ctrph8

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Gear

  • Main Canopy Size
    129
  • Main Canopy Other
    Safire 3 139
  • Reserve Canopy Size
    160
  • Reserve Canopy Other
    Optimum 160
  • AAD
    Cypres 2

Jump Profile

  • Home DZ
    Dillingham Airfield
  • License
    D
  • Licensing Organization
    uspa
  • Number of Jumps
    1500
  • Tunnel Hours
    4
  • Years in Sport
    24

Ratings and Rigging

  • USPA Coach
    Yes
  • Rigging Back
    Senior Rigger
  • Rigging Chest
    Senior Rigger
  1. ctrph8

    Safire 3

    I got my 139 a few weeks ago and have put about 10 jumps on it. I opened high and played around with the stall point and how it flies in deep brakes. This canopy is perfectly happy flying in deep brakes. I thought for sure that I would be able to do a full stall but even with my long arms, it never quite got there. I got to that point where it was just about to go but it never really fell back and I didn't take a wrap to see how far this could go. I could turn and maintain a heading in VERY deep brakes. The lines came trimmed with a loop for the toggle and the brake lines have just the right amount of bow in them in full flight. Front riser pressure was average, heavier than a Crossfire. That being said, the landings were zippier than I had expected with a front riser 180ish turn. Didn't try rear risers on any of those landings. On one of them I rolled out too high and lost all of my speed. It wasn't a pretty landing but it set me down just fine. The openings have been brisk! I've never been slammed Saber 1 style but they have been a lot harder than my beloved Crossfire. I may get a smaller pilot chute to see if that helps. I'm also wondering if this will mellow out after a few dozen jumps. The openings were all reasonably on heading. Overall, it seems like it is a super stable canopy that can go fast for what it is or slow and steady. I didn't get into any ugly turbulence but it feels like it would be pretty stable when things get squirrelly.
  2. I had a Unit III for a year or two. I wouldn't call it a great canopy but it was cheap and came with the Wonderhog. I'd jump one again just for fun... maybe once.
  3. Really well done and useful. I may still have an older one around with a red tracer thread in the fibers of the softlink. I think it was from Precision for their mains. If I find it, I'll take pictures.
  4. I think there is certainly a place for that reserve. This belongs in a rigger training bag of tricks. Having folks go through the PH testing and pull testing on an affected canopy would be great.
  5. This might be what you are looking for. [inline IMG_1421.jpg] [inline IMG_1422.jpg] [inline IMG_1423.jpg] [inline IMG_1424.jpg] [inline IMG_1426.jpg]
  6. I think I may actually have one. I'll pull it out tomorrow and take some pictures. From my logbook it's a Navy seat rig made by M. Steinthal & Co. manufactured in 1951. The canopy is a Pioneer C-9 made in 1953. When I first opened it up it had been packed since the early 60s and the rubber bands were perfect. I think I still have a few. Can anyone verify or rule out that this was what he was asking about?
  7. I've lost weight but at my highest I was 240ish before I started putting on gear. I had a big baggy Tony Suit with 0-P sewn into the arms and leg layers for additional stopping power. Since I've started my tunnel progression I've gone to a much slimmer suit. Really quickly I figured out that I didn't need all that fabric, I needed better technique. I now have two Vertical Suits and they are nothing like my big suit. I specifically went to the tunnel and asked them to help me with "Big Guy Issues". I got some great coaching and pretty much had to re-learn 20+ years of skydiving but it works. I've flown in the tunnel that Stayhigh had the video of. It's just a big fan on a big engine. I couldn't sit in it but I could backfly.
  8. I'm just guessing here but from what I can see of the picture of the main bag, it seems like the closing loop might be too short which would pull the edges of the bag towards the center of the pack tray. It also pulls the side flaps in too far. Try a longer closing loop. As was mentioned before, the grommets on the side flaps won't be lined up and that's the way it was designed. Look at the spacing on the photo from the manual. They have some great pictures (page 58 in the manual) and the loop is much looser.
  9. My openings are better with the semi-stowless bags. One of the things I attribute this to is that the bag isn't being moved around every time it gets to a new bight in the rubber bands. My un-scientific guess is that there is more friction every time it rips out of a rubber band than when the stows extract out of a semi-stowless' pouch because the stows in the pouch are not under any real pressure. Whether or not my guess is accurate, I have seen no additional wear on my lines or anyone else's.
  10. I finally got tired of fighting with my machine. I bought a servo motor and put a smaller pulley on it. It was like a different machine. Perfectly well behaved and I can sew at much more reasonable speeds. I still sew through whatever I want but now I do it a little bit more in control. Yesterday my 7 year old daughter spent her first half hour on it. She did fine. She'll be patching canopies in no time. Apparently though we are making a sleeping bag for her American Doll first.
  11. I believe I've seen it done. It was at least a 210 and maybe a 230 with Dacron lines. It worked. If I remember, the line pouch was a little tight but I wasn't paying very close attention. Here's what I can tell you from first hand knowledge. I've been using them for a couple of years. I have one from UPT and one from Sunpath. I prefer the UPT but only by a little. I jump mostly Crossfires. My openings were good but they got better. My packing is a little easier and I'm completely spoiled on this design. I wouldn't want to imagine a world where I went back to the old bags. Just buy it. I can pretty much guarantee that if you don't like it you can unload it quickly... But you won't.
  12. Years ago I was a packer. Because of a back injury, packing takes more work than it used to. Now I use a packer on about 1/3 of my jumps. All of the packers I know really want to do a good job and check in every once in a while. "How was that?" "Did that open OK?" Bad attitude is a firing offense for me. I can handle an honest mistake. I might even handle it twice if they were open to learning. If my packer was off of their meds that day and gets bitchy, I'd probably find another one. I also tip well for extra effort. My usual packer threw it in overdrive and got my rig done on short notice last weekend. I made sure she knew that I appreciated that. Tip your packers for good work. Treat them nicely and don't put up with bad behavior.
  13. Making good soft links isn't too tough. Ask your local rigger to whip one up. Because it is just for the bag, the length (in relation to the ones on your canopy) doesn't matter as much.
  14. There is an app for that! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/groundschool-faa-knowledge/id381248445?mt=8 I used this as one of my tools to get ready for the written/oral exams. The app is buggy and I'm pretty sure at least one of the questions that they ask has a wrong answer. Also, I may have gotten it when it was brand new. That being said, it helped. I groused about the price for a couple of weeks but I ended up using it, especially when I was sitting around somewhere with nothing to do (waiting in the doctor's office or whatever). It is certainly not the only way I learned this stuff but it is one of the tools I used and I did well on my written/oral exams.
  15. You would definitely get a great education at the Jumpshack course. Chuting Star also does courses but I don't know as much about them. I'd call both. The riggers who come out of the Jumpshack course earn every inch of their rigger's ticket and come out with strong skills. I think it is really smart that you are looking to do a course on top of the work you have already put in.