fullflight

The placarded weight limits on Main canopies are guidelines and legal disclaimers but on the Silhouettes I remember that the canopies got very, VERY twitchy at higher wing loadings. At loads below a certain point, they behaved in a docile fashion. A move to a 150 from a 170, assuming a current jumper and nominal canopy skills should not pose a problem but if you are near the wing loading line that crosses into "twitchy" territory, you may not like it.

Hi, The Apache is a newer canopy to the market and is built in DeLand, FL by Terry Pike (Owner at AeroTech Rigging). We have a few here in Sebastian and everyone that's flown them here likes them. They are very well built and a solid design. The Apache has very similar flight characteristics to the Sabre 2. There aren't many on the market yet but in my opinion, it is a very high quality canopy. Terry has been building high-quality skydiving gear for well over 25 years. This is his first canopy line. My take on off-brand canopies is simple: There are some really good models out there. If you're going to own the canopy for its life cycle, you can save $ on these and enjoy thousands of jumps with them. If you're only going to own it for a few hundred jumps, it may cost you though. This is because it will not be as easy to sell and will go for less $ when you do. I hope this helps, Dave Starr Full Flight Sports dot com