Going back to the Pilot

[Conundrum 1]

Before I bought my own main, I was renting a Pilot from Square1. Great canopy, I loved it. I came upon a deal on a Triathlon that I just couldn't pass up. I bought it.

First time I jumped it, come flare time, I ate shit. It flies much different than the Pilot and I had a hard time finding the right flare point on the Tri compared to what I was used to with the Pilot. I was landing badly everytime for a while.

For Christmas, I got a new Pilot. ()

I'm somewhat nervous about going back to the Pilot, Im afriad I'm going to have to re-learn how to land it like I did when I got the Triathlon and I'll be crashing.

Anyone have experience with going from one canopy to another then back to the original one? Is it "like riding a bike"?

Sounds dumb probably, but I'm just nervous because I had some pretty crap landings giong from one to the other and Im worried about going from one to the other, again.

Thanks

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[TALONSKY 0]

Landing most modern canopies are all about the same. That is you start flaring and fly your canopy till your at a complete flare then put your feet down on the ground. The best way to do this is pull high and do some practice flares up high. There will be a point where the canopy will stall, look at your hand placement right before the canopy stalls that is where your hands will need to be when you are finished with your flare. As for when to put your feet down, fly the canopy until your about at that point and then let the ground come up to you(meaning do not over extend your feet) . Jim Slaton stated that most people will put their feet down and start running, at that point they have stopped flying their canopy

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Landing most modern canopies are all about the same.

The toggle movement to induce a stall varies with how quickly you apply the brakes. When you pull quicker the canopy slows down, you don't, you move in front of the canopy, and the angle of attack increases from steady-state flight. When you pull slowly you stay underneath the canopy and change the wing shape without doing much to the angle of attack. Stall speed is a function of angle of attack and airfoil shape. Lift is a function of speed, angle of attack, and airfoil shape. You hit the ground when the canopy has insufficient lift to support your weight whether or not it stalled.

At moderate wing loadings (relative to the canopy design and density altitude) many canopies are going slowly enough with a slow and steady flare that putting your feet down once they have too little lift to support you produces acceptable (or even elegant) landings. This will be the case with your first ZP parachute and failures to land well come from putting your feet down too soon.

At the same wing loadings other canopies do not. They're going too fast once they lack the lift to support you and you do not get a comfortable (or even standing) landing.

The same thing happens when you increase the speed with a higher wingloading.

When that happens you need an angle of attack change to get a comfortable landing which is to say you must finish your flare quicker than you started it.

Sinking through the swoop so that your hips are less than your leg length from the ground and popping back up at the end works very well.

You can also change your wingloading by sliding so that the canopy is not supporting your full weight.

[diablopilot 2]

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Sounds dumb probably, but I'm just nervous because I had some pretty crap landings giong from one to the other and Im worried about going from one to the other, again.

Don't worry. It's muddy out here right now so the landings won't hurt.


Seriously, I find my landings as well as those of others are often worse when too much concentration is put on the technique. Try to just feel the motions....

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

On any given day I switch between four, sometimes as many as five different mains. I do tandems under two very-different-flying mains, jump my Velo 79 for AFF and "other" stuff, and jump my Sabre2 97 for wingsuit jumps. For demos I jump a StarTrac I and when I was still in the army I jumped an MC-4 (370 square feet) quite regularly. Ultimately, if you are going to jump around as much as I do you simply have to do some practice turns and flares at altitude to get the "feel" of the canopy again prior to landing. It's not really a big deal.

Chuck

[proswooper 2]

Hi

dont forget the tri is a seven cell and is going to land like one.meaning it will need a one stage constant flare depending on wing loading. the pilot, being a nine cell semi elliptical midrange canopy should seem more responsive and you will 'feel' what is going on more. which should in theory make your landings seem a little more managable. i personally think you should have no probs going back to the pilot. but be relaxed and stay aware of what is happening during the flare.

just my two cents but getting a canopy coach to watch what you are doing will help a whole bunch

i change between those two canopies regularly for test jumps and aff and stuff


hope this helped

Blue ones
Paul

[Kramer 0]

Good choice. I have a brand new Pilot myself. Haven't jumped it yet (have demoed one though). They are incredible.

The FAKE KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMER!!!!!!!!!

[John4455 0]

I have a Pilot and two differently sized Triathlons. Both are great landing canopies. Have an experienced jumper/instructor watch and critique your landings.

How do ya like it Johnny?

[GravityGirl 0]

Trust yourself. Flare smoothly.

If you are nervous and jammin on the toggles, it gives you little margin for error.

If you are relaxed an easy into your flare (when you are dialing in a new canopy), then you have time and presense of mind to speed up the flare if you are too low, or slow down your flare if you are too high.

Do not confuse this with milking the toggles! That will just kill your flare.

You should come in full flight. Take a nice deep breath on final. When you feel you are at the proper flare point, go ahead an smoothly initiate your flare. Keep you eye on your runway up ahead.

Have fun. The Pilot has a great flare. Couple that with smooth movements on your part, and you have a winning combination!

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Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[ryoder 1,408]

A few years back I was jumping two different rigs: One contained an elliptical, and the other contained a square canopy one size larger. There was a pronounced difference in the flare stroke required. The elliptical required a deeper stroke than the square. If I switched between the two on every jump, I could deal with it. But if I put maybe ten jumps on one and then jumped the other, I would either:

a) Flare too late, if I had just switched from the square to the elliptical.
b) Flare too early, if I had just switched from the elliptical to the square.

I believe the problem was that I was developing "muscle memory" from repeated jumps on the same canopy, and relying on duplicating the arm motion when flaring, when I should have been using my eyes to see how the flare was progressing, then make appropriate adjustments. I think this is your problem.

Since then, I have jumped an even wider variety of canopies, and no longer have the problem. I suspect that regularly jumping different canopies trains a person to use their eyes when flaring and ignore "muscle memory".

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.