freakyrat

This is my First Product Review I( I know, Case Of Beer) I had to use my Optimum 126 Reserve yesterday. I have an exit weight of 190 lbs. with gear. I don't know how much my wing suit weighs however. After a relatively uneventful wing suit flight I went to deploy and for some unknown reason I couldn't find the hackey handle. All my previous wingsuit dives I had no problems. The opening on this canopy was incredible. Fast but not hard. After I got the suit unzipped etc and brakes un-stowed I turned back to the DZ. The Optimum flies very well and had good penetration in about a 13 mph wind. I was landing slight off the airport in an open field. I went to flare and was amazed how deep I could go with the toggles and how well the canopy flares. My landing was nothing short of remarkable.

I had the pleasure of jumping with Curly at the old Spaceland. We did a few TEXXAS 20-Ways among other jumps. I'm enclosing a picture of Curly. He is the jumper kneeling in the from row with the tan jumpsuit second from the right next to the girl in the grey jumpsuit. Curly was also a storyteller and would sing some of the funniest skydiving songs. I remember and old CRW song he sung to the tune of 'Side by Side" "All you jumpers take warning. When all the big stacks are forming. If the f___er falls down, the bodies were found, Side by Side" Curly also was a fine instructor and would always have something positive and comical to put in the student's logbooks of whom he trained. He was also a diehard ripcord fan and I do not know if he ever went to hand deploy. Lots of memories and things to write about Curly. In closing though I would like to say Blue Skies my friend, It was a sincere pleasure knowing you and jumping with you. Thank you for all the contributions you made in training students and to the sport we all love. Blue Skies. Calen Chrzan D-12700 Dallas, TX

May Rob Rest In Peace and may God give comfort to his family and friends. Thanks for posting this John. I remember Rob quite well from Skydive Houston and I think I even made a jump or two with him.

As a suggestion On my P2 I wiped down the zippers with Scuba Silicone Spray. They will last longer and they also zip and unzip easier.

The folks at Aerodyne can help you on this but my Guess is it is fabric supply problems. When I ordered my Pilot they were just getting over some of the ZPX supply problems. I've been jumping this 140 for over a year now.

I wish I could have made it but work commitments (To many people taking off for spring break) just wouldn't let me go.

It could be 1000 in the US but I heard it is about half that.

Just read this. Blue Skies Dan. All Around Good Guy. Thank You for your service to your country. It was a pleasure knowing you. Thank's for helping me through the little rough skydiving period by turning me on to the Synflex. It really worked and allowed me to continue jumping. Your inspiration helped many others and you truly achieved the purpose in life that God set out for you. My condolences go out to your family, Your extended Navy SEAL family, skydiving family and friends. Blue Skies Forever. Chris

RIP Terry The thing I remember about Terry the most besides his energy and bios instructional skills was his occasional complaint about his cross braced canopy opening hard and it killing his back occasionally. I guess we all have been there with a canopy opening one time or another. Anyway Blue Skies Terry It was a pleasure knowing you during my time at Skydive Houston. Chris Chrzan

Mike, Thanks for the update. In my case I needed a hassle free canopy for my wingsuit skydives. I also needed a bigger sized canopy than I was jumping to also fit in my Mirage MO container. I had experience flying a small Pilot and ordered a 140 ZPX Pilot. Actually I had a MT sized Mirage with a Katana 120 in it. I demoed a Pilot ZPX 140 in this container but my own 140 wouldn't fit no matter how hard I tried to get it into the bag. Aaron at Mirage fixed me up with an MO Mirage with all the wingsuit mod's and I couldn't be happier. The 140 ZPX fits great in this container. It opens beautifully and flies and lands great. For me the fabric was worth the extra money for my present set up. If I might add something else. I'm presently flying a Tonysuit's RBird wing suit and started out flying a P2. My RBird has that extra fabric back of the bottom of the container. Either I'm learning how to fly better at opening or it's a combination of the suit and the Mirage and Pilot but my openings when flying the RBird have been slower and gentler without any radical body movements. Just No Drama.

There are ZPX Pilots out there with over a thousand jumps on them with no problems. The problems they had with the heavily loaded Sensei canopies were the deformation of the material in the rib areas. The material basically stretches in all axiises as opposed to regular ZP. This is something you would not see in a Pilot canopy as it is not normally flown in that kind of flight envelope. Your best advice would be to talk to Bill Legard at the factory about it if you have any concerns. I'm presently flying a medium loaded ZPX Pilot 140 for wing suit flying but I don't have that many jumps on the canopy and it's fine so far. The openings are very good on this canopy for wing suit flying with no drama.

I travelled all summer with my rig through the following airports. AUS-Austin, DAL-Dallas Love and DFW-Dallas Ft Worth Intnl. STl-St Louis Lambert, MSP-Minneapolis, and MDW-Chicago Midway. ALL with no problems. I have a small MirageMO and it's packed in a High Sierra Rollaboard that I bought at Macy's here in Dallas two years ago. The Rollaboard meets carry-on size requirements. I carry my helmet and wing suit and other things in a small backpack that fits under the seat. I might ad the TSA folks at Austin are the best. They do their jobs well and treat their passengers with dignity and respect. The TSA person wanted to know if I had any extra Cypres cards to show the screeners which I did and gave him one. Folks at most airports near DZ's the TSA have had plenty of experience with rigs and they are no big deal for them. I've only had them want me to open the bag once to see that it is actually a rig and matches the X-Ray and that's it.

Hi Elizabeth, I jumped at Spaceland in the late 70's and early 80's. I didn't jump with Doc but he did put my shoulder muscles (Romboids) back in place once or twice. A lot of Chiropractors today are not that hands on like Doc was. The world lost a good man when he passed. Chris

Booing the soldier is what is wrong regardless if he was gay or straight or if he was religious or not or whatever. I served during Vietnam. Some of the returning troops were booed and spat upon in airports when they returned home by those who opposed the war. Equally as wrong and Un-American.

In my opinion the people that booed were disgraceful and Un-American. Also this soldier looks like he goes to the gym everyday and given the chance could probably make mincemeat out of the ones the booed.

It is a C49. I don't know who is flying it now but our Otter pilot Sven used to fly it and Our Douglas.

Here She Is at Skydive Dallas Yesterday.

RW PC.

Southern Cross was flying jumpers today at Skydive Dallas. It is owned by a museum here in Fort Worth along with a B25 It has been restored with the old army paint job and is no longer red and white.

Southern Cross was flying skydivers today at Skydive Dallas. It has its original military paint job now and it is own by a flying museum group out at Fort Worth Spinks Airport.

I just have the regular strap on the helmet but a chin cup might be nice.

The Cirrus SR20 and SR22 are airplanes that pilots have occasionally got behind the power curve on. After jumping the Katana I have to get used to jumping a big regular square canopy for wingsuit flying and I haven't got it all figured out yet. So it's a reverse learning curve.

Doc I have jumped a Katana120 and Aggie Dave is right about the softness of the opening maybe causing the end cell closure. I have had both my end cells having to be popped open with the brakes occasionally and it has been a non-issue. On the flying of the canopy. I have been occasionally bit by the canopy landing it in turbulent air. The last time flying it through an invisible dust devil where the canopy suddenly turned about 80 degrees when I was about a foot or two off the ground and I absolutely did nothing with the toggles to cause it. The canopy is the Cirrus of canopies and you have to be constantly ahead of it. Another reason you have to be constantly ahead of the canopy cause it's ground hungry. That ground hungryness however converts to more lift at the end. We all make choices. While I believe that it is a bad choice to be jumping this canopy with low jump numbers I can only say you alone know your limitations and from my own personal experience with the canopy sometimes I exceeded my own even with 2000+ jumps and it's not a good thing. I kind of have a love hate relationship with the canopy. I know Aggie Dave and he was only trying to keep you safe. Personally, of all the canopies I have jumped I like my Samurai 136 the best. It has never treated me bad and has always opened soft and I can land it in most any condition. Unfortunately it is not being made anymore at the moment as Brian Germain has taken time off from building canopies to raise his family.

I recently received my 140 Pilot made out of ZPX. It packed about 1/2 size down and I presently have it in a Micron 310. It just wouldn't go in my Mirage MT sized container even with ZPX. I'm primarily going to use the canopy for wing suit jumps. I put a wing suit jump on the canopy and it opened and flew great. To someone who said that the canopy doesn't hold air pressure like regular ZP I got news for you. The winds had picked up to 25 MPH when I landed and the canopy was about as hard to get the air out of as an air locked canopy. The canopy opened very good and it flew great. I don't know if Aerodyne recently changed the line trim or what cause my Pilot is better than the one I demoed. It was very responsive and also had a very good flying speed and descent range with the toggles. From where I opened after the dive I had no problem getting back on the wind line and back to the DZ. The canopy also flared very well probably because of the winds but a two stage flare technique should work well in light winds. To sum up: ZPX openings and handling on the Pilot are pretty much the same as non ZPX. ZPX is easier to pack but is a little slippery. In a dry climate like Dallas it probably packs about 1/2 - i size down. It probably packs smaller in more humid climates. For what I'm using the canopy for (Wingsiuiting) and loading it about 1.2 - 1.3 its perfect.

I made 13 when I started at the Fort Hood Sport Parachute Club.