Pobrause

both observations you made are normal for any digital altimeter I know.

It has some build in pressure margin both on the ground and in the plane/freefall as the only sensor it can work with is a barometric one. Otherwise even small weather changes would start to show some readings when you're on the ground.
In the plane and start of your freefall it has a build in lag as well, otherwise every holding in the plane and loss of a few meters of altitude during glide and even jump run would trigger the start of your skydive.

Tesla from Fluidwings and the X-Fire by Icarus Spain are the new cool toys for somebody looking for katanalike dives with better openings.

IMHO don't bother with the Crossfire 3 from NZAerosports as its recovery arc is just little longer than the Stilettolike Crossfire 2.
Other might say that it's the next best thing since the invention of sliced bread but in all objectivity it's still just a slightly better version of the Crossfire 2.

I jumped Katanas with removable sliders from Lookma for about 600 jumps. Still sometimes go back and watch the awesome openings those things had compared to my VCs. 800ft Onheading snivel every. single. time.

Just demoed a 120 Sabre2 at 1.8 for my Girlfriend and was sursprised, what a swooping maschine it actually is. If I had to choose a canopy in your place and didn't want to buy the shiny new toys from FW and Icarus I'd probably be looking for one of those on the used market.

I didn't like the Zulu (122, 112, 102) because of the shortish recovery arch and comparably lousy flare from the chest down.
It does behave quite nimble with harness inputs, though.

Canopies like Safire, Crossfire, Pilot ect can be left out as their flying characteristics aren't what you said you want out of a new wing.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1321270;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

It doesn't need 21 sqft spinning to black out, though. There have been suspected cases with canopies a lot bigger.

Bill is right, though. Way too many variables to give a specific answer. Even if you measure it for a specific case with specific toggle input/WL/setup ect, the next malfunction may create a completely different set of data...

Temporary baglock
very old main that took longer to get rid of its bagged shape and tumbled a bit before inflation
Canopy stuck in the POD
Pilotchute burbled
Old pilotchute
very tight packjob
POD temporarely stuck in M/C
...
And probably a dozen other causes could cause the effect you described.

This happened to be just last week during the DFFF in Saarlouis/Germany.

Still a few out there...

It really depends on the particular swoop philosophy one favours for different jumps. For dedicated hopnpops/comptraining I start 450s at about 1200ft with a comp velo 84 at 2.5 and 2000' msl but for funjumps and teamtraining this and even 100ft lower is often my starting altitude for a 810 harness only turn as well.

It's also dependend on whether you are a natural recoverer or a batsch/manow type of crazy mofo. Rears early and sigificant input can shorten your recovery like crazy. 2.5s from end of rollout to water contact even on Petras/PI's is nothing out of the ordinary.

So "low" is actually quite individual. What is low for you or high for somebody else is only comparable if the turn style is more or less the same.

That being said, 710ft doesn't leave much margin

sswain

Here are a few jumps from the past weekend...this is a new to me VK96. I have only put 10 jumps on it so far. All right hand 270's.

WL: 2.6
RH 270 @ 710'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMLKLOJ-B88

Why did you decide against another Sabre 2 and went for the Silhouette? The flight and flare characteristics will be significantly different. Honest question, just want to know, why. The Silhouettes at my dz are the most loved canopies in our rental fleet apart from the smaller pilots.

yoink

***

apart of humor - most of you do not say anything interesting, nor new or useful for me, as so...

That's the problem - you have no idea what is useful advice because you have zero experience.

You came here asking for advice: You got it from experienced skydivers.

Don't try and lean skydiving from the internet.
Don't try to teach yourself from articles not aimed at students.
You're probably not fit enough to make a solo skydive safely at the moment - look into doing a tandem or physiotherapy first.

You're sounding remarkably like a DGIT idiot to me.

FIFY

Have you guys ever tried maschine washing a rig?
Of course not 140*F and tumbling with 1600 rpm. Procedure as I have seen it at my riggers place is soaking the rig for about a day, scrubbing and rinsing it and then off to the wasching maschine in a cotton sack or smth. Afterwards again rinsing to get the last bit of soap out and then hanging it up to dry.

Does this sound reasonable? Results as I have seen them were great, the cordura might get a bit fuzzy depending on the age of the system

The closest you could come to a "speedflyer" experience in skydiving is probably a Stiletto build by Performance Designs at this WL and experience level. Keep in mind "close" is quite relative in this context.

Whether this is a good idea for your general progression in the skydiving environment of canopy flight is a different question, though. A full eliptical canopy like a Stiletto might not be the best choice for your overall skydiving experience either.

Although a few things are intertranslatable between these two disciplines it's generally advisable to tread them like the different sports, that they are.

You might also want to have a look at the new Mutant harness by UPT...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LM8QvLL8KmE

danielcroft

Please add the following wings when you have a chance:
Performance Designs
- Valkyrie Hybrid
- Horizon


Fluid Wings
- HK
- HS
- HK Terminal
- Airwolf
- Tesla


NZaerosports
- Crossfire 3


Icarus Spain/CIMSA

- x-fire
- s-fire

Thanks!

bored, sorry

My first answer was rather sarcastic but I thought, I explained my reasoning behind it.
Before someone here can give you an accurate answer one needs to know what kind of jumps you want to film and what your needs are.

Will you be inside or outside of the jump, are you planning on flying close to your video target or further away? How much money do you want to spend and what are your post processing capabillities?

If everything you desire is having fullHD, wide angle footage of your own jumps and your buddies and you're mostly close together and just want to watch for debrief/sceenshot the occasional selfi for FB a Gopro5 is just as much money as you should spend. This accounts for probably 95% of all jumpers out there.

If you have specific tasks like filming teams, tandems, outside bigway video, boogie video, commercials and/or like to play and edit a lot we are approaching camcorder territory and above. Also do you need remote controll ability/Hypeeye support?
This goes from Sony CX100 for lowbudget FS-training video up to RED Epic Dragon for commercials and high budget/high quality stuff.
So as I said, it depends...

For tandems, teamtraining and the occasional outside freeflyvideo I use a combination of Gopro for the closer stuff and a Sony FDR AX53 with Hypoxic Hypeeye Alpha for when I'm further away.
The "advantages" of the Sony over the Gopro are a narrower lense angle, that allows me to video specific targets instead of everything all the time, awesome optical video stabilisation, 4k ability, better sound recording especially for interviews, abillity to zoom, good raw material for later editing and so on..

"Disadvantages" are probably the heavier weight and the pricetag of 1000+ € together with the Hypeeye, also a ring sight to have my targets centered and just easier aiming.
As it sits on top of my helmet I need to keep my head low when I'm moving around in the plane as well.


Sooo... What again do you need/want exactly? The way you asked the question somehow leaves me thinking you really don't need anything else beside the Hero5.
BTW, you wouldn't believe, how much you could get out of your Gopro. It's not always the camera. Good videos are 80% flying and 20% camera. (I made those numbers up but you get my point, right?)

Hey, there!

Will my Audi A4 drive differently than my Truck?

For mowing my lawn I use a Husqarna lawnmover with 72 cm cutting blades and seat climatisation.
.
.
.

Depends on the kind of footage you want to get, the camcorder, the jump, your flying and camera skills, post processing requirements, raw vs edited, stabilisation needs, desired location of the camera...
Yes, no and everything in between. Specify your question.

Tbh last time I had to jump a pilot it felt like I ended up higher after my turn than I started. 124sqft at 1.75.

After that I started to date the packer to ensure full priority service for my own gear.

http://seamlessrigging.com/catalog1.htm#

Rover

***Pretty much all german ones. Needs to fit the harness and the consent of BOTH parents all legal guardians is required

What if one of the parents is dead?

Nitpicker

Pretty much all german ones. Needs to fit the harness and the consent of BOTH parents is required

Don't overthink it, follow the manufacturers instructions for propper closing loop lenght in correlation with a fitting canopy size/containersize combination and focus more on pilot chute positioning, BOC condition, bridle routing and covering, preferably a freefly handle type of hand deploy with tuck tabs, pincover is sitting where it is supposed to be and actually sits tight and COVERS the pin... closing loop lenght and tightness plays only a small part in avoiding premature deployments...

Btw, a closing loop that is too tight can cause an array of damages from broken flap stiffeners, loosened grommets, damaged stitches and material all the way to broken riser covers and hesitations during deployment...
read and follow the manual and you probably won't have another premature deployment.

Not crazy at all, Sharky is living in Clara and Miss Yellowpenny in Julia right now. So far they have gotten along quite well

Anybody that does not name his or her canopy and/or rig doesn't take the sport seriously imo

*cough*AAD*cough*

You're taking all the fun out of the brand war with your informed, tolerant and open minded opinion.
Spoil sport!

mathrick

***Why would you start with a 190? At our school she'd start with a 230 and work her way down from there. But that might be us, we've just seen too many ugly student landings. But NEVER have I had the thought before 'I wish this student would be under a smaller parachute'

Then you haven't seen a 45 kg girl trying to steer and land a Navigator 260 :) There absolutely is such a thing as canopy that's too big, especially if there's any wind.


You've invalidated your own argument, did you notice? And I have to agree with you on that. Yes, there are canopy/WL combinations, that aren't suitable for certain wind conditions. So don't jump in that kind of wind.
On the other hand did I never say to hang a 120lbs exit weight (male/female doesn't matter) under a 260.
What I did say was, that at my school a 160lbs girl/boy in moderate shape would start her AFF on a 230 and that we, as a general rule always use canopies on the bigger side, if in doubt.

Btw, we did in fact hang a 45kg girl (sportjumper) under a 260 during a course and beside taking a bit longer for everything she felt comfortable.
As a jumper, that regularly lands on her butt it also was a pleasent experience for her that she barely had to flare to get a soft tiptoe landing
Solo jumping a tandem rig falls into the same categorie. Absolutely fine in low/no wind conditions.

What is your experience regarding the 45kg under a 260? When did you try it out at your place, what were the conditions and the outcome?

He's from a developed first world country, not the US

The way you're asking this question somehow lets me assume, you don't know that there are Student canopies readily available up to the size of 300 sqft. If you're not sure about the sizes you should use look at the wingloadchart of the canopy. PDs Navigator 200 has a MSW for students of 130lbs... (gear included)

You didn't answer my question, though? Why the rush with the 170?