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MooChooser

PD Silhouette.

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I recently bought my first rig.
The canopy is a silhouette 170 and with me its loaded at about 1.1.
PDs description of the canopy is this:
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The Silhouette is easy to pack due to the combination of fabrics. It has consistent openings and excellent glide ratio. The Silhouette displays more responsive handling characteristics than traditonal 9-cell canopies at equivalent wing loadings. It has a fast turn rate, while maintaining predictable turn recovery.



One of the camera guys I work with loves to slag this canopy off saying stuff like "its for girls" or "its for people who cant pack"
I personally havent had experience with a lot of different canopies, the entire list is PD340, Manta 280, PD210, Spectre 190 and then Silhouette 170.
I have never jumped another 170 to compare it to.

What exactly do PD mean when they say it has better handling characteristics than other traditional 9 cells? Are they talking about canopies like sabre2 170s or like PD170s or all of them?

How would you describe the Silhouette?

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One of the camera guys I work with loves to slag this canopy off saying stuff like "its for girls" or "its for people who cant pack"



You will often find jumpers who dont understand a peice of equipment for whatever reason simply choose to slag it off.

Your canopy is fine, dont let this guy make you worry about it he probably hasnt even jumped one.

I would think there quote refers to the original PD 9 Cell's, I would describe the silhouette at a light wingload as an excellent canopy for someone of your jump numbers.


Enjoy it




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What exactly do PD mean when they say it has better handling characteristics than other traditional 9 cells?



"Traditional" I expect means 9 cells built from F-111 type (Non ZP) fabric.

In the end it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks but you. If the canopy serves you well, enjoy it, and learn to fly it as well as you can.

As for his comments about "girls"... I know several who could probably outfly him any day of the week. ;)

t
It's the year of the Pig.

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Oh man oh man, the Silhouette is a really good canopy. Is it for girls? Well, sure they can fly it if they choose. Same with the guys, they can fly it if they want.

Fly what you want to fly and is appropiate for you. If its a Silhouette, then fly the hell out of it! Personally, I'm a big fan of that canopy, its a great canopy for many people in skydiving.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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Not that I know anything about Silhouettes since I believe I've never jumped one, but do we need to break out the Scott Miller Navigator swoop video to illustrate that it is the pilot and not the wing which is the biggest influence?


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

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Not that I know anything about Silhouettes since I believe I've never jumped one, but do we need to break out the Scott Miller Navigator swoop video to illustrate that it is the pilot and not the wing which is the biggest influence?



You don't "need" to, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd really like to see it.

-Blind
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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Not that I know anything about Silhouettes since I believe I've never jumped one, but do we need to break out the Scott Miller Navigator swoop video to illustrate that it is the pilot and not the wing which is the biggest influence?



That is the definate truth. The pilot makes the difference. You've jumped a Navigator, right? The Silhouette is similar to the Navigator. I felt that the Silhouette is a slightly (slightly) more agressive canopy than the Navigator. However, they both have similar toggle strokes, opening characteristics and flight characteristics. I felt like the Silhouette turned just a hair quicker, though. All in all a good wing. YMMV, though.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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There's a reason that the Silhouette is known as "The Best Kept Secret" in skydiving.

People who have them generally tend to really love them.
Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

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I have over 300 jumps on a sil 150 loaded at 1.1 and I think it performs just like a Sabre 1 of the same size. The only difference is the Sil never opens hard and is really really easy to pack.

The difference between a Silhouette and a traditional F111 canopy is the sil won't lose performace with age nearly as much as an F111 canopy will.

Oh, and loosen your cheststrap and collapse and pull down your slider after deployment. This will help the flare a lot. Just be careful when you pull your slider down because you don't want to accidentally release a toggle. Also, this should only be done if you have mini risers and soft links.
Flying Hellfish #470

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It's a bit of a pain, but you can get the slider down on stardard risers if you have softlinks without bumpers. It would depend on the size of the slider grommets though I guess.



It's also something that should be tested on the ground. Depending on the riser design and slider grommet size, there's a potential for binding the slider up on the toggles.

-Blind
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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Life is so much easier in terms of pulling your slider down behind your head if you're using mini-risers and slinks. Sure it may be doable for some other configurations, but if this is something that some people are interested in on a regular basis, then why not just go the easier route (mini risers and slinks).


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

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Life is so much easier in terms of pulling your slider down behind your head if you're using mini-risers and slinks. Sure it may be doable for some other configurations, but if this is something that some people are interested in on a regular basis, then why not just go the easier route (mini risers and slinks).



Some larger ppl and smaller for that matter are not willing to give up the mechanical advantage that the large rings afford them on a cutaway. That would be probably the best reason not to go to mini risers and consequently mini rings....to that point I have mini risers and rings.

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Mini-risers also need to be replaced more often and some people just can't/don't like to spend that much money. My first rig had std risers and rings so that's how I know. Then I replaced my std risers with minis when I bought a new canopy... an unnecessary expenditure of $100+ but I wanted to pull my slider down quickly and stow it as well as getting rid of the damn velcro toggles in favor of velcro-less. Personally I use soft-link regardless of the riser type since they are better than rapide links.
NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

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why not just go the easier route (mini risers and slinks).



I was told that minis were a bad idea for those with an exit weight north of 300. What I've wondered is if that was based off exeprience with the "old" design or with the newer models too. I'd defintiely like to go to minis when I get my new canopy this summer, if it's a viable option.

-Blind
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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