deadbug

Why is a steeper glide a factor? Not sure what you mean by above, but Katana is trimmed for a steeper steady state glide (trimmed nose down). If you find yourself long and are trying to get back while upwind, flatten the glide with rear risers. Doug

Try a Katana. Dives like a Velocity and turns like a Stiletto. I spent 2 years under a FX and never really liked it. The Katana dosen't swoop QUITE as far, but it's alot more fun to fly. By being very dialed into my canopy, I can out swoop all but the best crossbraced pilots under my Katana. Doug

I'm planning on spending a few weekends out at Chip this summer. I'll jump with ya. Doug

I love my Katana 107 loaded at 1.95. No jumps on the x-fire. Demo them both and see what you like. The Katana seems to like to be loaded between 1.7 and 2.0. Beyond 2.0 the surf seems to suffer. Doug

If you jump a Cobalt you have jumped a Viper. Cobalt Alpha and Viper are the same planform with slightly different line trim and MINOR construction tweeks. I own two Vipers and have jumped them all. Doug

Change the legstrap hardware. I had this problem on a Vector 3 Micron that I bought used. Called up Relative Workshop (UPT) and they took care of it free of charge. I wasen't even the original owner. The rig was 5 years old and they still took care of me.

Jambrich, The Viper has a shallow recovery arc much like the Stiletto. Be careful and have fun. Doug

I have a ton of jumps on Vipers I owned a 135 and currently own a 120. My current main canopy is a Katana 107, but I can't find it in me to get rid of my last Viper. They are some what similar to a Stiletto, similar dive, similar recovery arc (fairly shallow), but with better openings than a stiletto (less line twist, more on heading openings). I have never needed to chop one. The Viper was marketed in the USA through Sky Depot and the manufacture name on the label is Winchester Technologies, but they were made by Atair the same company that makes the Cobalt. They are made out of the South African ZP Goliver fabric, which is much easier to pack than "PD" ZP. They are fully elliptical and if your considering a noncrossbraced high performance canopy, you can't go wrong. Doug

A big bonfire that everyone deposits there tandem rigs into. Ya I know we wouldn't have the nice A/C fleet without them, but I can live with that.

Dragonfly 225 It was old and ragged out and I was young and stupid. It was in a racer SST with a 26ft lopo reserve. It was all I could afford at the time and I sure was proud to have my own gear.

If the FAA was aware that he was exercising the privileges of a commercial pilot with only a private lisc they would take swift action. If there was an accident he would be hung out to dry by not only the FAA but the lawyers in the civil suit that follows. Are there private pilots that can safely fly jumpers? I'm sure there are, but the question is is it legal. The regs are clear, it's not. Don't jump there if they can't follow that simple rule. Doug No big surprise there. You asked to see it or looked it up? Again no big surprise there. Well that would depend on you. What do you think is right. 1.If you snitch to the FAA or USPA your a rat and will be baclkballed at many area DZ's and maybe worse things may be tried to shut you up or teach you a lesson for snitching. 2. If you tell the USPA, you only piss off "friends" of the DZO, they more then likely already know he has been doing this for years. The DZO may be a "member of good standing in the good old boy network". 3.You can keep your mouth shut and go on doing your thing at that dz or keep your trap shut and move on to another dz and not look back. 4. After you move on, you can tell others you know why you left, this is when you find out who are your real friends. 5. Now that you have posted this on the net, even if you don't do anything and someone else dose, everyone who knows you will think you got dzo busted and they will be pissed off at you for turning in their dope dealer. Now sit back and ask yourself, how many jumpers are at that dz, that have been jumping there for years, you really think your the first person to find this out? You really think the FAA don't know this DZO? if he has been in the biz for any amount of time, then the FAA has been there at some point to ramp check. I find it hard to beleive they (the FAA) don't know he only has a PPL.

Judy, I am a former jump pilot with 1200 hours jump flying experience and a D-lisc jumper with over 1000 jumps. I am currently a airline captain. If someone is flying for compensation of hire with a only a private certificate, he is clearly in violation of the FARS. In the past there has been some debate over the legality of it when the pilot is flying for a club and is a club member shareing in the cost of the flight operations. It's a week argument at best. If he's getting compensation in any way it is a clear violation. Even if no money is changing hands, the FAA considers flight hours to be compensation. Doug

Depends on what your going to use it for. Free flying not so much. Belly prob ok, have a rigger look at it. I have a Vector II with an old PD 218 in it that I use for CRW. It's old and it has pink on it but it works great for CRW. I wouldn't even think of freeflying with it. Doug

That sounds like fun! Bauer just packed my reserve, so if the weather is at all decent I'll be there!! Doug

I have about 600 odd hours in my log book flying 17393 over the years at Skydive Twincities in Baldwin WI, and have made hundreds of jumps out of it. It's still there flying when we can't fill the twin otter. It's a great old bird come and jump it this summer.

My best off landing was a jump about 8 years ago. We were in a 206 on a marginal day, climbed through a hole over the DZ and watched the hole close up. Figured well were up here so what the hell, climbed to 12000 looking for the DZ. Started running low on fuel and the pilot said he was going to have to start down. I looked at the other 3 in my 4-way and said F@#k it lets go! Opened the door , looked down it was solid overcast with tops about 5000. Looked back at the pilot, smiled and said 10 left. Launched a 4-way turned a bunch of points and tracked through to the bases. When we came through the bases there was a town off in the distance but it wasn't the town by our DZ. We all landed in a field by a farm house. Out came this really nice farmers wife with lemonaid for us. It was only after talking to her that I realized that we were about 9 miles from the DZ. She let us use the phone and pack in her front yard. Our DZO didn't pick us up for a couple of hours. I think he decided to let us sit for awhile for being so stupid, but what the hell it was an adventure.

Good for you. Most of the crappy openings that I got on my FX were due to line twist. Doug

Awsome canopy!! I have jumped many diff canopies. Spent a year on a FX 108 and I gotta tell ya, this is the best opening flying canopy I have ever owned. I decided that for the 10% greater surf that you get from a crossbraced canopy, it just wasn't worth the extra hastle (high pack vol, poor openings and high front riser press). I do video and my neck says thankyou on every jump. Doug

My Katana 107

Oh well files too large

My SWEET BABY!!!

I'm happy with what I have thanks (KA107 main at 2.0, PD 126R at 1.7)

Why fly over? Buy it from one of the many sources of used rigs that are avail via the web. Not every one will sell over seas, but if what your looking for is mainstream, you should be able to find what you want from someone willing to sell across the pond. Blue Skies Doug

Triathalon is a great canopy for a beginner and a good forgiving canopy to learn to swoop on when you get more experience. I learned to swoop on a Tri 160 loaded at 1.3/1, and have nothing bad to say about it. Doug