend that he would die under a Stiletto with 25 jumps. Especially if he is wingloading it. All I can say is . Some people don't listen and we end up reading about them in the Incident reports.

To answer your question, me personally, I bought my first elliptical when I had around 80 jumps and I bought a Spectre 150 weighing about 125 pounds. My first jumps on that canopy were around jump #22 and I think that I was way too inexperienced to be flying that canopy with 22 jumps. However, I only did it twice and a friend of mine offered to let me try out her rig and canopy. (Brave soul) To me it felt like I came screaming in on both landings (compared to the F-111 175 sq. foot canopy I was used to flying).

I started to get bored around 550 jumps and downsized to a Stiletto 135. I think the Stiletto at that size is a great canopy for my skill level. It flies much differently than my Spectre 150 did. I was thinking about this year downsizing to the 120 but because I didn't jump much over the winter, I am going to practice my accuracy and get a little more aggressive with this one for a while longer. I think I'll be happy with it for at least another 250 jumps.

Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires."

Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

[AirtecKai 0]

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Hell no! I am definitely lucky to have lived a few times...

The jump numbers to choose from in the poll show that times have changed. The jump numbers 50-100-200-are in my opinion too low to consider an elliptical canopy at all.

You might need more jumps until you have experienced all different wind and weather conditions, out landings - and this at different DZ's with different landing areas ( trees, buildings, with tricky wind conditions etc.)

A small and eliptical canopy is unforgiving. And don't believe that the "biggish" 150 sqft elliptical will not turn like hell with a line over.

It's difficult to name a jump number, but please take the time (+ jumps) until you have really squeezed out your actual canopy before going small or elliptical or both.

....with professional instruction, it will go much faster than my "career":

Cruislite for approx. 700 jumps...
PD 170
first jumps with Excalibur at ~900 jumps
BT 50
Stiletto's
and now back to 7 cells

I had a few bad landings in the beginning , the docile canopy was very helpful. The same mistake(s) with a Stiletto would have been much worse.

Take the time,

Blue Skies,

Kai

[SLIDER 0]

I started jumping my stiletto 150 loaded at about 1.3 when I had about 100 jumps. I now have about 225 and would not suggest you do the same. I am still very careful about all of my inputs and and controls. Take your time and have fun.

Consider malfunctions and all difficult landing areas and situations.

"there's a fine line between hobby and mental illness"

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

Over 1000 jumps for me, but then again that is because there were none on the market before that point.

[freakflyer9999 1]

I had about 150 jumps when I bought my first elliptical, but I also upsized at the same time. I went to a canopy that was 15 sq. ft. bigger than what I had jumped for the past 75 jumps.

[Designer 0]

8 Years ago.1,600 + Jumps on just about every square parachute ever made.Mostly learned what was different about how each design flew.Figured it was time to try some of my ideas on how it could be done better.With much help form everybody involved,I managed to be a test jumper,builder of chutes for 18 months.This was a unique learning experience!I still feel that I have yet to master my elliptical?It might be 2-3 more years before I do?Anyway,go slow,learn much,think within yourself when you go the "Elliptical" route.

[StearmanR985 0]

I just flew my first elliptical today.
It was......hmm.....interesting.

[RyanofOZ 0]

Stearman, did you enjoy it? Was it what you were expecting?

Oz

[StearmanR985 0]

It was a Stiletto. It was a very interesting experience but the canopy was too "quirky" for both my experience and comfort level. It is sensitive to harness input too, something I am not familiar with. Landings were fine, it responded well to toggle input but far different than what I am used to, I am having trouble explaining it. You have to 'fly' it more if that makes sense. At the same time, I bet one could 'over fly' it and get in trouble fairly quick.

Anyhow, me thinks I'll be sticking with ordering a Spectre.

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[AndyMan 7]

Have you tried the Saber 2?

You seem to be into high performance, and the Spectre seems like an odd choice for that.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[StearmanR985 0]

I checked out the Stiletto mainly just to try it out for fun. I didn't think it would be the canopy for me and still feel that way after jumping it the other day.

I did demo the Sabre2 for about 12 jumps but just didn't quite like the flare on it. Don't get me wrong though, it was a very fun and exciting canopy to fly. I REALLY enjoyed the Spectre demo right from the sart, especially the flare. For whatever reason, I seem to prefer the steeper angle of decent. Also, it just seemed like a great all around canopy, even if it is a bit ground hungry And though it may not surf like the Sabre2 I believe if flown well it can get somewhat close. Not that I can accomplish that...yet.

[DancingFlame 0]

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Anyhow, me thinks I'll be sticking with ordering a Spectre.

You made wise choice. Congradulations!
But, did you mention what size are you ordering? I'd recommend a 170...

[voidlizard 0]

Hi!

Cobalt 120 1.6 on 157 jump. I felt myself much better when I have changed Safire 119 (or 109 - there was something strange with square measuring ) to the Cobalt. Slightly harmed my knee under the Safire, no problem with Cobalt (but screwed couple of time by dropzone's stuff for dangerous landings).

Know a guy who has got Stiletto 120 about 1.7 on 100th jump.

[StearmanR985 0]

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You made wise choice. Congradulations!
But, did you mention what size are you ordering? I'd recommend a 170...

I learned the hard way not to to discuss WL here on DZ.com. Instead, I chat about it with others in person, much safer.

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[headoverheels 291]

Which part of the flare did you like better on the Spectre? Since it was smaller than the Sabre2, it had more airspeed and the initial plane-off will be stronger. I would expect the Saber2 to have a lower stall speed/lower touchdown speed, especially in the larger size you jumped.

[StearmanR985 0]

So I don't get in trouble for hijacking the thread I'll PM ya.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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I learned the hard way not to to discuss WL here on DZ.com.

You are not the first person around here expressing the desire to jump somthing smaller and more high performance. And you have to realize that many of the CNs are just concerned that there is yet another person not listening to the message the CNs send day after day, week after week. Hopefully you understand why the CNs speak out all of the time. But one thing to remember is that we here on the internet have no idea as to how well or poorly you (and others) can fly your canopy. Only the people who see you jump week after week at your DZ know your abilities. So it is those people (your peers) who you really should listen to.

The Spectre is a good canopy (I have a 150 loaded at about 1.4:1) which I use for wingsuit jumps and am able to shoot accuracy approaches as well as being able to perform 90s and 180 swoops with it (I've yet to try a 270 on this canopy as it's still kind of new to me and still have much to learn about it compared to my other canopy which flies differently). So you will like your Spectre and it will be a good canopy for you.

I am not innocent in terms of downsizing as well (I'm now on my 5th main canopy, 6th of you count the Spectre, but I kind of upsized on that canopy compared to my Crossfire2 canopy). The important thing to remember is acknowledge that you are human, you are capable of making mistakes and mistakes on any canopy (let alone a smallish high performance canopy) can kill you. If swooping is something that interests you, find the reasons why you want to swoop and swoop for yourself and only for yourself. The minute you start trying to impress others is the minute you put your life in more danger than it could be in.

Good luck with your canopy progression.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Amazon 7]

When did I start flying an elliptical.... about 3 hours ago... the Samurai flies REALLLLLLY nice..