nigel99 144 #26 July 12, 2011 Quote I was jumping a Stiletto 135, which I thought was well within my ability range, given that I have 1000 jumps. I was wrong. I couldn't land it safely when I jumped out of the balloon when there was no outs. Knee surgery and 6 months of physical therapy is no joke. I've upsized to a Pulse 150 and I'm not going to be doing any balloons ever again. Do you mind expanding on why you won't jump balloons again? It is very high on my todo list.Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beowulf 1 #27 July 12, 2011 Jumping a balloon usually means landing off. Off landings can be very unpredictable. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nigel99 144 #28 July 12, 2011 QuoteJumping a balloon usually means landing off. Off landings can be very unpredictable. I understand that. I am not scared of landing off (have experience of it, albeit limited). She stated that after her jump she upsized, but that she wouldn't be jumping a balloon again. I am guessing if are "planning" on landing off you could rent a 230 or larger and have a really docile canopy. So I am curious as to why she ruled that out as an option? Edited: Sorry AirAthanas didn't realise and thanks beowulf for correcting.Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beowulf 1 #29 July 12, 2011 I don't have that much of an interest in doing balloon jumps mostly because they usually include having to get up really early in the morning. Unless I have to go to work I would rather sleep then get up early to do a balloon jump. Also, just to let you know AirAthanas is female. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #30 July 12, 2011 It's not so much about smaller sizes as it is about wing loadings. In many cases a larger wing will actually yield better performance. Several years ago before they came up with rules to limit how much lead you could wear people were wearing 70-80 lbs of lead (or more) and flying 111-120 sq ft canopies loaded at 3:1 because you could make the thing swoop forever. People had so much energy coming out of their turns, though, that it just wasn't safe. Now that there are lead limits people are back flying smaller canopies again because that's really the only tool you have to get to the wing loading you want. This tends to be more self-limiting than "where can I fit some more lead pouches on myself?" And, since I don't compete, I use 500 HMA which is more about dimensional stability than it is about drag. Highly loaded canopies that are out of trim tend to give you very poor openings. I've got some jumps on a friend's XB-84 and XB-90 that had 300 HMA and it's just stupid thin. I found myself nervously inspecting all the bartacks after each jump. You can keep that nonsense. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waldschrat 0 #31 July 12, 2011 Quote Jumping a balloon usually means landing off. Off landings can be very unpredictable. I heard this 3 years ago from a other WS-jumper. He says to me this is because he makes this balloon jump with his V2. Okay i was also wearing a WS (Blade) Planned Exit height was around 5500ft and Opening height at least for the WS-Jumpers 3300ft. (normal jumpers 2600ft), but the balloon captain did only give us a little under 5000ft exit height. Last thing what i could see from the other WS-jumper (from the balloon exit ramp)was falling on his back , after exit, and coming to a flat spin....~20s later far, far under my feet a little open canopy. (Puuh) Did my exit and flight, but didn't also made it back to the airport (I'm not a really good flyer) and land 300 ft from the airport fence, unhappy on stones at the field. I was thinking: What a shitty jump and brassy landing 30min later i see the other WS-jumper The DZ-staff bring him back from a little lost village....wheat spikes all over this suit and chute. He didn't look lucky. The driver from the dz say he found him around 1 mile from the dz by this lost village. After a few beers on the evening he show me his GPS-dates.....He exited at 1,1 Miles 4900ft height pulled at or after his flat spin at ~1900ft and had a fully open chute at ~1200ft did fly in the wrong direction and landed 1,5 Miles apart from the airport in a corn field near the lost village.(like i could see on his GPS-Dates; if i remember correctly) I didn't know how many jumps he did have, but i know now my 500 jumps and ~100WS flights from 13000ft are not enough for low balloon jumps(for me). Edit: Sorry TS should be better post this in Ron's Thread..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
