obadz

I bought my G4 a couple years back. It's a fantastic rig and I'm very happy with it. Recently wanted a small adjustments made to my risers, so I contacted the guys at Mirage who epitomized professionalism & responsiveness: E-mails were answered within minutes. Gear was manufactured and shipped within days. This is a manufacturer that truly cares about its customer's satisfaction!!!

Check out that other post by the same guy. This is so cliche it sounds like a troll... http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2823694;#2823694 But then again, I see trolls everywhere..

Was 1.093 after the wheat thin cracker you had

Heard this one before.. somehow it never happens

http://www.nashobapublishing.com/ci_10445906

I'm going to have to disagree here

You say you've already bought it, so isn't asking for opinions now a tad late? My review of the Aviator is in the gear reviews...

Had the same problem with a Safire2. All the lines were even but it was turning right slowly..

Hey don't look at me like that: I jump an RSL I'm not arguing against it, just against the regulation aspect of your post. That doesn't mean I want to force that onto anyone else. If some guy is going to jump with his RSL disconnected on every jump, who am I to decide he should have some piece of gear flapping around his mudflap? If some swooper is going to jump with his AAD off, who am I to decide he should carry some piece of expensive electronics that'll add to his weight and pack volume? Regarding the people on the ground: my incentives are aligned with theirs: I don't want to fall onto them any more than they want me to. So now the question is, if there is a piece of equipment that would help reduce the probability of that happening, should there be a rule making that equipment mandatory for every skydiver? You could argue that. And you could probably make decent case for mandatory AADs (which many countries have done). But if so many highly experienced people disagree on the merits of the RSL, I don't believe it's such a clear-cut case. Has there ever been a case of a skydiver hitting someone on the ground in freefall? If so, would an RSL have made any difference? I think the "reasonable extent" qualification I used applies here.

I disagree. It's very easy to determine when regulation is required: "Your freedom ends where my nose begins." In my humble opinion, as long as you're not affecting others, there's no need for what you do to be regulated. And my wearing an RSL (or not) really does not affect anyone but me (to any reasonable extent). Shooting rockets up evidently affects pilots which is why it needs to be regulated.

[...] It's time that there is some requirements in this country other than you have to have your reserve repacked by a master rigger. There are other countries that actually require an AAD. Why not RSLs as well? [...] Oh yeah, regulation is definitely the answer to that one

Sounds scary

You again I guess we should discuss this at the DZ because I don't immediately see how L/D affects recovery arc length and are you talking about L/D of the canopy alone or including the jumper? I would think the main factor would be drag on canopy vs. drag on jumper, how far forward the center of lift is on the wing at high speeds and line length. In any case, I returned the canopy in question and I'm demoing canopies with longer recovery arcs in hope of buying one before the end of the season. This weekend, it will be a Samurai 150.

I've had canopies level out after a turn with no input or even climb a bit.. I have to say I found the latter most annoying.

(Note to Ian: I'm replying in that thread to keep the posts together. I'm assuming you will move us into a different thread as you see fit) I'm getting to similar results. I will work on this a bit more and try to plug some numbers to see if I can get anything realistic. Agreed. Hmmm.. I don't see a direct link as everything we discussed was mostly steady state, full flight, level wing. Front riser turns are much harder to analyze. Besides, during the recovery of a front riser turn, 1) glide ratio is flattened, 2) airspeed is increased, 3) front riser pressure is increased. All these are good things in your model. Now during the initiation of the turn, you might be vulnerable..

Ian, If you want to discuss the fine points of no-wind flaring - lets do it in a different thread Jokes aside, yoink said I'm curious to hear how you explain the magic ability of the canopy to produce lift at zero airspeed? In no wind conditions, I'm pretty sure I've always had to take a few steps, slide on my feet, or even run a bit

[...] Suppose we have 2 canopies of the same area and same airfoil trimmed to have angle of attack (measured from the line of zero lift) A1=10 degrees and A2=5 degrees in full flight, respectively. Also, the canopy 1 has the total speed of 26.9mph (25mph horizontally, 10mph vertically), canopy 2 flies at total speed of 33.5mph (30mph horizontally, 15mph vertically) due to more aggressive trim. [...] Interesting set of assumptions. Neat little model

Interesting question. I'm not sure that your assumption about A&B line tension being low is the reason the front riser pressure is so light though. Hmm, interesting question... It is an interesting question, isn't it? Might deserve a thread of its own..

What do you think? What makes your canopy stable and flying? Air pressure in cells and tension in lines. Keep maintaining those! Speed keeps your canopy pressurized and line tension keeps it in shape and you in control. If you feel that your lines getting loose because some bump you'd rather apply some breaks to pull it back. Agreed, but you do realize my question was about the Katana's relative behavior in turbulence, not about what a pilot should do. I'll clarify my question further: with the front riser pressure being so light, the line tension on As & Bs must be relatively low, it would stand to reason than the nose is then that much easier to pull down and fold under. Am I missing something? Are there other design parameters that people can think of that would offset (or worsen) this tendency? Has anyone had first hand experience with Katana collapses?

I guess the answer would be dependent on what gives you best glide in those winds. If you find that hanging on the double fronts gets you further, then the Katana will probably have the best penetration. But in many cases depending on loading / wind speed, a bit of rears extend the glide. In those instances, you'd probably be better off with a canopy that has a flatter trim.. no? Anyhow, to me the more interesting question is: does the Katana's steep trim make it more prone to collapsing in turbulence? I've been wondering about this for a while now and have not found an answer that satisfies me. The consensus used to be "add a bit of brakes in turbulence". Now the consensus seems to be, "fly through turbulence in full flight". I think most would agree double fronts in turbulence isn't a good idea. So my follow up question to all this: if the Katana has a steeper trim built-in (i.e. a "permanent double fronts" without the distortion), does that make it more vulnerable in turbulence?

I've returned the Safire but regardless of canopy, I won't turn down any swoop coaching you have to offer

I disagree with putting the Safire2 and Sabre2 in the same basket when it comes to recovery arc. I found the Safire2's recovery arc to be much shorter than the Sabre2's. Just to quantify this a bit, in my opinion: - The recovery arc of a Safire2 @ 1.4 is shorter than that of a Sabre2 @ 1.25 - The recovery arc of that Sabre2 @ 1.25 is shorter than that of a Katana @ 1.25 - And: the magnitude of the differences is about the same. I'll add as a disclaimer that I'm relatively low experience (so take my opinion for what it's worth) and I only have one jump on the Katana although that shouldn't really matter as my statement is mostly a comparison of the Sabre2 and Safire2's recovery arcs.

We're on our way from NYC. See you tomorrow morning or maybe even tonight

The latter does not require the former. I usually do chest strap then slider then toggles. Sometimes I'll forget the chest strap and unstow my toggles right after the slider. In these instances I've simply put both toggles in my right hand and loosen my chest strap with my left (and the help of my upper arms)

Will there be packing tents?