Bartskydive

After suffered a very hard opening on my trusty Sabre 2 190 (packing error!) which tore the Sabre, my rigger loaned me a demo Saffire 2. I weigh 100 kg so load it at approx 1.3. After having put more than 500 jumps on the Sabre 2 and now about 15 on the Saffire, there is some good comparison between the two I would think. For one, the lines of the Saffire are longer, probably tens of centimeters. Openings are a lot more consistent than a Sabre 2, not necessarily softer; my Sabre could open beautifully soft and on heading, but just not consistently so and had a tendency of turning on inflation. The glide is MUCH flatter than the Sabre which is good because it will get you home and bad because it makes accurate landings more difficult. Imagine a very flat angle with angular scatter covers more area on the ground that the same scatter at a steeper angle. But generally it enhances safety. Also in heavy traffic you can slow it down more than a Sabre 2 and stay up forever and wait for all the fast guys to clear the skies and land last. Flare is markedly less than the Sabre 2. Didn't stand up landings a couple of times in zero wind conditions which very rarely happened with my Sabre. No doubt the Saffire is a very safe canopy and a valuable piece of kit that takes well care of you but personally I'm not so sure if I would buy it and want to demo some other canopies before I decide. Mainly because I'm used to land exactly where I want and don't like to over or under shoot. With the flat angle of the Saffire I'm overshooting all the time and really need some getting used to.

Totally agree! The guy kept his stick aft as you see in the video. That is NOT what you would do if you would want to recover. Most general aviation aircraft are very docile and would not enter a fully developed spin without positive pilot action or a centre of gravity way aft of limits. By the looks of it with two pilots in front the c.g could not have been much aft of limit if any. So I'm sure the guy is doing it on purpose. One of the jumpers attracted the attention of the pilot and got some sort of denial gesture. So here's a pilot aware of an open door and (unsecured) jumpers in the aircraft, yet provoking a stall spin maneuver. I would say kick him off the premises and tell him never to come back. And be thankful no one got hurt.

It does look scary! But I have the impression that the guy with the stripes on his shoulder is doing it on purpose!! If you look at the video, you can see the elevators of the aircraft in a aircraft nose up position. As the aircraft is in a fully developed spin this would NOT be the thing to do if you have any intentions of recovering. In any current general aviation aircraft a incipient spin is easily corrected by opposite rudder and stick back pressure release. If that doesn't help, there would be a major loading problem with a way aft centre of gravity. In which case you would slam the control wheel to the forward stop and gun the engine. But quite honestly, if I look at the video,I think the guy is a freakin' nutcase and doesn't belong in the air other than as a paying passenger. The jumpers still in the aircraft did the right thing; they stayed where they were and asked the pilot and eventually as they approached hard deck exited anyway. I'm sure they sorted they guy out afterwards.

Bought my Genera brand new with a new 190 Sabre 2 and new Smart 190 reserve in it. Over the last years put over 500 jumps on it. It is totally fleefly proof; never head anything opened op or dislodged on it. Harness is unarticulated but you get what you pay for. The rig does exactly what it is supposed to do; freefly security is perfect. Over time the main container loosened up a bit so the closing flap grommets were either compressed against each other with the pin very hard to get in, or loop tension was too low. I had my rigger move the loop base to a strap attached to the bottom of the reserve container so the main container bottom flap could be pulled up a bit more before closing the other flaps. The whole container can be closed now without wrinkling the top flap, yet having sufficient loop tension. Another thing I'm up to (not unique to the Genera but to every bungee bridle) is that I had to increase the preload of the pilot chute bungee to keep the pilot chute from opening in front riser turns. I pulled it up to such an extent that the pilot chute is susceptible to collapse during opening sequence. It took me a while to figure that out. Symptoms are sometimes delayed canopy openings, many twists. I also had to clear two or so line overs. Never resulted in having to chop although close. Other times the openings are perfect; especially after a freefly transition to tracking when fall rate is still a bit on the high side. So I'm planning to install a bag with kill line soon. Personally I think one should not use bungee pilot chutes with wing loadings over 1.1 or so. All in all, I think the Genera is very good value for money for the average fun jumper like myself. It does absolutely everything it is advertised for, but should be offered with kill line bridle as an option.

Turned up after preceding phone call while on holidays in Italy. Initial paperwork is a bit of a hassle as skydiving Italy is apparently tightly regulated by their CAA and not by the sports association. Once in the system the place is great; lots of people willing to jump with you. First jump went to 15000, later loads to 13000 or more. Scenery is gorgeous. They were supposed to be closed on Monday but because there were sufficient guest jumpers and some local jumpers to fill the plane they arranged a pilot and an instructor and got the place going in the morning until sunset. That is top service! Prices are decent too. The place has a certain cosiness that makes anyone feel comfortable. Arezzo is next door for excellent food and night life. I will come back for sure.

Wanted to skydive while on holidays in Italy. Had jumped in Italy before. So reported at manifest with equipment, licences (C), logbooks and gear log cards. My wife translated into Italian as no one spoke English at the time. They insisted I had a medical certificate issued by an Italian institute or military medical facility and the last harness test. Both are not required in the Dutch licence structure for a C-licence. Mentioned previous jumping elsewhere in Italy; they were simply not interested. I recommend visit the lovely city of Lucca i.s.o. wasting your time trying to skydive there.

Admittedly, I made only two jumps from Jacarepagua Airport, which is where Barra Jumping is located. I was there as part of a group on a holiday trip. We made two beach jumps; one on Bara de Tijuca and one on Ipanema which is not a regular landing area and not generally used. We were there on a week day and is was very, very quiet with only a few people hanging round. There is only a small building housing manifest a toilet and lockers. Packing out in the open. The people are very friendly, one lending me a flotation belt free of charge. The Islander is old, noisy, slow and cramped but, hey, do you want to jump or don't you? It only brought us to 10000 ft for Br$ 100,= so that is pretty stiff. Spotting was insitedly done by a local jumper and was spot on in both cases. From the beach a 15 minute drive back to the airield. Don't count on racking up a lot of jumps there but just go there if you want to see the magnifient scenery and do a beach jump in sunny Brasil.