Heeereee we go.....

[freeflir29 0]

So....I now have about 335 jumps. I went from a PD 190 to a Stiletto 170 at ~135 jumps. It was a lot to learn...but I'm SOOOO comfortable with this canopy now. In fact...my last jump I landed out chasing a free bag. Did a 90 Deg, fairly hard FR turn what I thought was INTO the wind. Turns out the wind sock I was looking at about 400 yds away was about 120 Deg off for my current location. So...I landed with a 45 Deg quartering tail wind. On this canopy...no big deal.....I slid it out and stopped. Realized about halfway through my swoop that I had a tail wind. It was fun!!! Here's my dilema....Many times over the past year I have had people ask "When are you downsizing?" Mostly it's a financial thing. That's probably the only REAL reason I haven't bought something smaller yet. I also LOVE knowing that I can land this canopy ANYWHERE!!!! In the SMALLEST back yard down wind..COOL! Near power lines...cool! On the roof of a house....NO PROBLEM! I'll swoop the gutter.
BUuuuutttt.....whats annoying me is that I can't really get much swoop if the wind is blowing more than about 7MPH. Just TOO much drag on that 170. No matter how hard I crank it. It also bothers me that I have to stay in the controls so damn low. (It's a Stiletto!!) I'd like something dives more. I watch guys landing highly loaded Xaos, Velocity, FX, etc and it just looks like those canopies give a lot more time to be smooth on the controls. The Stiletto only gives you maybe 1 1/2 seconds of dive before it's flair time. I guess my question is....for those that have been there......can I get a nice couple second dive without a 2.0 loading. I'm only loading like 1.3 right now so I think 1.5 should be next step. Give me some input.....

[rhino 0]

I would suggest a crossfire2, at a 1.6 or 1.7 wingloading. Only because I have seen you under canopy and know you have a brain on your shoulders..

Pm me and I will tell you why.

[billdo 0]

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It also bothers me that I have to stay in the controls so damn low. (It's a Stiletto!!) I'd like something dives more. I watch guys landing highly loaded Xaos, Velocity, FX, etc and it just looks like those canopies give a lot more time to be smooth on the controls. The Stiletto only gives you maybe 1 1/2 seconds of dive before it's flair time.

It sounds like from the above that you think a Stilletto is not a "swooping" canopy. Please, come out to Eloy and watch some awesome Stilletto landings and you'll realize what a great canopy a stilletto really is. When I started at a small DZ the only good swoopers were jumping crossbraced canopies, so I thought that was what you needed to really swoop. Then I went to Eloy and saw the average Stilletto jumper outswooping the best from my home DZ. Some pilots on the forums here (like Hook or Chuck) will have some good advice on how to deal with the shorter recovery arc, but just don't think a Stilletto isn't a major swoop canopy - it is. IMHO.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I totally agree with Bildo on this point . When you think you have gone the max out of your Stiilletto, come to Eloy( or Raeford) and watch accomplished skydivers with over 10,000 skydives show you what you can REALLY do with a ST. Gimme a break and don't fuck yourself up. Downsize when you can throw a circle surf on your rears (no transition) while geeking the crowd, which just happens to be facing 90 degrees off your desired landing direction.

Chuck

[freeflir29 0]

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It sounds like from the above that you think a Stilletto is not a "swooping" canopy

NO NO NO......not at all. Trust me...that canopy still "surprises" me sometimes when there is no wind. Let's take a landing I had at Z Hillz. I ended up dumping high cause I had canopies below when I broke off. So, I rode around in brakes some waiting for the airspace to clear. I was LAST down so I have it all to myself. Started carving about 700Ft. Banged it over the last 90 and was going SO FAST and had a MEGA swoop. I even got several comments from people about how fast it was. It suprised them because it is a "Fairly Large" canopy.
The more I think about it...it's probably the wing loading more than it is the canopy. I can't really do "snap" turns over about 90 deg. because the riser pressure builds up. If I do them more slowly so it doesn't build too high I eat up about 4 square miles of airspace...which I usually don't have. They all have to be carves. I just love watching people snap a 270 and then have "All day" to be nice and smooth on the controls to flatten it out. I guess I just need to do some demos.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

First off the canopy nazis can rest easy as I have no plans to downsize until at the very least fall as I know my landings will get faster when the hot no wind high density altitude days hit me. But I really do wish that my canopy (a Sabre2) had a longer recover arc. I'm not into really low turns, but my canopy recovers too fast and I really have to pull with a lot of strength on my front risers at times.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[AggieDave 6]

Is the tail deflecting when you pull a front riser(s) with the toggles in your hands?

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

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Is the tail deflecting when you pull a front riser(s) with the toggles in your hands?

I don't think so (but I'm not always watching it, so may be it has changed since I last looked). I had Hooknswoop lengthen the break lines not long ago. But maybe they could be an inch or so longer from what they are. I usually have plenty of room to work with in my flare and I consistently stand up my landings and can swoop a respectable distant when the winds are light to non-existent.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[AggieDave 6]

Ok, I wasn't smoking crack, you did ask this somewhere else (I just asked the same question in the other thread...)

I've found with the canopies I've jumped (this is no means an end all example, this is just my personal observation and I am NOT a rigger or a kick ass swooper so take this advice as is), that if the brakes are deflecting the tail of the canopy, that it increases the riser pressure and although that doesn't technically shorten the recovery arc (which is the altitude your canopy take to recover to normal flight after releasing inputs), it makes the amount of time/distance that you're able to hold the front riser(s) down shorter due to the pressue, thus giving the appearance of a shorter recovery arc.



Alrighty, now, yall out there that are better at this then I am and know more then me, please correct me if I'm wrong (then I'll learn something new too, which is good for me

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

[billdo 0]

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It sounds like from the above that you think a Stilletto is not a "swooping" canopy

NO NO NO......not at all.

Just re-read my post, didn't mean for it to sound too harsh. It's just that my opinion of Stillettos really has changed since I've seen what can be done with them in the right hands. I think it's a too-common opinion that a stilletto is somehow an "outdated" canopy, or not a worthy canopy to swoop with. I agree the controls are different than a ground-hungry crossbraced, but make sure you're getting everything out of your current canopy before you think you have to move on. Don't be like the amateur golfer who always thinks he needs the latest titanium NASA-produced club to improve his game. The stilletto can do virtually everything you probably ever want to do (unless you're looking to get on the PST - and even then maybe). Maybe you'll eventually need to increase your wingloading when you're ready, but don't think the answers all lie in a different canopy design. I know it might seem frustrating at times. Best of luck.

[Jiggs 0]

Be safe and don't fuckup. 335 jumps on a main is not that much, you are at the fun end of town at the moment, you are starting to get it zoned now but probably don't have the conisistency to do it every single jump. You might have done it for the last 20 or so jumps but do it for the next 200 and then get something different. Stick with and you'll be able to make that baby sing.

Edit: Whoops, just reread that, 335 jumps total. There is always more to learn. I don't reckon that a 1.7 WL would be a good idea, chill out and it will happen over time. The faster you go the harder you hit when you screw-up and screwing up is an unforunate part of human nature, it happens to all of us at various times.

Just reminds me of something that I heard the other day: "Free wheel chair rides for everyone" : I know of far too many busted up people.

"Don't blame malice for what stupidity can explain."

"In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our despair, against our will comes wisdom" - Aeschylus

[freeflir29 0]

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Whoops, just reread that, 335 jumps total

Yep......about 200 of those on this canopy. Of course I got it relined about 30-40 jumps ago so I had to relearn some things. It flew WAY differently with the new lines.

[ManBird 0]

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They all have to be carves. I just love watching people snap a 270 and then have "All day" to be nice and smooth on the controls to flatten it out.

Is this a joke? I mean... I laughed.

"¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯"

Click

[freeflir29 0]

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Is this a joke? I mean... I laughed.

In the context of the varying amounts of dive between canopies no. Out of context.....I had to go back and read it again to figure out what I was talking about.

[ManBird 0]

Snideness aside, snap turns don't give you all day to plane out. Snap turns commit you to the canopy's natural recovery arc all at once. Done correctly, you get a lot of speed and a nice surf (usually shorter than a long carve). Snap turn low, and you'll have to fight like hell to dig it out. If you were to snap turn regularly, you would definitely be low on occasion. Not that you can't hurt yourself on a carve, but snap turns lead to femur injuries and death. Pulling off those quick low turns are something to which you must graduate. Master carving it down, surfing it in, at any angle. Get to know your altitude within inches, and then take advantage of quicker turns (if you so desire). Give it another 1,000+ jumps.

It's easier to control a carve, you still get a lot of speed (it's a different kind of speed), you almost always get more distance, and you have the chance to bail out.

Those guys that you see flying little cross-braced canopies have (hopefully) a lot of experience. They've (hopefully) paid their dues in order to fly them, and they (hopefully) respect their canopies. Don't be in any rush. Get all you can out of your canopy and don't move down unless you really need to. You're doing 90s on your Stiletto. When you've front riser 360ed on final a hundred times or so, maybe it's time to move on (that doesn't mean start 360ing right now).

I wanted to downsize quickly, as well, but finance led me to get what I could out of my 1994 Sabre 120. I'm now think I've got 100 - 200 more jumps on it before I move down to a non-cross-braced elliptical that's 10 - 15 square feet smaller. That will have been about 500 jumps on this canopy. People see it as an old outdated square, but I'm consistently getting a 200 ft (no wind) swoop out of it.

I highly recommend taking a canopy control class to find out how to get the most from what you already have, and to get a more fundamental understanding of parachutes and high performance landings (no offense).

"¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯"

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[freeflir29 0]

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snap turns don't give you all day to plane out. Snap turns commit you to the canopy's natural recovery arc all at once.

Certainly.....but a snap on a Stiletto 170 loaded at 1.25ish and a Snap on a Xaos 88 loaded at ~2.0 has a MAJORLY differen't recovery arc. Not saying that I'm going out to buy that Xaos but that's the comparison I was getting at. With a longer arc you have more time to figure out the fine tuning to planing out.