Typical wingloading at diff. experience levels

[DZJ 0]

Hi all,

I see a fair amount of discussion about wing loading and was wondering what a ‘normal’ load was at different experience levels.

I for instance have just got off student status, having been trained on a Balance 260 and weighing (without gear) about 160lbs. I was wondering what sort of wing loading might be considered ‘normal’ for skydivers of say 50/100/250/500/1000/1000+ jumps experience. Also, what’s the usual maximum for tandem wing loading? And do skydivers in different canopy disciplines (CReW/swooping/accuracy etc) prefer particular loadings, or is the deciding factor simply handling characteristics?

Cheers for any input,

-Ian

PS – I realise that people don't all downsize their canopies at the same rate and there will be a degree of variation. I'm just curious as to the appproximate wing loadings.

[SarahC07 0]

Well, this is just me... and I do believe it may be different for each and every person depending on their canopy skills... BUT...

1st AFF on a 240
3-4 more jumps on a 200
I'd say oh 10-20 more on a Sabre 190
20-30 more on a 170
And I'm currently jumping a Spectre 150
I have 95 jumps.
I load that at approximately 1:1 or maybe 1.07:1

But that is me... everyone is different And I'm not a coach... but I had a coach there recommending/approving every downsize I made.
I'll probably stay on a 150 for awhile.

Good luck.

[billvon 2,772]

Personally:

50 jumps - Pursuit 215 at .83 to 1
100 jumps - same
250 jumps - PD190 at .94 to 1
500 jumps - same
1000 jumps - Sabre 150 at 1.25 to 1
2200 jumps - Tri 135 at 1.4 to 1
3000 jumps - Safire 119 at 1.68 to 1
3800 jumps - Crossfire 109 at 1.85 to 1
4000 jumps - Nitro 108 at 1.9 to 1

That being said, there is no one correct progression. I learned when there was no real canopy training. If you get good HP canopy training and take it seriously, you could easily be at 1.5 to 1 after 100 jumps. If you never get any training, doing that would be very dangerous.

[DZJ 0]

Thanks for the responses. I'd like to try something around 200 sq ft, but for the time being I'm content to jump a docile old sail at 240/260 until my repertoire of canopy manouevres is a little better furnished.

[Fab 0]

0 - 100 : max wingloading 1.1
100-500 : max wingloading 1.3

These are the rules here in holland...

_______________________________________

[jheadley 0]

I weigh about 175 without gear.

1st jump 280
2-6 260
7- 210

I'm just a tad above .9:1.

[skyyhi 0]

Bill, so modest. . .you should have steered him in the direction of your downsizing checklist. . .I believe this list will save lives. . .

first jump. . .280
2nd to 15th jump. . .240
16th jump till around 27 jumps. . .200 and 210. . .
bought my own rig. . .with Sabre 210. Jumped that until about 127 jumps. . .now on a Hornet 170. . .about 20+ jumps on that. . .will probably stay with this one for a while. . .w/l of .86 to 1. . .when I can do bill von's checklist I will downsize to a 150. . .but not before. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[DZJ 0]

I've read that article, was very informative. There are a lot of canopy skills I'm still to acquire so I'm in no hurry to shrink my canopy.

[jas8472 0]

For me personally.

AFF level 1 - Consol number 5 : 240
Jump 15-20 : 200
Jump 20-40 : 210
Jump 40-110 : Clipper 194
Jump 110-120 : ZP170
Jump 120-255+ : Pilot 168

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

A rule that was posted some time ago:

Zero to 100: a 1.0:1 max
100-200: 1.1
200-300: 1.2
300-400: 1.3
etc, etc, etc.....
900-1000: 1.9
over 1000 jumps: use your best judgement

[JumpRu 14]

My personal rules are:
1. start with 1:1 WL when you ready (for light person this can be a while).
2. one season - one canopy (why would you need to change them faster anyway?).
3. do not skip sizes when downsize (for example: 170,150,135,120).
4. do 500 jumps in a year or stay with same canopy next year.

[Jumpmunki 0]

i take it your in the usa then, no-one that i know of at our dz can do 500 jumps in a year!

financialy or otherwise..

i certainly can't anyway ...

wouldn't it been better put, 500 jumps on a canopy before changing?

[Praetorian 1]

Quote

A rule that was posted some time ago:

Quote

Zero to 100: a 1.0:1 max
100-200: 1.1

Ok I know I'm asking for trouble here but as "rules" is this a hard and fast thing or is it more of a guideline?
I was at 1:1 still on student status at skydivechicago at 70 jumps (and for the last 40+ and probably the next 200+ ) I've been jumping at or just over 1:1 (170 main, I weigh 160 without gear) I dont think I'm riskie, I can already do most of bill's famous list, still working on refining and getting more comfortable with some of it, and I'm in no hurry to downsize I paid a lot for my main and its fun to fly but in no way do I feel foolish or riskie to be at the loading I'm at.. I don't think I'm anything special I just think that the training at SDC is better then most dropzones.

Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad
judgment.

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[TrickyDicky 0]

Personally:

0-50 - Manta/PD 280s (took me this long to get my A) (.75 loading)

50-80 - fury or contact 220 (.95 loading) couldnt land on my feet. Canopies are about 15-20 yrs old.

80-280(now) - sabre 170 (about 1.2) Really enjoying and only just learning. Playing with double front riser landings, can flare turn. Only just beginning to know what to do with it. Not downsizing anytime soon.

I have jumped friends sabre 2 150s and a zp.exe 155 (about 1.35) a few times.

UK Skydiver for all your UK skydiving needs.

[MarkM 0]

Student status I had various 240-260+ canopies. Off student status I was on Triathlon 240 and 220s, then migrated to my own Triathlon 160 at around jump 35 or so. That was a little under a 1.1 WL.

Migrating to a Hornet 150 now which I'll be loading that a little over a 1.1 WL, I'm mostly just making a switch to a little more aggressie of a cut(semi-ellip) and a 9 cell.

That Hornet should last me quite awhile and it'll probably be several hundred jumps before I max out what I can do on it.

[Flyer2Diver 0]

I'm not sure it's good to boil it all down to wing loading and jump numbers, since at the end there's a lot of judgement (and advice from an instructor who understands your canopy skills) that needs to go into it, but here's my personal experience:

I tip the scales at ~195 w/o gear, ~220 with gear.
1-8: Navigator 280 - .79:1
9-31: Navigator 220 - 1:1
32-now: Sabre2 190 - 1.16:1

I bought a 190 new and plan to jump it for quite a while until I can fly the s@!t out of it.

_______________________________
30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

[annna 0]

Funny - we were talking about a related theme the other day - that being we wondered what the average wingloading was for girls v boys of the same experience level.

Here in the UK, at least, the girls generally have far more conservatively loaded wings than the boys. I think i'm fairly representative and have 700 jumps on a sabre 135, loaded at roughly 1
but i have many many male contemporaries of similar jump numbers but at least 20 or 40 lbs heavier on far smaller canopies. Reckon its a fairly common theme ...... ???

anna

[Praetorian 1]

for me and a healthy female to be loaded identically she's likely to be on a smaller main (as women are USUALLY smaller then men) 1:1 under a 170 and 1:1 under a 135 are not even close to the same thing 1.2:1 under a 190 and 1.2:1 under a 107 are night and day, unless I miss my guess that is why women are usually loaded lighter for same experience/skill

For example you and I are loaded almost identically but I bet you can fly circles around me ... skill and chute both

Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad
judgment.

[PhreeZone 15]

Student stuff : 240-280 .6:1
Jump 15 - 30: PD190 .8:1
Jump 38-200: Spectre 170 .9-1.0:1 (gained some weight)
Jump 200-450: Cobalt 150 1.16:1
Jump 450-670: Jedei 136: 1.36:1
Jump 670-800+ Samauri 136: 1.39:1

On my tandems I was averaging .9-1.25 on the loadings. Lots more fun to be jumping at the slightly higher loading on tandems.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[PhreeZone 15]

That and women tend not to have that thing called testosterone driving their decision making ability.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[pilotdave 0]

First jump: PD170 (~.76)
2 - 40: PD230 (~.58) other than a couple manta 288 rentals (~.47)
40-140: PD150 (~.87)
140-now (315): Sabre2 135 ( 1.03-1.09 depending on whether or not i have weights on)

Going by some of the rules of thumb for wingloading, I could be jumping at 1.3. That would put me under a 107 main. That sounds like a baaad idea to me. No interest in downsizing from my 135 yet.

Dave

[Jeth 0]

Quote

Quote

A rule that was posted some time ago:

Quote

Zero to 100: a 1.0:1 max
100-200: 1.1

Ok I know I'm asking for trouble here but as "rules" is this a hard and fast thing or is it more of a guideline?
I was at 1:1 still on student status at skydivechicago at 70 jumps (and for the last 40+ and probably the next 200+ ) I've been jumping at or just over 1:1 (170 main, I weigh 160 without gear) I dont think I'm riskie, I can already do most of bill's famous list, still working on refining and getting more comfortable with some of it, and I'm in no hurry to downsize I paid a lot for my main and its fun to fly but in no way do I feel foolish or riskie to be at the loading I'm at.. I don't think I'm anything special I just think that the training at SDC is better then most dropzones.

So is that true about the training at SDC? Cuz I was wondering about that. I see all these students here that are flying these huge canopies. I'm at SDC and they put me on a 190 at 1:1. They put everybody at 1:1, guys and girls. And some of my fellow students were okay'd to downsize towards the end of their progression so they'd be higher than 1:1.
Is SDC the only school that starts students at 1:1?? Is this to my benefit?

BTW, I'm not complaining, I have landed okay under the 190. I'm just surprised that other schools are using such big canopies for students.

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

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[Praetorian 1]

my first student jump at SDC was under a Saber2 210.. I did most of the rest of my jumps under a 190.. finished off under a 170, and if I had not already bought a 170 I MIGHT (probabally not) have considered a 150.. I'm happy under my 170 at just over 1:1.. typically they tell students to take their body weight add 40 and then grab the next size UP from that for their first AFP jump (in my case 160+40 = 200 so I started at 210) I think the longer coaching period in AFP(18 jumps) vs AFF(7?) and the great skill and attention of the coaches makes this safe .. safer then people learning on Manta 288s and then jumping imeditally to 200s or smaller

Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad
judgment.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

First jump: PD170 (~.76)
2 - 40: PD230 (~.58) other than a couple manta 288 rentals (~.47)
40-140: PD150 (~.87)
140-now (315): Sabre2 135 ( 1.03-1.09 depending on whether or not i have weights on)

Going by some of the rules of thumb for wingloading, I could be jumping at 1.3. That would put me under a 107 main. That sounds like a baaad idea to me.

Brian Germain's simple never-exceed formula of 1.0+.1/100 jumps was updated in his book to include size (- .2 for small canopies - I don't recall if the number is 135 or 150 square feet) and density altitude (-.1 / 2000 feet).

[JumpRu 14]

>wouldn't it been better put, 500 jumps on a canopy >before changing?

Best thing you can do is jump your current canopy until it starts falling apart. This is clearly too much for light wing loading but at my 1.5 i need way more then 500 jumps to master that thing

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