Old fart wants to downsize!

[Martini 0]

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Kids these days whine about them "opening hard."

Using a line like that makes you an official old fart.

Sometimes you eat the bear..............

[monkycndo 0]

See if you can get a PD Pulse to demo. They aren't Sabre 1 fast, but tend to open quicker than the Spectre/Pilot/Saffire canopies.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[Skydivesg 6]

I agree. The PD Pulse is a very good canopy for your current desires and needs. The Storm would be my second recommendation.

Contact PD ask for Alex and have him send you a demo.

The cost to use the canopy for 10-14 days is less than a $100.00 (includes shipping and a mandatory inspection upon return).

Or you can go to an event at which PD is attending and jump it for free.

What ever canopy you're thinking of buying make certain you demo it first.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[wmw999 2,117]

I was able to get it to open quite satisfyingly (I also like quicker openings). No nose rolling, open the center cell so that it catches air, stuff like that.

Play with the pack job, tweaking one thing at a time until you have openings you're satisfied with. Note: if you're demo-ing a canopy at an event, make sure, if they use packers, that the packer knows you don't want a long snivelly opening. Most packers are rewarded for that. I pack for myself so that I don't have to keep explaining.

To give you a comparison point, I really liked the openings on my unslidered Starlite

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[sundevil777 93]

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I'm 65, 180lbs, have about 2500 jumps in 10 years of jumping, Now jumping a PD210 that has no bottom end, no flair at all. I'm tired of it and want something better. I'm kicking around a Stiletto 170 or 190. I like what PD advertises about it , my friends who jump mainly Sabers think it's to big of a jump, what do you think.

I had a PD210 that after about 200 jumps didn't land well, and I decided to do something similar to ads years ago that I'd seen that claimed to put a zero p coating on a regular canopy. I'd also seen people say that the real world result of such treatments was really hard openings and canopy damage. I decided to just do it myself in a way, by coating the heck out of it with skotchguard that is commonly recommended for containers (and it really does work, even oil stains have come off the white areas of my rig). I sprayed it on really heavy, the top skin is the only part that matters, but it will soak through to the bottom probably. I figured it should fill up the pores of the fabric to some extent, maybe enough to make a difference, and it did! Suddenly my canopy would plane out again, I could get an easy stand up even though I was loading it at the time at 1.15:1

The skotchguard is no problem with nylon, and I figured that I would need to get rid of the canopy anyway if it didn't work. Probably nobody else will agree that this is worth doing, and they'll say it is dangerous, but I did it and it worked great. No hard openings.

Of course if your canopy is out of trim, that is a separate issue, and it may not be worth putting new lines on it.

The top skin is the only half that matters because that is where the "attached" flow can get "separated" from the surface by air leaking through That isn't a concern for the bottom skin. If we could suck a bit of air into the canopy from the top skin that would make the airfoil more efficient at high angles of attack, so the opposite (high porosity) destroys lift.

On the subject of opening distances, remember that 200 feet could get used up just getting the bag off your rig and open to expose the canopy. My Pilot doesn't snivel for too long. I think it is just right.

Good luck

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[AggieDave 6]

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I had a PD210 that after about 200 jumps didn't land well, and I decided to do something similar to ads years ago that I'd seen that claimed to put a zero p coating on a regular canopy. I'd also seen people say that the real world result of such treatments was really hard openings and canopy damage.

Leonardizing the canopy. Leonard Moorehead came up with the process and yup, the canopies opened like a Sabre1 with no slider dumped in a headdown. He as a mad scientist of a rigger, holding a patent on a type of crossbracing for canopy design at one point. Well, he's still a mad scientist, but he doesn't jump or rig anymore.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[sundevil777 93]

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I had a PD210 that after about 200 jumps didn't land well, and I decided to do something similar to ads years ago that I'd seen that claimed to put a zero p coating on a regular canopy. I'd also seen people say that the real world result of such treatments was really hard openings and canopy damage.

Leonardizing the canopy. Leonard Moorehead came up with the process and yup, the canopies opened like a Sabre1 with no slider dumped in a headdown. He as a mad scientist of a rigger, holding a patent on a type of crossbracing for canopy design at one point. Well, he's still a mad scientist, but he doesn't jump or rig anymore.

I understand that some had the result of bad openings, but my experience with exactly the same canopy as the OP was that it did not. Perhaps it is subject to what is used to treat the canopy, or it might depend on the canopy design.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[kallend 1,621]

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I'm 65, 180lbs, have about 2500 jumps in 10 years of jumping,

I'm 66, and last year went to a STORM (135) that I like a lot. Gave up my Stiletto because it's not really suitable for wingsuiting.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[joebubba 0]

Consider a Silhouette. I made a total of 2800 jumps on 2 different PD230's, which I really liked. I would have bought a third one, but they're not made anymore. But now I'm glad that they're not, because after 100 jumps on my Silhouette 230, I just love it.

The openings have a little punch compared to the PD230, but the landings are extremely nice. In my view it's a great Old Guy's canopy.

By the way, I'll be 75 next month.

[scroadload 1]

I just made my 5 th jump on my new Stiletto 190, loaded to .98 to 1, it has meet my every hope. The openings have been very soft, yet it came to open in 300 ft (which I like). All opening have been on heading, except one did a 360, it was a very docile canopy during fast sashay's, where little altitude was lost. The flair on landing was excellent-- left me with a very soft landing and was very well behaved as far as heading control was concerned. The packing is another story---as my only other canopy was a F-111---this zpo is a slippery, slithering, slick, greasy pile of parachute. Push here and you get an aneurysm there---you can't get the air out easily---but it sure does suck it in fast. I'll get it, sooner or later, I don't give up quickly (probably a good trait). I would recommend this downsize to another jumper in a similar circumstance's---no regrets-- Blue Skies To All

D-2626, SCR1999, SCS641, NSCR2350, GW6909

Blue Skies!!!!!!

[daleskydive 0]

I think that if you 2500 jumps its not too big a jump at all. Its hard to tell the difference between a 210 and 190 so I would say go the 170 and see how you feel about it.I have owned a stiletto 170 and got rid of because of the openings. Had a couple of very hard ones. The Crossfire 2 opens nice and softly in 400 to 600 feet and to date after 100s of jumps on them have never had a full line twist or hard opening. They have a long control range on toggle and have an amazing flare, plenty of bottom end.Icarus make a 169 but will custom make whatever size you want.Im pretty sure icarus recomend a WL of 1.4 to have it perform which is what I loaded my first one at and it was awesome.PS Im sporting some old non skydiving related injuries( bad neck,back and leg) and the crossfire 2 has served me well.I hope this info helps.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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I think that if you 2500 jumps its not too big a jump at all.

It depends what those 2500 jumps were under. 250 jumps under a same sized non-rectangular ZP canopy would be a lot better preperation for a down-size than 2500 jumps under a conventional rectangular canopy.

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Its hard to tell the difference between a 210 and 190 so I would say go the 170 and see how you feel about it.

Or not. Try to fly a Stiletto at even relatively large sizes like a less responsive canopy and it can kill you (example at 1.2 pounds/square foot, not a hook turn type person, just neglected to add enough opposite toggle turning back into the wind)

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3709212

Learning to fly (notably the survival skill of 0-90 degree turns at 0-50 feet) a modern canopy design before going any smaller is a fine idea.

[daleskydive 0]

Yes DrewEckhardt you are right. I retract my comment about going straight to the 170. A similar sized eliptical would be the smarter option. Then assess from there.