Maddingo

Ok, I need something to slow me down. I tried everything and my taslan free fly suit just flies trough the air like a rocket. The problem was I needed something to get off the student ones but had no idea how fast I was going. Now when doing any fun belly group jumps I can't slow down and I'm gettin tired of being the base. Also manufacturer made my suit way tighter than what I expected so they fucked up on that part.

What are my options? Camera wings sound good but I do not know if I feel comfortable wearing one with my low jump numbers.Are there any restrictions regarding them? What would be the cheapest option to give me some range? I want to be a videographer and photographer in the future of this sport.

I'm probably going around 130mph if I don't stretch like a frog across the sky. Also, I don't know if this is relevant but sometimes my Vigil II blinked 140mph and above when I got back to the ground. What does this mean?

You should remember you are not in everlasting vacuum of space and act like a human being. Breathing was the first thing you learned when your momma lovingly popped you out.

I have the feeling it doesn't tell me anything reliable. It's, "you can do that but you can also do this and it's almost the same".

My friend jumps with one and it is a twitchy, fast canopy with run out landings.

Yes, I just want to put my insight into this topic before I forget how it was to be a student.

I really never had any major issues with free fall or canopy piloting (landed on my legs after a jump or two), it all came natural to me, but it's better to highlight some problems that instructors with 1000+ jumps cannot understand anymore because of the sheer time in sport. It's like you can't understand how somebody can't ride a bicycle because you have forgotten the process. You know you have to learn it but you cannot understand it anymore. :)

I don't see the need to leave them longer, it only criples the perfromance of the canopy.

I understand all instructors want their students make it back unharmed, but underperforming canopy can be problematic as an overly responsive one. When you start jumping you don't have that natural feel of stepping down from the air and you tend to overstretch your legs to get that stand up landing or you just let the bum hit the floor. If you translate that into longer lines, you can hurt your knees or back really bad.

Yes I am and that's why I wanted to give my input on this matter.

So if you are interested I can give a very detailed idea of how Solo's react compared to some other models and how I see my progression from very early to early canopy piloting. I tend to observe details in everything I do.

I jumped Solo's on Dacron and Spectra lines of which I really like spectra way better. The heavy stretchy dacrons are just not my thing and I find the response a bit sloppy and not so reasuring, so from my perspective (maybe it's just me) I really liked that the canopy "listened" to me more trough spectra lines on 250 than a 270 with dacrons. So from this point I really do not feel that a slow unresponsive canopy can be an advantage for a first time student, it really just feels heavy and not reasuring at all, I found that flare timing was way easier on spectras. As a student you also get a better feel for your errors. Since you have a student canopy above your head it does not really punish you, even though you have a bit more responsivenes in your toggles. It is not a bad thing right off the bat and it should be evaluated if the student is naturally inclined towards canopy piloting or not and give them the spectra lines.

Solo openings: As stated the Solo's mostly open SLOOOWLY. Like in some cases I really started my EP's with pumping risers and brakes and this was confirmed by a fellow jumper who said he saw me deploying before him (hop'n pop) and while he was already under the canopy I was just about to get a fully inflated wing. I deployed at 1200m and was open at just bellow 800m mark. This was my pack job and I used some tricks for slower openings (never again haha), like tucking the stabilisers under the slider and pulling the slider a bit out. So from packing perspective you can just flake it out and jam it in, it will open slow (only when it does not and it slams you ... huh). So beyond this point I noticed that theese slow openings induce canopy turning while inflating. The canopy searches the sky and it is frequent to get atleast 90° of heading openings. As a student during my early jumps I panicked a few times as I was getting the feeling it will twist up on me, which exhibited in harness inputs that got the canopy unstable. No, the canopy won't turn with harness input when it is deployed but it will react to it while in deployment stage making it somewhat twitchy for a bimbo seeing the thing above his head for the first time. After that I learned I just need to relax and let the canopy do it's thing of searching. Most of the times it just resulted in me leaning back evenly in the harness and relax my arms. This can be quite a tricky spot if you are not one of those "I trust my nerves" students. Nervous students tend to grab risers and hold on for dear life, not a good idea on this one.

So the flying part: Solo flies really slow and very flat, which is good. I tried to stall it but without any luck, so no worries during this stage. It flies really predictable, recovery arc is very short. The pressure on front risers is immense almost immposible for weaker students to bend the nose. For myself I noticed later on that it is harder for me to land where I want to with flatter glide, I like steeper trims, they are more predictable. So another food for thought regarding student safety. I noticed most student injuries came with flaring too high and a flat trim does not give you any better chance at making it. The power is way more important to me. So from my perspective: Rather fly steeper and when u fuck up have power to lift yourself up from the ground rather than come in flat and don't have power to compensate your mistake. From canopy perspective I saw way worse flare performances on older Skymasters. So it has decent flare power, but it can surprise you on hot windless days if you are too late or to early.

I observed some Navigators on the DZ and they seemed pretty similar in terms of trim/glide and flare performance. I cannot comment anything beyond this because I have not jumped one.

The Solo's pack easy and the color coding is great. Just remind students there won't be any colors later and they should also learn to naturally observe line groups and lengths.

My biggest revelation till now was the Parachute Systems zp.exe. It still falls into a student status canopy and it flies and reacts like a dream (even for never jumpers).

zp.exe compared to solo:

+faster on heading openings even with shitty pack jobs
+docile if you put slight inputs (up to 50%) but way more fun on the lower end, it gives you a taste of what is beyond the student canopies without putting you in danger
+steeper trim (one of the steepest for student canopies as I heard) so it dives a bit more with sudden toggle inputs, recovery arc is also a bit longer but not frightening
+strong flare power (strongest I've seen on student canopies)

-It is zp.exe material, it is slippery as hell so not the best option to learn packing, but nontheless the canopy is very forgiving
-The sudden transition in response in lower 50% can surprise early students, especially ones who are a bit more nervous and do not trust themselfs playing around with the canopy in the sky.

I am not sponsored by any brand so it is just my personal observation. Feel free to ask additional questions.

It may seem I really trash talked the Solo, but maybe it is a personal preference or a single bad canopy. I must also state that I like them better with spectra lines. The flare seemed better and so did the responses. I also didn't like the forever long deployment speed, it should be soft but I found it was too much making the canopy go off heading and as I recall the problem with bad sliders is common.. again maybe a personal preference.

And to be clear this happened on a 270, the 250 seemed better.

The thing is priced as the Viso II :D

Solo's are absolutely not the best option for student canopies.

Frequent off heading openings and line twists, for my taste not enough flare power. I also witnessed multiple injuries on them. Not saying it is all about the chute, but from what I have seen there are better canopies out there.

While I admit that colored lines are great at the start, they won't help u evolve your feeling for proper line group lenghts and separation, which will result in a confussion later packing the non Aerodyne models.

Check out Collin Scott Thomsons packing video. It helped me with some packing tricks and most of all firstly you have to UNDERSTAND how canopy works while inflating, what you should really take care off and what can be left a bit sloppy.

I've noticed that most modern AFF courses give you all the hype around jumping but teach you very little about ground procedures and preparations. Old school courses with static line were much better. First learn packing and how parachute works then start jumping.

But if you want to really look like a sir there is always the BArigo altimeter, damn straight sexy.

https://www.wingstore.aero/1031-thickbox_default/barigo-90-flightmaster-elastic.jpg

Use front risers a bit? Atleast that's what I do if I'm too long. Depending on the trim of the canopy you can really knock out a few meters on front risers without pushing to the edge of danger. Just keep an eye on the alti that you are atleast 50m... which you probably will be when you realise you ain't where you want to be.

You must understand that brands market the same product with different qualities in different regions. That all depends on the laws.

That's why Europe has higher prices for the same camera. THe EU laws are so strict regarding quality that they have to be put trough numerous tests before they can be legaly sold in the stores.

US, Hong Kong, Japan etc. have much lower standards so you can expect cheaper price for a same product but at the end it really isn't. You have more so called hit and miss products on theese markets. Maybe u get lucky, maybe it will die on you way to early.

When I come in for landing I actually have a visual cue that I call all green. I look at the landing area somewhere 45 degrees down, and when I lose sight of the horizon in the perihpheral vision I know its time to apply the brakes. I also take into an account wind speed and air temperature. So if there is no wind or I am landing with a a bit of the crosswind I'll start my flare just a bit earlier just to slow down the canopy and have a secod more to make my corrections during the final stages.

I have both my eyes but I think landing is possible without one too.

Viso II is the most popular option, though I can't understand the hype around them the alti visibility is crap compared to analogs. I am an analog guy, the only reason I would buy the Viso II digital is the jump log capability. That said u can get an audible with log capabilities.
If you look for something else the next best hing is the N3 as far as I know.

I did not want to start a war.

So for some closure from my side (I hope it cools things a bit) I will make a couple of jumps with a 230 for the starters and see how I feel under it. Then after a couple of jumps into the summer season I will transition to 210 if I and others looking at me will feel comfortable.

So there :)

I've accumulated all the advice I need from different sources and I got my answer quite clear now.

Well yes I do things that need to keep me walking. But hey... you know, you can fly a 290 and step on a bad spot on the field and an ankle pops. From that perspective u shouldn't do anything requiring extra stress on your legs.

Thank you for all the advice.

Blue skies.

No I don't yet. I won't buy it untill I'm certain I will jump a 210. I expect to have a 210 for a couple of years before going to a 190... but that's far from now.

What does job have to do with skydiving?

Maybe you've missed it in that whole bunch of text. I want to downsize because I want the canopy to be more responsive and a bit faster. I've learned I'm really into canopy piloting, I absolutely love it.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm asking this because I've had different opinions regarding the line length on bigger canopies. I've read a lot of material covering downsizing for bigger and smaller people.

I'll just ask for an opinion here.

So, I got my first license now. I jumped a 270 during my AFF jumps with wl of about 0.90. After a few jumps (at around jump 12) I transitioned to a 250 at almost a 1.0 wl, since my instructors trusted me with my flying skills.

Since then I made all my following jumps on a 250 with a wl of 1.0. I never had any problems with landing the canopy even on big airfields (Empuriabrava) where the landing is predetermined no matter the change of wind during a jumprun. I made 15 jumps downind, no wind, crosswind and all stood them up no problem in late december of 2016.

Then the cold pause came and now I'm here, where I opened the season with 3 hop'n pops with a 270 just to get a feeling back for flying. The 4th jump was my license jump this month. Again no problems with landing the canopy. All 4 jumps were pretty close to the x on the airfield (max 15m away).

Now after my license I want to stick with a 210 for a couple of years just to really learn to fly the canopy while still having some fun. This puts me just bellow 1.2 wl with 50 jumps under my belt. And this is where the dilema arises. I really feel that the 250 canopy is something I can comfortably handle, while I crave a bit more responsive toggle and riser input. I am fully aware I am nowhere near the skills required for any fancy landings and I do not intend to do them anytime soon, but I do miss a bit more snapy turns up in the sky where it is safe to play.

So I'm really divided if I should jump a square 210 (something like a Pilot) which can be borrowed where I live or have less jumps and always wait for that 230 hwen I Will be able to get.

My instructors trust me with a 230, but if I stick at it I Will have less jump options. So my real question is how different is to handle a strong 1.1 wl in corelation to the just bellow 1.2 wl. When I transitioned to a 250 I noticed a better response but nothing dramatical, my evaluation was that I could easily handle even faster turns with a 230 canopy (back when I had 15 jumps). I don't want to be the guy who pushes for downsizing it is just a big dilemma for me where to start after the license.

Hi, they are from Slovenia and we have quite a few people jumping them here. They seem to have good quality and you get them fairly quickly. I don't jump one though. Maybe an rw suit in the future.

Customer service is great as far as I heard.

I get a bit nervous here and there but at the end I remember that it is not the door that makes me a bit twitchy it's the moment when you pull your chute. ;)