rogue108

People are going to doing what appeals to them. I think its a silly arguement that freeflying is better than RW or vice versa. Skydivers are such a small segment of the population that I think we should stick together. But if you want segregate yourself from other jumpers be my guest. I believe that a good base of RW skills helps you become a good freeflier.

I'm head out there this weekend too. I need to jump.

I called Cross Keys earlier today and they said its a green light for jumping. They are just outside Philadelphia's Class B Airspace. Too bad its been raining for them.

I normally jump at Skydive Crosskeys. I sometimes go to Skydive Delmarva, Sky's the Limit, Skydive NJ Shore, and have been to The Ranch once.

According to the AOPA website it looks like we can jump. I hope what I read there works out in reality. Here is the link to the AOPA website bulletin, if anyone is interested in reading it. http://38.200.9.137/010915tfr.html#special

I am not going to speculate whether Lisa's accident was canopy related or an act of mother nature. It was a tragic accident and I will leave it at that. However to need an incident of that magnatude to occur before a safety bulletin is issued or a full scale investigation is launched is perplexing. I would hope that Icarus would solidify all designs and test jump the canopies throughly before releasing them to the skydiving public. I understand that testing is static and you can't simluate every situation. However, from what I have read in the bulletin, (changes in trim and modifications will correct the problem of buffeting) these errors could have been prevented by better testing (getting it right the first time, especially with something as severe as buffeting ) and quality control (canopies not being made out of trim). Another issue I find odd is that they say its not isolated to a particular plant, size or wing loading, but it is isolated to a particular group of serial numbers. What do they do? Do they make them at various plants and place the serial numbers on at later date, at a different location? I would assume they make the canopy and place the serial number on at the same time to make it easier for size identifcation, tracking, invoicing, etc. So how does random become one group of canopies? What is different about that group? I figure something had to be the same. I just find the whole bulletin hokey and vague at best. As well I know of two friends who own Safires in different sizes that have had similar line trim problems. The line trim problem affected the flare of their canopies. Another individual I know has a Safire with a built in left hand turn in the canopy. Those experiences, along with this safety bulletin right after a terrible accident has killed my faith in Icarus Canopies. I will admit Icurus has been excellent in getting those problems resolved, but I believe those problems should have never existed. Will I ever buy and Icarus, probably not.

Anything as long as its not "Freefallin' by Tom Petty. I see so many people bring that song for their tandem tapes. Yikes

I jumped a Nitron 150 load 1.3 to 1. I really shouldn't have been flying it but I did and here are my impressions. I opened with line twists and the canopy maintained level flight while I kicked out. No violent turns or dives while getting the line twists out. In toggle turns the canopy was snappy and responsive without feeling twitchy. Front riser pressure was moderate and increased as the dive increased. The forward speed on this canopy does appear to be slow, for its size, but it could be my persception. The flare on this canopy is strong and seemed to have good bottom end

Another reason Cross Keys is THE premier Northeast dropzone. The Skyvan is here !!! Full time tailgate fix!!! It arrived today (Weds) and we were all able to jump it as soon as it landed. The flying toaster is pretty nice. 19 or so minutes to altitude, spacious even with 15-18 jumpers, and noisy. Cross Keys Rocks, it has everything a jumper would ever want. Big fast planes, Training in every disclipline possible. Excellent on site facilities for jumpers.

If I am correct, the comp model has a higher aspect ratio as compared to the stock Cobalt and as Chuck has already said more of the nose is sewn shut. The higher aspect ratio is what gives it that bottom end and increased turning speed. The nose being more closed increases speeds. I think that is correct.

I don't have anymore information than what is in the rags, The Xaos is the first to be released, followed by the Nitron. I am interested in the Nitron which is a Profile Research Nitro. It has stablizers that are part end cell which make it part of the wing. Its also has continous lines (not cascaded) to prevent cell / wing deformation. There is also a new aramid fiber being used for the lines, which makes tiny lines, but lines have to support less being non-casaded. The canopy sounds good in theory, but I yet to try one (Not enough experience). A jumpmaster I know said the one he flew always opened easy and on heading. The other Ground Zero canopies will be released one by one through this year and next year. There should be some demos at the U.S. Pond Swooping National at the Ranch. At least this is what I was told.

I have had a couple of hard openings on my Triathlon, but they weren't all that hard. Apparently the previous owner of my Triathlon had broken some lines due to a hard opening. He got the lines repaired and a new slider to remedy the problem. What I have done to slow the opening (when necessary) is to tuck the nose toward the center of the canopy. This tends to slows things down and increases the snivel. Another thing I do is to make sure the slider is well quartered and the front and the back of the slider are cupped outward to catch the air. My $ 0.02

The ZP Fabric used to build Triathlons is different from the ZP by PD or Icarus. Its not as slippery feeling and makes it quite easy to pack. I had very few problems learning how to pack with mine. If you goto the Aerodyne website, they go into more detail about the material and why it packs easier

I use a standard pro-pack and tuck the nose a little on my Triathlon. That seems to give me the best openings. I have tried rolling the nose, tucking the nose and leaving the nose alone. Tucking the nose appears to slow deployments if its opening hard. Rolling the nose didn't seem too much for my openings. Hope this helps