pilot 150--do they always open so sloooowwww

[woodpecker 0]

I jumped my pilot 150 for first time yesterday and WOW! What a slow opening. I just sat there in the saddle wondering if the other 6 cells were ever going to inflate. I pitched at 5,000 and was 100% open at 3,000.

I didnt roll the nose and pro packed it. Granted this was the smoothest opening I've ever had, but a little too slow for my comfort zone. Any ideas on how to speed it up a little, or is this normal and I should not really worry.

Billy

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[GravityGirl 0]

Don't roll the nose. Don't push the nose into the center of the pack job. Quarter the slider, but don't pull it forward over the nose.

What are you loading it at?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[woodpecker 0]

Didnt roll the nose, but I did push it into the center of the pack job. I also made sure to have as much of the slider over the nose as I could....and thats a big ass slider.

So just flake the cells and then let the nose hang?

My wing load is 1:03 (155 out the door/150 main)

Thanks Bonnie. I havent put that new smart reserve in yet either. But it does look pretty sitting on my gear rack. lol

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[GravityGirl 0]

Instead of pushing the nose into the center, just sort of place it out of the way of the tail when you roll the tail around. Does that make sense?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[woodpecker 0]

Kind of. Would there be a problem if I simply just pulled the nose out from between my legs, let it hang, and then wrapped the tail around it all (cacconed it)?

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[idoru99 0]

Shouldn't be, that's exactly what I do with my Sabre2 and my Safire2, still get 800-900 ft openings.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

The greatest risk you take in life is the risk you don't take.

[woodpecker 0]

Thanks all for the help. I'll give it a try this weekend and see what happens.

ie. dont push in the nose and dont pull the slider out over the nose....

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[GravityGirl 0]

Yup. That sounds good. Let me know how it goes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[katzurki 0]

I once had to pack a Pilot 140 to open guaranteed-quickly on a jump from 2000 ft into dead air. The person was dead set on doing the jump. So after unsuccessfully trying to talk them out of it, I opened their rig to find a nice and slow psychopack inside, rolled my eyes, and pro-packed it with the slider half-collapsed (I pulled the strings halfway out, then tucked them back in the channel so they wouldn't catch on any lines), and I also intentionally pushed the tail open when I was bagging the canopy. Told them to make a 5-second delay, and off they went. I think I was more nervous than the person doing the jump. The canopy snivelled for a short while but inflated very quickly and nicely at what I'd guess was above 1000 ft.

Oh, I also put a 38" ZP PC on that rig, and left more slack than usual when stowing the lines (omitted last two stows).

Don't do that on normal jumps, though.

• Quote

[pjc 0]

I jumped my P150 for the 1st time this weekend also

Edit: Oh yeah: Pro-Pack, don't do anything with the nose and don't roll the tail too much!!

[Zoter 0]

Interesting...I have a 168 Pilot and it opens in a snap !.....I'm confident pulling at 2500ft that I will have an open, controllable canopy by at the latest 2000ft .

I dont roll the nose.....I simply grab all the nose cells and 'twist' my wrist 90degrees and close up the tail around the packjob

No excessive rolling of the tail or funky slider mods.....
opens on heading nearly every time as well...
W/L about 1.45-1.5

[pincheck 0]

yeh i open in about 500ft on my 168 as well which is loaded about 1.08 on a normal pro -pack with nothing done to the nose.

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun

[Pendragon 1]

Quote

Thanks all for the help. I'll give it a try this weekend and see what happens.

ie. dont push in the nose and dont pull the slider out over the nose....

How's it going? Like it?

Yup, that's right - just pack it. That slider is HUGE! I never pushed the nose in nor pulled the slider out over the nose and it always opened fine for me. Not too brisk - but nowhere near as slow as your experience!

--
BASE #1182
Muff #3573
PFI #52; UK WSI #13

[amy 0]

Pulling the slider in front of the nose will definitely slow the opening down. On my Pilot I just quarter the slider and leave the nose hanging (exactly what you described in an earlier post).

I also found that when I got the canopy relined, the openings slowed down again. If the canopy is new, you may find that as it gets more jumps on it your openings pick up a little bit.

Amy

[phoenixlpr 0]

Was it a terminal or subterminal opening you are talking about?

[woodpecker 0]

Terminal....

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[woodpecker 0]

Loved it.....let me know when your back at headcorn and I'll stop by and jump with you. See what we can do with the wingsuit.

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[ncfitzge 0]

Well I think you should give me that P150 and you could use your pillow case.....

#148 Sonic Scrat
"Have you ever kissed a rabbit between the eyes?" Woodpecker pulling out his pants pockets to the waitress

[woodpecker 0]

Welcome back fitz. Wish you were here to jump...and I might just have a few 150's laying around when you decide you want one. :P

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[popsjumper 2]

Quote

...I also made sure to have as much of the slider over the nose as I could....and thats a big ass slider.

And there-in resides the problem.
It's amazing how that slider is such a fine-tuning mechanism for opening speed.
Pull it way out - slow
Don't pull it out at all - mucho quicko

My Triathlon is the same way...I can dial-in whatever opening speed I want.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[ncfitzge 0]

Well by the time they let my ass go home, I will need to start out on a 260 again....

I should've put my cellphone in my parachute case and use my 15 minutes to call my pilot so it wouldn't be as mad at me when I get back.

#148 Sonic Scrat
"Have you ever kissed a rabbit between the eyes?" Woodpecker pulling out his pants pockets to the waitress

[woodpecker 0]

Jumped again today without doing anything to the nose, and only quartering the slider (not pulling it over the nose) and WOW, what a difference. Full canopy in around 1000, and still....what a smooth opening. Thanks all for the help.

Billy

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?

[MrBrant 0]

1000 feet?? holy crap, that's a still a helluva long opening.

my Pilot opens very soft in about 600 feet.

do you flake the inside of the canopy when pro-packing? (The reach in the stabilizer, and line up the folds and line-attachment points)

I find the openings a bunch more consistent this way, and it does seem to speed them up considerably. (Don't get me wrong, it's still really soft, but not as much useless snivelling and collapsed end-cells this way.)

Might be worth a shot, if you're not doing it already.


Question for anyone: how does wing-loading affect opening speed? (does it, and is it somewhat predictable?)
Would a canopy loaded at 1:1 open slower than that same canopy @ 1.4:1? (given same deployment speed, etc.)

[woodpecker 0]

It actually might have been less. I pitched...watched canopy inflate....then looked at my alti, so I'm sure I added a few feet in the time it took to look at my alti. But not much I'm sure.

I'll pay a lot more attention to pitch alti/ and full inflation and report back.

Billy

SONIC WOODY #146

There is a fine line between cockiness and confidence -- which side of the line are you on?