donovan

with icarus grab both steering toggles with one hand pull down to chest height, reach up and grab slider with free hand. I'm 5'6" and this works easy for me everytime. You may have to pump breaks a couple of times to ensure slider is as low down the rear risers it will go.

.....Personally I've got 7 tandem chops in 1300+ tandems and only had line twists once and all had an RSL.... *** Out of curiosity what were the seven malfunctions? 7 out of 1300 tandems seems a higher percentage than normal.

is there any difference in performance between a stiletto and a crossfire?

Just curious, i wanna downsize and just wanted some advice from a more experienced jumper, i am currently flying a stiletto 135 and have it loaded at about 1.25 am only bout 70-75 kg and have done about 100 jumps on it, have been comin in front risers. have done about 250 jumps all up. Was thinkin bout a crossfire 119, just need some advice. Thanks mate.

I know what sunpath said, but I know several guys that put slighlty larger canopies in smaller recommended containers. Just wondering if a nj will take the stiletto?

I've looked up the main size on sunpath but just want field experience comment on whether a stiletto 135 will fit in a nj jav? NJ's are made for up to a 120.

I've done about 130 jumps on my stiletto 135 which is loaded at about 1.4 its responsiveness is beautiful i have a ball under this dream canopy. i'm only 17 and have about 200 jumps under my belt and i can see myself flying this canopy for a long time. I'm just getting into swooping now and what i have tryed so far the canopy seems to be real smooth and controlled. What can i say i love my stiletto.

Any experienced jumpers out there that can comment on the pros and cons of a saphire2 that is loaded at 1.4 for an intermediate jumper? I've read past posts and gear reviews but wanted some feedback from some people with more experience as well.

Can anyone tell me how many jumps can be be done on a stiletto 135 if it is well looked after. That is packed indoors, always stored packed and jumped by a person who weighs 150lbs and the lines have been changed every 500jumps or so. I know it would be give or take hundreds of jumps. Just a rough idea?

Hey thanks for the info. Is there anyone else out there that has flown one? What more popular canopy would you compare it to?

the guy is selling it to me for 200dollars australian, it's done about 300jumps. He says it flies like an icarus safire. Just wondering what someone else that may have jumped one can comment on it's performance- glide angle, flare, turns etc.

Anyone out their know anything about ace canopies made by atair in slovenia? I'm thinking of buying an ace130.

Can anyone tell me if battery change for a cypress is two years from date of manufacture or two years from installation/activation? Suppose there is several months from dom to installation, which date does the two year change start from?

Oh forgot to add, total control is replacing my helmet and dytter free of charge. The helmets have been modified by them now.

yep i've had one and lost it in free fall and lost my dytter with it. Another guy had the same thing happen to him two weeks later. Phoned total control and he admitted design fault. Fibreglass was only chopped strand mat which work weakened very easily. I work with fibreglass in my job and have reinforced two others I have got. As for carbon fibre re fribreglass- carbon fibre has a far greater tensile strength rato than that of glass fibre. This means it takes greater force to break carbon but when it does it tends to shatter. Both are sharp but carbon fibre will cut a harder object.

Hey riggers on a sabre 150 what would you recommend the dimensions of a pocket slider should be? The one just sewn on mine is too large I think. From cracker openings to now taking an average of 1200feet to open.

Got it back from my el-supremo rigger with a pocket on the slider and yeerhah it snivells!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can actually watch my canopy open now. Thanks dropzone.com for your advice.

Yep hard openings in my case here is when i'm spending more money on chiropractic treatment than i do jumping!!! I am pro now at grabbing my risers as i feel myself going upright when my chute first begins to open. I have like 3 millseconds to time this right! Seriously tho I have had a kink in my neck from two bad openings. Most are way too fast compared to the stiletto, ace etc. I've tried everything and I even pay my 5 bucks for an experienced pack job, but even then it's a cracker occasionly. I'm going ahead with the pocket sewn on the slider. Thanks guys for all your tips and advice. I'l let you know how it goes.

I've got a sabre 150. I've done about 150 jumps on it and have done some jumps on a stiletto, ace, diabolo and spectra. Without a doubt the sabre certainly lets you know it's open(without much notice!). I wrote to PD and they suggested a bigger slider (21"X31") should solve my problem. Anyone out their had a sabre and noticed the openings are softer if you've used a larger slider?

Anyone know anywhere on the net where you can get freeflying tips? I jump at a small dropzone where the experienced guys are flatflyers.

[.After I chopped I have had allot of people ask why I chopped when it looked like a good canopy from the ground( a lazer 295 is allot of material!) and it wasn't a high speed malfunction.Some people have suggested that with such a big canopy, that I could have continued to try to clear the lines of even possibly landed it without to much worry. The same thing just happened to me on my last jump yesterday. Brake line tangled in my right risers not allowing my slider to fully come down. My hard deck is 1500 but at 1800 I still couldn't untangle it. All the words of more experienced people came through my head 'If something is wrong with your canopy(includes steering) get rid of it'. I could have flown in on rear risers but there was a 'what if' element, so I got rid of it and had a perfect canopy out and landed safe and walked away! There were two jumpers(one the CI) there with >10000 jumps each. there were another three with >3000 jumps. All said without doubt I did the right thing and that they would have done likewise. It cost me some beer for my experience!!

Yeah you're right, the two canopies out here could have killed me, sorry i meant just experiencing the cypress fire made me realise it will fire. Kinda like when my main canopy opened on my first ever jump. It was reassuring having experienced it. But i do agree this was a crap way of experiencing it. And for the article regarding the recommended procedure for tracking having gone low three instructors at my drop zone all advised it is better to get out of there early and track away so long as it is not on heading with the plane. To date i have put in my training and understanding what my instructors have told me to do. Should I check the advice of my instructors? Any member of the formation may not know where i am but i'm sure the remaining seven don't account for all other jumpers in separation but they WILL check that they themselves are clear of all other jumpers at time of deployment. By this time I would be well clear of the remaining seven jumpers.

Yeah it was a cypress fire and it did go off early according to my alti. My main was fully inflated at just under a thousand feet. It has given confidence that a cypress will work for me. I've only done around 300 jumps but at this stage I will always have a cypress because of the confidence it gives me that no matter what happens at least one canopy will be out. I have been low of a formation since then but the lesson I learnt has been to get out and track off early. At least 1000' before planned breakaway of the group. The main lesson and reason I posted this incident was the lesson of BE HEIGHT AWARE! I thought i'd never go low and i did. So low to cause a cypress fire, scary stuff!

It's amazing how on the ground you think you will never go low! You tell yourself over and over to keep good height awareness. I always had good awareness and I was nearly always the one to initiate break off until............ At my first boogie i decided to give my starcrest a go. I'd done about 60 or so two ways and about 50 three, four, five ways etc. Under the pressure of the starcrest i did what all my tutors said not to, I went low trying to dive in. Instead of getting out of there at at least one thousand feet from planned breakaway I stupidly sat under the formation waiting till they broke off at 4500'. I then watched the direction they tracked and started my track. So worried about the formations tracking direction I didn't hear my dytter until it started screaming at 1500. I was in full track so i braked and deployed. It had to be one of those times my sabre150 actually snivelled. I was fully inflated when i looked behind and saw my reserve freebag falling to my right. Next minute there I was with two canopies out! Fortunately my main was out front and my reserve was at the rear. I steered my main and landed safely. Lesson for me was I didn't ask what I should do if I happen to go low and not be able to slow enough to get back to the base of the formation. Second BIG lesson was one of the BASIC principles I thought were inground in me and that was height awareness. An invaluable lesson learnt(the wrong way!) "I never thought the 'shark' would bite me!" Needless to say I was grounded for the day.