Cobalt or no ???

[freakydiver 0]

Guys - did you notice the

-- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

[dgskydive 0]

OOPS! Just had one on the phone with 50 jumps on a Stiletto 150 at 1.4. I was in save femur mode!

Dom

[DBCOOPER 1]

Went thru this myself with a sabre 170. Got a demo,put like 60 jumps on it loved it.Ordered one and it tried to kill me with the openings.Answer was I was packing it wrong.Well thats the way I pack.It would be 20 good ones then bam.
I currently own two Cobalt 150's.250 jumps on one and 1 on the other.Haven't been whacked yet.

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

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

[gearless_chris 1]

Quote

3 stage opening..... 1 Think deploy, 2 deploy pilot chute, 3 canopy..bbbbbboooooommmmm!!@!!!!!!!!!
The nastiest opening canopy i've jumped besides the Saber...............

That's exactly how mine is, 1. Deploy pilot chute 2. it wiggles a little while getting line stretch 3. Fully open as soon as the bag comes off the canopy, no snivel at all. Many witnesses on the ground say they see my canopy open, then 5 seconds later they hear it. I have a 24" pilot chute like they recommend. I've tried all the tricks they recommend. I have about 130 jumps on it now, it has broken 5 brake lines. I sent it to Skyworks to have it looked at. They found out the factory installed the lineset wrong. The improperly installed lineset was tearing the stabilizer off the end of the canopy. Had to have the lineset replaced with 120 jumps on the canopy. It didn't change the openings at all, but at least hopefully now it won't finish tearing off the stabilizer. We just tried a bigger slider, it added maybe 1/2 a second to the opening, it took a whole second to open that time. Skyworks can't get Atair to answer the phone to ask them about the canopy. Oh yeah, it also came with a slider that's smaller than what's called for and normally used on a 150. I demo'd a canopy before I ordered mine, it was fine. http://www.youtube.com/my_videos This is a jump with the bigger (deeper, but the same width) slider.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[PhreeZone 14]

I had the same exact issues when I had a 150 (opened nice) and every other Cobalt I jumped opened like crap so I said screw it and got a much better opening canopy. Your body over the long term will not tolerate abuse so if the canopy is still doing it just get rid of it and find something else that opens correctly.

I also quickly learned the value of having the company willing to do the direct work on their products instead of saying "Contact this rigger, they might be able to help".

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[JanuszPS 0]

Did you measure the lines?
I have a 135 for last 160 jumps. I experienced on it one extremely hard opening which broke my rib and whiplashed my neck... then I measured the lines and they were 8-10 cm shorter than in the chart. After reline I have to "help" my Cobalt to open quicker. All of them are now very soft and looooong.
I sent it to Atair, but in Slovenia as this is the place of origin of that canopy and I'm very happy about the service. In addition I got a brand new slider and extra piece of fabric for free if I decide to do the H-mod to my canopy.
I also jumped prior buying my canopy friend of mine 135 and all openings were great. Another one have 150 and no complains (previously was jumping Sabre 1). I like so much the canopy that I'm going to buy 120 soon. Hopefully I will move to it this summer when I much current.
So far I like cobalt and recommended it to other friend of mine.
Janusz

Back to Poland... back home.

[gearless_chris 1]

At my home dz there's been a 94 Alpha, 99 Alpha, 135 Cobalt, and 2 Space 130's, I demo'd a 170 Comp Cobalt, because they didn't have a 150 available at the time, they all are fine. Duane complains about his 94 opening quick but it looks fine to me, just not as nice as either of the Spaces. I have a 150 Comp Cobalt that is supposed to have the H-mod from the factory and a longer lineset. After I put a few jumps on the canopy I measured the lines because the brake lines were way too short to use front risers. The lines I measured were almost as long as what the chart calls for on a 170, but hey are supposed to be longer than a regular Cobalt. I haven't check the lineset that Mel put on but there is a difference because I only had to let 7.6 cm out of Mel's brake lines, they factory was off by 14 cm (the tail was slightly pulled down with the brakes released). I'm going to try not rolling the tail this weekend to see if that helps. The first few jumps I put on the canopy it opened okay, and actually had the two stage opening where the 3 cells on each end were collapsed, but that only lasted 3 jumps, then for the next couple dozen it would open hard but with the end cells still collapsed, from then as soon as it comes out of the bag it's fully open. I've had different people pack, it just to try it, but I won't do that anymore. If someone PRO packs it, it will either brake a line or I'll be bleeding somewhere like my nose or fingers.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[JanuszPS 0]

Contact them:
http://www.basetroll.com/index.html
http://www.basetroll.com/order.html
If you ring Stane should answer your ph call.
There were not making 150 Comp as I aware. Only H-mod was provided to some of them. The H-mod should open slower, so it might be the lines problem. Sorry to hear about your problem tough. I was struggled with mine but after reline it works perfectly - no complains at all.
Janusz

Back to Poland... back home.

[justme12001 0]

not sure how much diffrent the radical is from the cobalt, I have been told it's the same canopy just with a diffrent name. I jump a 135 radical and have found that for packing the best way is to.... dont roll or seperate the nose, let it hang but shove it all the way to the tail, then roll the tail super tight. On opening dont try to do any heading correction with risers but rather with your legs, not exactly sure why that makes a diffrence but it does seem to help. I usually get between a 900-1200 ft nice soft opening. Hope that helps.

[stayhigh 2]

i currently own Cobalt and I have had anywhere from 300 ft opening to 1500 ft snivel.

every opening seems to be different although I'm giving same pack job.

if center three cell hits the air first it opens nice but if the side catches the air first it seems to open hard. i believe their bullshit cross porting system are the culprit to bad opening.

and lastly harder i track prior to and WHILE deploying, i have had much softer and on heading opening.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[JanuszPS 0]

Quote

[...] but if the side catches the air first it seems to open hard.

I had the same till reline. After that it's nice and soft. Even when I extended steering lines there was improvement.
My only question is for how long? ;-)
I might not survive another shocking opening...

Try to leave the central three cells more exposed than the other. That should improve the openings. check the lines. After measuring every single one I decided to reline with a very good result.

Janusz

Back to Poland... back home.

[weavermc 0]

Wow - lots of bad press on Cobalt's. I guess i'm lucky becuase i've owned Cobalts for years with no issues.

My wife shoots video and jumps a Cobalt 135, and I've jumped a Cobalt 120 and 135. I recently purchased another Cobalt 135 for a backup rig (so we currently own 3 - all 135's).

I don't roll the nose or anything fancy, just bury it by the tail before I cacoon it.

On opening - leave the risers alone - it will improve your openings.

That said - like the others suggested, demo the canopy first to see if you like it.

Mark

[yjumpinoz 0]

I sure like my Cobalt 105.....