pd pulse

[theQ 1]

How many jumps you put on it ? I love it overall, most of my landings were standups with few exceptions where althou there was wind and I flared still moved me forward instead of getting lift.

[DBCOOPER 1]

Don't know how many jumps are on the canopy as I bought it from PD's demo canopy stock. I have about 200 on it.

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[stayhigh 2]

I've only put about 7 jumps on Pulse 120, on a rented rig on a back to back days.

First landing I'd admit that I've landed like shit, but all rest of them were soft landing.

Totally stress free openings, wouldn't say it is the softest.
Loaded anywhere between 1.7 to 2.0

Good canopy for those who just wants to land safely to the ground.

If you can't flair this canopy, I wonder how are you gonna land a F111 reserve canopy which has far less flair power.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[Andrei_Serban 1]

Why does John LeBlanc recommend lighter wing loadings on the Pulse?
(In a recent speech he mentioned flying, among other canopies, a sub-100 Velo and a 210 Pulse.)

Several posters in this thread seem to have found that the Pulse flares more powerfully and is easier to front riser when loaded higher.

Any ideas?....

[mathrick 2]

Andrei_Serban

Why does John LeBlanc recommend lighter wing loadings on the Pulse?
(In a recent speech he mentioned flying, among other canopies, a sub-100 Velo and a 210 Pulse.)

I don't think that he recommends it. He just says that he does to make the point that a range of canopies doesn't make you uncool, and Pulse is perfectly compatible with a light WL (unlike Velo, which was made to be loaded highly, that's the whole point of it). If you make a freefall jump, it makes perfect sense to pick a larger canopy that ensures you can make it home and safely, and use your brainpower on the freefall part, rather than worrying whether you'll be able to make it on your pocket rocket if the spot is a little bit off.

Also, a more powerful flare doesn't surprise me, higher WL == more airspeed == more lift generation. That's what "powerful flare" really means. If you take it to the logical conclusion, you get HP canopies which can glide for hundreds of metres and still pop more than just a bit at the end, because they have so much speed available to them.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[Joellercoaster 6]

mathrick

Also, a more powerful flare doesn't surprise me, higher WL == more airspeed == more lift generation.

True. But also, potentially higher stall speed.

I have jumped a couple of canopies loaded maybe a little more highly than they should have been, and they flared great... until they didn't

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[mattjw916 2]

The Pulse has a low porosity bottom skin and a ZP top skin... generally you don't want to load canopies of that nature as high.

Most canopies in general will be more responsive if you load them higher, up to a point, like was said previously. Some designs aren't as effective as you scale them too far up or down in size.

Loading up a Pulse would be like trying to do hot laps of your favorite racetrack in a family car. Sure, you can drive it "fast" but that's not how it's intended to be used. Accordingly, you don't want to be sitting in a Ferrari in stop and go traffic. Use the right tool for the job.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[DSE 3]

Quote

Loading up a Pulse would be like trying to do hot laps of your favorite racetrack in a family car. Sure, you can drive it "fast" but that's not how it's intended to be used. Accordingly, you don't want to be sitting in a Ferrari in stop and go traffic.

A perfect analogy!

[dpreguy 14]

I am amazed that anyone would consider the Pulse as having a powerful flare. Not. It has some speed but is wholly lacking in flare power for landing. The owner I borrowed it from said so, and dumped his for a Stilletto. In the jumps I put on it also showed it had a pathetic amount of landing flare power. About half of the flare power of a Stilletto. In short, in my opinion, the flare power of a Pulse is pathetic. Your flare stroke is way way long, and you'll be saying, "Where's the lift when I need it?".
A Sabre 2 is way better too. I'm 180 lbs and jumped a Pulse 170. Anyone contemplating buying one should definitely borrow one before buying, and not use the internet yadda yadda for your buying decision. As I said before, in my opinion, the Pulse is a dud. Sabre 2 or Stiletto out flare it by a factor of two. My opinion: you should test jump one before making up your own mind.

[Andrei_Serban 1]

Jumped one since... 190 (I'm at 180 lbs exit wt)... twice, in light winds.

Maybe weak flare power, maybe I wasn't doing it right.

Maybe the controls were a little too long for my body size - it also turned rather slowly, I got the impression that one needs to pull the toggle halfway down before it starts turning.

Very hard to toggle stall (again, maybe controls too long).

Enormous front riser pressure... Did some pull-ups on the front risers without any effect on the canopy. (Does front riser pressure get lower on higher wing loadings??...)

Glides nicely. Lovely for relaxing after your freefall, enjoy the landscape etc.

Who's this canopy actually marketed for?

[mathrick 2]

I was referring to "more powerful flare" associated with higher WL, not necessarily any kind absolute measurement. Perhaps I should've written "that's what flare power means" instead.

That said, I cannot possibly agree about the Pulse being a dud. I've demoed it specifically because I had trouble landing my Sabre2 in nil wind, and in the couple of jumps I've got in light to no wind conditions, I found Pulse to be massively easier to land. Sure, it doesn't have the range Sabre2 has allowing it to pop up so much, but it doesn't need it. It's trimmed for such a flat glade that you don't need it in the first place. I've progressed enough since to be able land my Sabre2 in no wind standing up, but I had to put significant effort into learning it, whilst it just happened right away on a Pulse.

I wonder where such a difference of opinions comes from. Almost all non-CP people I know who who fly Pulse are perfectly happy with how it lets them get home after a jump no matter the conditions, and most of them also agree that Sabre2 is much more challenging in no winds. But I do know a person who switched from Pulse to Sabre2 because she found it easier to land, and all she does is freefall.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[mathrick 2]

Andrei_Serban

Jumped one since... 190 (I'm at 180 lbs exit wt)... twice, in light winds.

Maybe weak flare power, maybe I wasn't doing it right.

Maybe the controls were a little too long for my body size - it also turned rather slowly, I got the impression that one needs to pull the toggle halfway down before it starts turning.

Very hard to toggle stall (again, maybe controls too long).

Enormous front riser pressure... Did some pull-ups on the front risers without any effect on the canopy. (Does front riser pressure get lower on higher wing loadings??...)

Glides nicely. Lovely for relaxing after your freefall, enjoy the landscape etc.

Who's this canopy actually marketed for?

I jumped a 170 (I'm 187lbs out the door) in light to no winds. Had zero trouble flaring, in fact flaring was the very reason I demoed Pulse (I could barely land my Sabre2 in no wind at the time).

I would suspect too long controls - in my experience it's a delightfully zippy canopy in flight. Very responsive to harness input, much more so than my Sabre2. I had no trouble doing a 360 on harness input alone on the Pulse, but on my Sabre2 I need to give some toggle for the turn to be appreciable.

Front risers were very easy to use. The pressure does build up in a turn rather quickly, so more than a 270 becomes challenging, but initiating a turn was not a problem. It was one of the first canopies I tried front risering on, too. You're not the first one to claim it though, I know a guy flying a 170 (and he's good 15kg heavier than me) who claims to be unable to pull his fronts down. To this, all I can say is "huh?".

It's a canopy for people who are not dedicated pilots and want something that will get them home no matter the spot after they're done with freefall (hanging on the rears for 3 minutes to flatten the glide gets old fast, and that's what you need to do on a Sabre2 to get comparable glide ratio). It's definitely not sluggish with proper length controls, and landings are unexciting in the best possible way.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[kleggo 138]

DSE

Quote

Loading up a Pulse would be like trying to do hot laps of your favorite racetrack in a family car. Sure, you can drive it "fast" but that's not how it's intended to be used. Accordingly, you don't want to be sitting in a Ferrari in stop and go traffic.

A perfect analogy!

hmmmmmmmmmmm
thinking of buying a pulse to replace my Triathlon.
Ferrari? check
Porsche? check
Track days? check.

grin!

[DBCOOPER 1]

I realize this is an old thread but I have this to offer. The Pulse came with two different line trims. The first version was trimmed very flat and would go a very long way at the price of a less than stellar flare. You would have to be very aggressive with the flare but once you figure it out it really is not an issue. I would loose a lot of altitude in a toggle turn. The second version wouldn't fly as far but has a more conventional flare. The line trim is noted on the data panel and I think its PO1 and PO2.

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[dpreguy 14]

Uh "less than stellar flare". I'll say. Only half the flare power you need/expect. It is a dud. Use it for a car cover.