scottjaco

Yah, I've talked to a few riggers and jump instructors (who were jumping in the early 90's) and they say the Swift Plus is fine. It has the spanwise reinforcment tape. 10 years ago it was considered a pretty good reserve. I'm really looking foward to landing it sometime....not. Then again I don't expect any reserve to flare like a ZP 9 cell Main. If somthing comes along that is better I'll get it, for now I feel it is a good canopy. I've never heard anybody bad mouth the Swift Plus. I do appreaciate the feedback.

The video you are watching is not up close enough to see what is really happening inside the parachute as it's filling with air. Tweaking the slider and the nose make a huge difference in keeping the canopy from inflating too fast.

I've never flown my reserve, I don't want to. Even if it was a brand new PD 143R I would not look foward to landing it. I wish they would come up with a ZP 9 cell reserve that has a small packing volume and can be packed easily, ohh yah and no snivel please!

my point

My Swift Plus was manufactured in 1993. Does anyone know if it is made of 0-3cfm or F111? Lets get back to reality for a minute. After I bought my rig which was used, I spent a few hundred bucks updating everything I and my rigger could think of to make it freefly friendly. 100 jumps later I bought a cypres2(when I could afford it). By your logic everyone should get rid of their Original Cypres because its older technology. Now, since I'm new to this sport, I bought used gear, with the idea that my next rig, presumably after a few hundred jumps, would be all brand spankin new gear with all the options! I didn't want to blow a ton of money on a beginner rig that I would grow out of in a year. Skydiving shouldn't be a yuppie sport.

Skydive San Diego almost burned down Elsinore lost it's student trailer Now this! 3 Fires! Any Idea how the fire started?

That is my point exacty. It's like asking yourself if you are a wolf or a sheep. The personality type that is required to even be interested in skydiving is one of aggression.

I don't think the general public will ever embrace the idea of jumping out of an airplane for fun. There is a certain anti social element to skydiving which attracts a different bread of people to it. Thats what I like about it. The downsides of having so few people in the sport are obvious.

Lets get back to the original question, I'm curious as to why these two got axed, can they still jump at USPA dropzones if they show their logbooks? How does one get banned for life? is there any apeal process?

the USPA, the PIA and most importantly the FAA have no established limits on "age" for sport parachutes.

If you do a search, you can find people that have had hard openings on almost every canopy ever designed. Have you tried pulling the slider out in front of the nose?

Keep in mind that 90mph skiing is not vertical (straight down) speed. As far as actual altitude loss per second, skydiver win without even trying.

If you watch the "good stuff " video during the Rob Harris segment, it shows him landing right beside a big pier. That was a while back though.

I thought they were jumping out of Oceanside,CA and were landing next to the Oceanside Pier overlooking the ocean. Looked pretty scenic if you ask me! Lots of spectators can watch from the pier.

I've never flown it but I've been told by people who own them that they don't have as good of a glide ratio compared to a Sabre or equivalant. The flare is suppose to be more forgiving, you don't have to run out your landings.

LOL! Personally I think Skydiving & Base Jumping is like the crack cocaine of extreame sports. In fact it's the original extreame sport. Unfortunatly it hasn't really become a comercial sport. The X games seems to be targeted for a a trendy wannabe MTV crowd that thinks rollerblading and going to the Warped Tour is the most "off the hook" thing you could possibly do. If they were right, I would shoot myself right now. Furtunatly the X gamers are just ill informed of what better things they could be doing with their time. If they want spectators to see whats going on, why not make Base Jumping an event? It's easy to watch from the ground and it will apeal to skydivers/base jumpers.

Uhhh get ready to wait! I'm in week 13, still waiting for my firefly freefly pantz. Just be aware of the turnaround time.

Some canopies are defective, if every opening is exteamly hard, send it in to PD. When I did my demo program to downsize all I jumped were PD F111(300 to 210) then to PD Sabres (190 and down) and I can tell you, the Sabres are a hell of a lot softer opening than the PD F111 canopies!

I don't roll the nose 4/4 into the center. I take all the cells and roll them all in one direction. It is faster to pack and it creates more of a snivel. I understand what PD is saying, the center cell would take a lot of abuse if you did the 4/4 into the center method.

Read my post from this other thread, since I started packing for myself, I've never been slammed by my sabre. You just have to learn to pack it right! http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=898128#898128

yep, My talon has a bright orange freebag!

I would love to see a canopy with the x braces up close so I could understand how they are able to keep the top surface flat. Are there any diagrams on the net?

I don't know a lot about cross braces, don't they maximize canopy pressurization? so you basically have more usable canopy and less drag? Couldn't this be utilized in all canopies and not just the tiny ones?

So I need a 2:1 or higher wingloading to get the cross braces to work properly? Why is this? I might just want the advantages of a cross braced canopy without downsizing.

Most sponsors don't want their equipment back after they give it to somebody. Has anybody here (who has been sponsored) been asked to give back their gear? Are they gonna hunt you down if you refuse?