bschuyler

There should be no debate. The rigger that inspected and packed the rig only certified it for 120 days. If there were any chance of extending it by 60 more days, I would think that THAT rigger would be the one to have to do it.

According to http://www.cypres-usa.com/cypres_news_letter_november_2005.pdf any existing Cypres2 can be converted to a Speed Cypres2 at no charge. You probably have to pay shipping charges. I just sent mine in for it's 4-year check and I'm having it converted at the same time.

I have had a slower progression than a lot of people. 1-22 - Student Canopies 23-49 - Sabre 170 (Rental) - WL 1.08 50-221 - Sabre 150 - WL 1.23 222-651 - Stilleto 150 - WL 1.23 652-1196 - Stilleto 120 - WL 1.54 1197-1542 - Stilleto 107 - WL 1.73 1543-2117 - Velocity 90 - WL 2.05 2118-3212 - Velocity 84 - WL 2.2 3213-3819 - Velocity 79 - WL 2.34 3820-4006 - Velocity 84 - WL 2.3 I have done around 200 jumps total on demo canopies over the years. The worst injury I have had was a slightly sprained ankle on jump 38 from a low turn to face into the wind (I was jumping again after 3 days). Of course, I have had my share of close calls and bruises while learning to swoop. Bob

I love my Majik style Bevsuit. The booties work great. I have put almost 2000 jumps and around 20 hours of tunnel time on it. No problems with seams blowing out. I recently had to replace the zipper and repair the booties because of normal wear. To protect the booties and make them last a lot longer, you should definitely put shoe goo on them. Also, if you pack with the suit on, make sure you get cordura knees.

Where did you get the idea that everyone dislikes them? It seams just the opposite to me. I have had nothing but good experiences with them. I do not know of anyone that has had anything but good experiences with them. What it seems like to me is, based on your profile, that you probably requested a canopy beyond your skill level, and they refused to send it to you. Now you are bashing them in a public forum as retaliation. If I am wrong, sorry. I have demoed at least five canopies from their demo program, and as long as they had it in stock, I received it within three days. What other company that you know of gives this kind of service? I never requested a canopy that I may not have been ready for, and if I did, I would not expect them to send it to me without good references testifying to my ability to handle it. I have also sent in at least three canopies for reline, and have never had problems with their service. I have talked to them numerous times on the phone and at boogies, and have found them to be nothing but polite and very willing to answer any questions I may have had. Thanks, PD for doing a great job and making a great product. Bob Schuyler

I know someone that had an original Crossfire that had a built in turn. The lines were not the problem. Something was wrong with the canopy itself. He sent it back twice to be fixed with no luck. I also put about 20 jumps on a Vengeance 107 a few years ago that had a built in turn. The lines were also not the problem in this case. I put the jumps on it after the owner had just received it back from PD with a new line set to fix this exact problem.

I have had some experience with different reserves. Sorry, I have not jumped the Tempo. First, the Raven Dash-M. I have three rides on two different Dash-M 120’s at a 1.5 wing loading. The openings were always good, fast, and on heading. The control range was very short on both (less than a foot). The canopy flew ok, but was twitchy. The landings were hard. I did stand two of them up, but the canopy was at the stall point on both as I was touching down. On one of them, after opening with the brakes still set, I looked back over my shoulder to check my airspace and find my main. The reserve started to stall on that side from just that small amount of harness input. I don’t think this would be a good thing if unconscious. I had the opportunity to demo both a PD-113 and a PD-106 a few months ago. Since they were demos, they had a bag and pilot chute attached, which probably affected the performance. I made two jumps on each. Both opened good, fast, and on heading. The control range was much better than the Raven’s. Both canopies flew well, but the 106 was a little more twitchy due to the higher wing loading. The landings were much better than the Raven’s, but they are definitely not like the landings you would get out of your main (unless your main is a highly loaded F1-11 7-cell

Here's a couple of me from this years Ranch Pond Swoop meet.

I recently had a reserve ride on my Raven-M 120 at a wing loading of a little more than 1.5:1. It was close to the stall point when the breaks were set,and if I put more weight on one side of the harness, it would start to stall on that side. I would not want to be unconsious under this canopy. I plan to replace it with a PD reserve. It did fly well after releasing the breaks, but the toggle stroke was very short before it would stall. I had a hard stand up landing, which I expected due to the flare characteristics.

I had a similar experiance this past weekend which resulted in a cutaway and reserve ride. The differance was that it was the pilot chute that tied in a knot, not the bridle. I know it happened after throwing out because the hackey was inside the knotted up part of the pilot chute fabric. As it was happening, I thought that I may not have cocked the pilot chute, but after inspection, found that it was still almost fully cocked, and noticed the knot. My guess is that a knot somehow formed before inflation, but it was not very tight at first and the pilot chute still had enough drag to open the container, but as it pulled the bag out of the container, the knot tightened up and totally collapsed the pilot chute which caused the bag to not open. I have packed my pilot chute the same way since I started jumping and have never had a problem, so I don't think that was a factor. It just goes to show you that anything can happen.

1820:2 #996 - spinner. #1806 - pilot chute tied itself in a knot after thrown out resulting in not enough drag to pull the canopy out of the bag.