Airline3

What I found is that the Pilot and Saber2 are totally different canopies, the Saber2 is a higher performance canopy. The Saber 2 has more flare at the bottom end. Some people are just not ready for a higher performance canopy. The pilot is a much more docile canopy. It just depends on what your looking for in a canopy. You can't judge the performance of a canopy just by the turn rate, if you could a Stiletto would be higher performance than a Velocity . I think thats why people are comparing the Pilot and Saber2, they have a similar turn rate. On packing the Saber2, if you were rolling the nose and doing "special" stuff to it you were just making it open bad.

QuoteContact Bonnie (gravitygirl on here) at Gravity Gear - www.gravitygear.com.. She keeps up on things like that. AND she absolutely loves putting skydivers under Pilots. Dealers love selling Pilots because they are cheap canopies and they actually make more money on them, thats why they push them.

Hey, A 9 cell canopy is going to pack up bigger than a 7 cell. You have more fabric and more lines

I made about 10 jumps on the Pilot, all I can say is it's no Saber2. It was not as responsive, there was not as much on the bottom end. I can fly a Saber2 too a stop before it sets me down. The openings were good. The quality was just not as good as a PD canopy either, I looked it over good and it's not bad, just no PD canopy. I guess If money is a major factor and you want a ok, brand new canopy get a pilot, but you would be better off getting a used PD canopy.

I have had my G4 now for 3 months, all I can say is I love it. Super comfortable, tight, all kinds of safty features. The rig was a bit on the pricy side, but you get what you pay for.