I bought my used Pilot 150 last summer. It had around 300 jumps before me and now I've put over 150 more. My wing loading with the canopy is 1,57 and the results have been amazing! Openings with Pilot are great. They are soft, constantly on heading and predictable. I also use my Pilot when I'm jumping with my wingsuit and even if my opening position isn't straight and some linetwists occur (I've had 7-8 full rounds sometime) canopy still opens nicely and most of all it flies straight! Which means that after opening my arm wings I have plenty of time to undo the twists without any fear that canopy starts to spin. :) I've also tried 150 Sabre2 and comparing to that Pilot is a whole different canopy to fly. Glide angle is really good when flying on rear risers and I've managed to land to the landing zone from really long spots. Pilot is easy and fun to fly. Comparing to Sabre2 or Sabre it's much more aggressive but still easy and safe. When flying with Pilot you can actually feel the canopy and canopy goes instantly where you want. My friend also compared Pilot to be much like a PD's Stiletto when talking about flight characteristics. This is of course when flying on higher wing loads. I'm sure that with wing loadings around 1 to 1.3 the Pilot is perfect canopy for beginners. I'm doing 90 and 180 degree turns from front risers and it gives good speed for landing. Still with WL of almost 1.6 I can do a stand up landing without even taking a single step in no-wind conditions which represents of huge flare power of this canopy. Only negative thing what comes to my mind is that recovery arch is quite short but I understand it perfectly - Pilot isn't designed for swooping. All in all, I recommend this canopy so much for beginners or those who doesn't want highly elliptical canopy. Pilot is a great combination of good openings, great flight performance and fun! And I almost forgot: the fabric of this canopy is so easy to pack comparing to PD's fabrics! Great canopy! :)
