AllisonH

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Posts posted by AllisonH

  2. Quote

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    I wouldn't buy one because of the front riser pressure,


    Are you really surprised about it? There are 2 factor for high front riser pressure: flat trim and low wing load.
    I guess you had both.




    I expected it to be high, I did not expect it to be THAT high. I was comparing it to a Pilot loaded at 1:1 which also has a quite flat trim, and was surprised at the difference. This is the first canopy I've ever jumped (including student canopies in the 230 range) where I've thought of pulling on the front risers as virtually impossible rather than just difficult. Which is a shame, because I did like everything else about the Pulse. Maybe this summer I'll jump a smaller one and see if it was just a wing loading issue.

  3. Quote

    Bump !!! Its been several weeks of good weather...any more reviews out there ?,,,,,,,,,,



    I flew a 150 loaded at about 0.9:1. My experience was consistent with the other reviews posted so far. Opened nicely, snappy turns for a 150 at that wingloading, flew well with toggles, rear risers, nice stable deep brake flight. VERY high front riser pressure (for reference most of my other recent jumps have been on a Pilot 132). I love the glide angle of it, comes in nice and shallow which is my preference (though as mentioned above it isn't everyone's preference). Was very easy to get a nice, soft, fairly accurate landing on the first jump on it.

    Overall I'd say the flare and flight characteristics were quite similar to the Pilot. From previous conversations with PD reps I believe this was their intent.

    I wouldn't buy one because of the front riser pressure, but I'd probably recommend it as a good beginner/intermediate canopy for someone who didn't want to use the fronts. I'm also interested in seeing how well the low bulk bottom skin fabric holds up over the life of the canopy. PD probably has some data on this - I'd imagine they tested it quite extensively.

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    One does not have to send the cypres II away for maintenance at exactly four years. The maintenance period is four years plus/minus six months, so one can send it in for service when it is convenient.




    Second comment. Your stats are wrong. I copied and pasted this out of the manual - in reference to your +- 6 month comment, it's really 3 months. Granted you always can send it in late, but you can't jump it late. You can't send it in early, they won't work on it:

    Maintenance ................................. 4 and 8 years from date of manufacture ± 3 months
    Total lifetime .......................... 12 years from date of manufacture + 3 months maximum





    Did you check the Cypres I or II manual? For the I's you're correct, it's +/- 3 months. According to the Cypres II manual it's 4 and 8 years +/- 6 months for maintenance and a total lifetime of 12.5 years.

  5. I know what you mean - my mother said I was 30 when I was born, and sometimes I think she wasn't far off... However, I've never been depressed by it, it is who I am and I love being that person. It does at times cause me endless frustration because I want to knock some sense into people my own age, but that's really the only downfall I see. Others sometimes think I'm boring or conservative, but I think of it as being smart and practical.

    I vote for accepting who you are - in fact don't just accept it, but embrace it. Don't think of it as missing out on the things you've never been interested in, but as freeing up time for thing things you DO like instead of wasting it on that other stuff.

  9. Having seen the following:

    1) Experienced jumper friend practicing EP's before a repack unable to pull pillow reserve handle with 1 hand, used 2 hands on second attempt and pulled it

    2) Student under spinning mal spend about 1000 feet longer than I would have liked trying to pull cutaway handle with 2 hands (Edit to add: the poster after me makes an excellent point about peeling before pulling - this particular student, however, had peeled and gotten the handle free from the velcro and still had a difficult cutaway.)

    I teach my students to use 2 hands. When they are more experienced they are welcome to explore the pro's and con's of each and decide which is best for their circumstances.

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    How your friends list is sorted on here? I just cannot figure it out. It's not alphabetical, or in the order you added them, or according to when they last logged in, or even grouped in online and offline.

    I'm so damn confused.



    I think it goes by the year they registered. I wish it was in A-Z order cause it drives me nuts..





    Yes, mine are sorted by date they registered.

  12. Quote

    Thanks for the info. Not knocking the equipment, it's great! I just want to know about improving the flare on such a large canopy.




    Step 1 would be to make sure you are actually flaring all the way. Have someone else (like your instructor) watch and/or video your landing. I've seen MANY people, students and experienced jumpers alike, who thought they were completing their flare but really weren't.

    As mentioned by others, talk to your instructor about this. They will have the best advice for your specific situation, and will not be happy with you doing things like wrapping the brake lines based on advice you got online.

  13. Quote

    Sometimes it's worth considering what you're getting for your money (or your pack jobs) rather than "up-front" costs.



    For my ~$1400 (4 years ago) I got 25 jumps, including at least 10 coach jumps from 14K in an Otter, and my A license. Same as the person who paid $1000 more for AFF. That $1000 bought me some tunnel time and a whole lot more jumps.

  14. Quote

    Wow, after the X-games and all the moutain dew commercials, I'd figure that's just about as deep into popular culture as one could hope to burrow.



    I hardly ever watch TV, and even if I did I would have switched channels if the X-games were on. I guess that at least partially explains my lack of exposure to skydiving in my pre-jumping days.

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    I'm curious about the basis for this statement. I don't think I've ever met anyone that doesn't know it's a sport and that one can do it recreationally.





    Until I read an article about the skydiving club in my university's newspaper it had never occurred to me that it was something regular people did all the time. I don't know that I was really surprised by it, it was simply not something I'd ever considered. Perhaps that isn't the norm, but I can't be the only one who'd never seen skydiving or known anyone who jumped outside the military.

  16. Quote


    While I don't know much past the basics of static line, I also think that more coaching and experience before getting your license would be safer and more preferable.




    In many cases, you end up with the same number of coach jumps and the same number of total jumps when you get your license. The jumps "taken away" by doing static line in the beginning of your progression are frequently (though of course not always) replaced by solo jumps in the AFF progression. So it's quite possible that the static line student actually ends up with more instructor/coach supervision/interaction.

  19. Quote

    So since I'm 153 lbs soaking wet and I fall like a feather as compared to other jumpers (my aff instructor actually had to wear weights with me...and the instructor was a girl!) Would they help with my fallrate as well?




    Do you fall fast or slow? Being relatively light and saying you fall "like a feather" led me to think you fall slow. But when you said your instructor had to wear weights with you, that would indicate your natural fall rate is faster than your instructor. What am I missing here? Is it that you fall slow, but she falls even slower?

  21. If you look around a medium to large dropzone on a busy weekend, you'll see people who do (or have done) just about every job you can imagine. And it's not easy to tell which is which. That's one of the things I love about skydiving -- I have friends from so many walks of life that I never would have met otherwise.

  22. Your A license will still be valid, but you'll need to do recurrency training. There are some more specifics on that in the SIM -- it's worth having a look at. What the recurrency training entails varies a lot from dropzone to dropzone, so you'd need to get in touch with an instructor at the place you want to jump and see what they'll require.

  23. Quote

    That is an off the wall comment. They offer a great value and great flying characterstics for a newer jumper.

    If I was give the choice to jump an older Saber I, or a Hornet for the rest of my jumps I would pick the Hornet any day.



    Same here. I put ~250 jumps on Hornets and not one hard opening. I'd jump another one any day.

  24. Quote

    Damn, is it really around 100 bucks like most people are saying? How much to just assemble the reserve? If it was me I would likely do the main assembly myself and save a few bucks.

    Hell, I could even put the reserve on the risers myself, let the rigger know that I did it (just in case), and save some cash- thats like 4 jumps.

    Edit: well, I guess I don't really know how to do the reserve toggles, so there goes that idea but 100 bucks seems kinda steep to me.




    My rigger charged $70 (a few years ago) to assemble and pack all of my stuff. After I watched him do it and saw how much trouble it was, how long it took, and how much he taught me about my gear in the process, I happily gave him $100.

  25. I think they changed their sizing at some point - you might want to contact the manufacturer with the serial number and ask what will fit. I have a W12-1, and they told me it would fit a 170 tight, 150, or 135 loose with 160 reserve. It actually fit 170 VERY tight, 150-132 pretty nicely, and 117 loose.

    In general I wouldn't try putting something larger than manufacturer recommended into a Wings. I have packed a 150 into a W8 and would definitely not want to put anything larger in it.