grick

Facilities: Although the DZ shares a public airport, the facilities are great and the airport facility is very welcoming to the skydivers. The place has a “campus like” layout, with the main hanger, FBO, Rigging Loft, Bunk Rooms, second packing hanger, PRO landing area, and lounge all less than 30 yards from each other. The entire facility is extremely clean and the owner takes great pride in keeping it that way. All of their equipment is brand new with pristine Vector/PD student gear. The main hanger is always playing upbeat XM radio and boasts flat screens around every corner for debriefing, manifest, and playing video. They have free wireless and two Internet kiosks, in case you didn’t bring your laptop. The main landing area is a little ways away at the other end of the airport, but the 150 acres, dedicated shuttle, and lack of air traffic makes it well worth the short 2 minute ride. Aircraft: Start has two dedicated Caravans that are very well kept, comfortable, and always clean. Almost every weekend they offer helicopter jumps and there is the occasional opportunity to hitch a ride on a balloon. They also bring in speciality aircraft for events on occasion. I have yet to land off the DZ and they don’t hesitate on taking up light loads to keep you in the air. People: The entire staff and regular jumpers are extremely friendly… even manifest! The owner, John Hart, is always in the air and will jump with anyone. The coaching opportunity is absolutely amazing for the Midwest, especially if you’re into 4-way, swooping, CREW, or getting into Demos. You would have to travel to Florida or the West Coast to get similar coaching. Great Vibes, Great People, Awesome Talent, Amazing DZ! I definitely recommend!!

Hey Kris, I was having the same issue with my Mirage and a 24” pc on a Stiletto 135. I even have video of someone IADing me and pc in tow for 4-5 sec. I switched to a 30” F111 and it fixed my hesitation problem about 90% of the time. I don’t believe the pc is the problem, but the bridle getting caught on the corner of the main pin protector. I have since changed my bridle routing and the problem is fixed 100% of the time. Instead of routing my bridle directly under the closing loop, I make a 45 degree angle down to the right where it can just barely be seen with the flap closed. I hope this makes sense and helps you out. Also a 28” zp or 30” F111 pc won’t hurt. Another problem I was having with my 24” pc and Stiletto 135 was line twists. I had 0 line twists for 200 jumps with the same canopy, same pack job, same rig, same pc, etc. I all of a sudden started getting line twists about every third jump. The 30” F111 pc fixed my line twist problem 100% of the time. BTW, I still have soft openings with my Stiletto 120 using the 30” pc. The reason I choose F111 was PD claimed more consistent openings with F111 vs. ZP to me over the phone when I was troubleshooting my line twist problem. They also state “Pilot chutes made of zero porosity fabric are more sensitive to specific design criteria, and two of similar size may have widely different drag”. Pg. 3, http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/hrdopn.pdf Twonames

I have the canopy at my house now. I plan on taking some pic’s and posting sometime. My guess is line dump. I stopped counting after six broken lines. None of the breaks were at or close to the stitching, mostly directly in the middle of the line. Most of the broken lines are on left side, including all of the three sized lines. One of the left steering cascades broke, and the right steering line broke at the toggle loop. One line broke at the leading edge of one of the center cells then tearing the cell about three feet. One of the center line’s binding tape tore directly from the attachment point. I would blame the lines until I noticed the steering lines, binding tape, and torn material. We plan on sending the canopy back to Precision soon.

This was my teammates canopy and has less than 30 jumps on it. When he first received it, it took 2000 feet to open. GZ said all 135's had similar characteristics and the hole in the slider was a standard modification. After further inconsistent and slow openings, Galaway told my teammate the canopy is not safe at his low wing loading and sent him a Nitro 150 to test (not GZ Nitron, but almost the same). My teammate was trying to sell the canopy and allowed the demo since the guy had sufficient skill set and wing loading. The guy made two uneventful jumps on the canopy before the mal. I also know he changed out the slider, but I don’t know if that was before or after the uneventful jumps. Even though the original had a hole, I know the Xaos has a much larger slider than most other canopies and curious to find out what size slider was swapped out. It did have all three line sizes, 352 on the inside, 440 on the outside, and 946 for brakes. I understand the small lines were the ones busted. Also curious how hard the opening was. I have had bruised ribs and a busted chin without breaking spectra. I don’t think most people know the difference between line dump and a stiff opening.

I recently had the pleasure to demo the Samurai. I currently jump a Stiletto 120 and I made one jump on the 120 and six on the 105. I believe those were the 7 best openings I have ever had. I am not one for extremely long snivels, so some may say it opens a little quick. I was leaving the nose completely exposed, so making it snivel longer should be fairly easy. The snatch force is softer than my Stiletto or any other canopy I have jumped. The snivel little shorter than the usual opening of my Stiletto. The inflation was a little faster than my Stiletto as well, the slider comes down very quickly on the Samurai I jumped. The glide was much flatter than I expected, but not as flat as a Stiletto. I recently made six jumps on a crossfire 109 and the Samurai seemed to fly just a little flatter. It dove very similar to a Stiletto, but it didn't flare itself at the end, if you turned too high. I was still able to get a decent surf when I conservatively turned to high -- The same turn on my stiletto would have left me 15 ft off the ground with my toggles touching the keepers. The Samurai didn't dive as long as the Crossfire, but the Sam needed much less input to place me under the canopy, which is what I would prefer. Compared to my Stiletto, I didn’t notice much difference flying in turbulence -- Although the stall point seemed much slower and the stall recovery was much more predictable. Seeing the canopy still inflated on the ground after landing, I have to think it would be safer to fly in turbulence. The Crossfire I recently jumped concerned me some (although it may have been more noticeable with its recent issues floating in my mind). The Crossfire I jumped had a new (unaffected) line set and the riser pressure quickly fluctuated one time when I hit some small rotors -- Although all the other jumps on it were smooth and I couldn’t get it to buck on front risers. One of my concerns with jumping an airlocked canopy was controlling the canopy on the ground after landing in windy conditions. Brian gave me some advice on what to do after landing before my first jump on the Sam in 28 mph winds and I had no problems. Packing wasn’t any harder than my Stiletto either, another worry of mine with airlocks. The last thing I would like to mention about Brian and this great product is his service. He mentioned he could custom make the Sam to my specific specifications. Aside from building any size I wanted, he could also customize trim and slider to make it fly and open exactly how I wanted it to. He also mentioned he personally test flies the ones he customizes and builds himself. From what I also understand, he doesn’t charge any extra for building it himself or the customization, although the canopy would not be discounted from the retail price. Good job Brian! Greg Rick D-22597

Back in October I was looking for a new canopy and debated purchasing a Nitron. I did some research to see what other purposes the lines were used for and I found the best comparison of the material from various racing sail web sites. I then posted my findings (see attached file) for feedback. George quickly responded to me personally, stating my information was incorrect, as you will see below. I then gave him more detailed information and inquired about getting more information about his products and he never replied back, nor referred me to someone else. In short, I decided not to make the purchase. Greg Rick D-22597 10/30/2001 Hi Greg, I think you might be confused about this. The Xaos utilizes a High Modulus Aramid fiber, nothing like Aramid fibers used by North Sails. I just wanted to mention this so you will know. Information like this is generally very good for all skydivers, but in order for it to be properly useful, it must be accurate. I will try to get some info for you (and others) about our High Modulus Aramid braid. George Galloway Precision Aerodynamics, Inc. 10-30-2001 George- On the contrary, I saw many references to the High Modulus Aramid fiber on Northsail's site. I copied some of the verbiage below. But I hope you don't think I was trying to degrade the HMA lines on your canopy. If anything, the article mentioned vectran as being obsolete and I saw it was a complement to your choice of lines. Although I am interested in the Spectra 2000 they mentioned. I got a chance to see one of your new Xaos canopies Sunday and I was amazed by the size of the lines. That is what prompted me to research what other uses it may have. I thought the article was informational and thought it would be worth sharing to others. I do think more information about the lines could be beneficial on marketing your new line of canopies. On another note, I am in the market for a new canopy and would be interested in your company's suggestion on a Xaos. I have been unable to find any comparisons on the flight characteristics of the different canopies. I have over 500 jumps on a Stiletto 135 at 1.4, 15 jumps on Stiletto 120, and 9 jumps on Crossfire 119. If you could let me know who to contact in your company for recommendations, flight characteristics, and demo information, I would greatly appreciate it. Gregory J. Rick D-22597 (Exerpt from Northsail's site) P = 15.38 E = 5.63 Sail Area = 626sq ft SPECIFICATIONS: 1 Full Length Top Batten 4 Leech Battens 1 Reef Point Antal Luff Slides 25kg minimum weight RECOMMENDED: ALL-PURPOSE MAINSAIL 3DL High Modulus Aramid 16800 DPI TF Films BENEFITS: Taffeta Film provides improved UV, Flex and Chafe resistance. The mainsail choice for a single high performance racing and cruising sail.