tonka

Argus is a great option also. Multi-Mode for different applications. Inexpensive and easily replaceable batteries. Four year check can be done within the US for a very fast turnaround time. Guaranteed to last at least 12 years.....the unit can continue use as long as it passes its four year checks. Im guessing by the ruggedness of the Argus it will go 20+ years. I have three Argus units and love them

Call Pete Swan (FAA Master Rigger, Lodi Ca.) (209) 365-9114 He does relines for Atair. Called them to get a reline and they sent me to him. Good luck

Nope, I meant what I said. Flown them all and like them way better loaded that much. Faster, farther, and funner. Obviously not everyone agrees that a Katana is better loaded at 2.1 but I like it there. Lands me nice and soft. Had my Comp Cobalt up to 2.25 and love it.

I was never super impressed by the Katana either. Put about 50 jumps on a Katana 83. Just put about 10 jumps on a Xaos27 88 and thought it was nice but seemed a lil sluggish and the rears were kinda mushy. Felt a lil tricky to land just using rears. Openings were a lil erratic also. Also just jumped a VX 77. Awesome canopy. It has a ton of jumps and still flew great. Openings beat the Katana and Xaos. Control range was very wide and I liked how the rears had some pressure to them. Very easy to land even just on rear risers. Fast and fun. I currently jump a Competition Cobalt 85 and would have to say it is a sweet canopy. No matter what it opens great and swoops sooo far. It flies to a stop meaning I dont have to run out my landings. Easy to land on rears. Try to demo one of them. My next canopy will be a Competition Cobalt or a JVX. Maybe a Velo or Neos after I demo them. Havent had the chance to fly a Velocity It amazes most everyone who jump it. Maybe the Icarus Neos Im gonna demo one asap. A friend put some jumps on one and said it dove like a VX/Velo and it looked just as fast. Opened great. Sounds pretty sweet to me. At your jump numbers a Katana, Cobalt, Crossfire2, or Cometition Cobalt would be best. I noticed they all fly better loaded at 2.0 or more. I often wear a weight belt to keep up in freefall and load my canopy more. Have fun tryin new shit bec I sure am.

Ive bought plenty of gear on dropzone.com and had no problems. I have also done tons of business on ebay with even more ease during the transactions. I was giving an alternative method to all those people who complain that they wont buy on dz.com because they dont find it safe. I think its as safe as you make it when buying gear.

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Hello People. For everyone confused on the best way to buy gear on dropzone.com safely-I think i fugured it out. Why don't you just have them put the items on ebay with a buy it now for the price you agreed and have a return policy so you can be sure you wont get screwed. If its not as described you can return it. (Which would probably never happen) Youll be able to pay easily and have proof of the transaction. Ebay is much safer and everyone can be happy knowing the deal is legit and not a scam. Ive bought stuff on dropzone.com from very reliable and well known individuals who sent the items to the DZ first for inspection but many people will not do that and most cant be considered reliable just sending them money and hoping for a prouct. Anyways i think it would work. Try it out instead of complaining that you dont know how to make a deal. Peace And Blue Skies

I wear a weight belt on many jumps and think it works great. Do a lot of camera work and im light so weights are perfect. Do remember that wearing lead, especially 20+ pounds will increase your wing loading. Be sure you can handle the extra speed and remember that you are wearing weights. Something you did last jump without weights on landing wont be the same with a full belt on. Deepseed makes great weight belts/vests that are inexpensive compared to competitors and the quality is the best. deepseed.com

Lost a couple friends before I even started jumping just hangin out at the DZ as a little kid while my dad jumped. Since i started jumping I have known two people. It was in my first year of skydiving. One I didnt know so well but he was still a friend and the other was one of my most liked skydiving friends. Very hard especially since I saw it happen from the air, landed nearby, and was on scene right away. His fatality report is in the most recent parachutust. Have known a couple people to be so badly injured they were lucky to live and seen several hard hits where youd expect the worst and they walked away. Thats life I guess. I mean car wrecks and stupid shit like that have also taken friends out so you cant expect it not to happen skydiving. We are jumping out of planes after all.

Thanks. I was doing this because the swoops were much faster. I could get more distance, but I already get killer distance with my Competition Cobalt 85. I like the Katana for its speed. Im sure if I got one I could do as you say and still have the same speed plus more distance. Just a matter of putting more jumps on it. Im gonna stick to my Comp Cobalt because it opens better and long spots are no problem. It doesnt dive quite as much but overall I like it better than the Katana. Thanks for the advice

I demoed a Katana 97 and an 83. The 97 loaded at 1.7 did not open well and I did not like how it recovered and landed. Decided to try the 83 demo and loved it. Great openings and good swoops. Put about 30 jumps on the 83 loaded at 1.9 Started 270 turn at 750+ feet. The only way I got a good swoop was getting on the rears high and pull it out of the dive. Late on the rears it will not pull out well and you will lose speed/distance forcing it or going to toggles. Cant be jerky-smooth transition. Even if going straight to toggles I started the flare high to get a good plane out. Slow carve and dive it steep at end. Almost straight to rears and apply pressure. More pressure as needed to plane it out. Just dont jerk on them or it dies out. This technique worked great for me. Got a couple 200+ foot swoops. Very Fast. With more jumps I would get better landings than I do with my current canopy. I dont use the deep breaks to double fronts like you. Canopy seems to dive plenty just cranking a turn and using doubles during or after but not before. Even when wearing weights making it loaded over 2 it flew great. Does feel ike you are sinking in like you said but thats what some people flying a Velo say it is like. Thats my experience with a Katana. Jump it more. If it doesnt work out try something different. When you are READY to downsize try a smaller Katana. It might open and fly better when loaded more like it did with me.

Usually jump a Competition Cobalt 85. Demoed a Katana 97 and 83. 83 opened and flew much better. Basically it flies better at 1.9-2.0+ Put 25 jumps on each canopy. Review is based on the Katana 83. Packing- Trash pack. Shake it out-No flaking. Shuffle nose in a little bit. Pull slider Out Opening- Sweet smooth on heading. Not too fast but not slow. Never wanted to spin up or jerk me around. Easy to steer during snivel using harness unput. Smooth opening for such an agressive canopy. Flight- Very steep trim. Canopy wants to be on the ground. Long spots are a little trouble because it still sinks in brakes or on rears. Cant hang out and wait for others to land- Falls out of the sky too fast. Very stable and fun to fly. Fairly hard to stall using toggles. Hard to stall on rear risers. Not super fast responsive but thats good. Makes for smooth flying. Any more responsive would be too much on such an agressive canopy. Landing- Very light front riser pressure and moderate rear riser pressure. Harder to plane out using rears that my Competition Cobalt. Keeps speed and a dive very well. Swooping into the wind is no problem- Cuts right through the wind. On the 83 loaded at 2.0+ started 360 turn at 800-1000ft. Dives like crazy. Come out of turn at 200+ feet and put pressure on rears right away. Planes out very nicely on rears using this technique. If you are late on the rears use toggles because it will not plane out right away on rear risers. Can hold double fronts to keep in a dive if needed. Not a forgiving canopy. Has good flare. Not quite as much flare as my Cobalt and Competition Cobalt. At higher speeds and correct dive altitudes there is much more flare. Lower speed- Decent flare. (Enough to have a nice stand up but you can feel the need for more) Low turn=Not much stopping power. Dont do it because you will not pull it out of the dive even if you are deep on the toggles. 270 turn worked best for me. @600+ft Whether doing a slow carve or a fast dive swoops are great. Fast dive and then hard on rears makes for super fast swoop. Carve makes for a long smooth and fast swoop. Had to do an aviodance braked approach and landing. Landed much better than expected. Almost half brakes until full flare and it still landed me softly. Canopy can be jerky if the transition from rears to toggles is not smooth. Just fly it smoothly. Jerky Motions(Rears and toggles)=Loss of speed and shoter swoop. Not much or really any running out landings. Flies until its almost stopped. Overall- Awesome canopy. Swoop machine. If you like to open low then the spot better be good because you will be on the ground shortly. Most agressive canopy I have flown. Approaching the dive and long recovery of the Velocity. Great canopy to try with 750+ jumps and good canopy control and progression. Not a good idea if you are not current or dont have the swoops mastered on something else. Competition Cobalt is a good transition canopy to the Katana. Main negative aspect is that it doesnt fly as well at slow speeds as my Competition Cobalt. The Cobalt will continue to fly going slow and keep gliding at that slow speed. (End of a swoop) Once the Katana starts to die out it will lose the speed and the swoop is over. Still flies well at that slow speed but comes to a stop sooner. Swoops were longer in distance but seemed shorter in time than my Cobalt. Meaning it is much faster and covers ground in a swoop very fast. Great product from the best in the biz. A+ Canopy

I just sent back a Katana 83 demo. Put 25 jumps on it. Sweet canopy. Flies great at a 2.0wl It dives like nothing else I have jumped. I usually fly a cobalt and competition cobalt. You should demo either of them. Dont dive quite like the Katana but they are awesome swoop canopies. The have tons of flare when you need it and the rear riser pressure is much lighter than the Katana. Cobalts easily plane out on rears and glide forever. I think I will stick to the Cobalts for a few hundred more jumps and then get the Katana 83 when I can afford it. Try a cobalt. Demos are free, just pay shipping.

Strap on a helmet with a camera. Make sure there are no nasty snag points. Get a cutaway system for your helmet. Use a dot, tape, or those lil white circles on your goggles to stay sighted in. Now go skydive and look at people. You are now flying video. As you progress see what you want to add to your system. (Ringsight, Cameye, Wider Angle Lens, Fancy Camera Box, Still Camera) Dont worry too much about getting the shot. Just have fun and the camera skills will follow. I strapped a full set up on at 200 jumps practicing filming tandems. By 250 was gettin paid. Hurray! So far it hasnt interfered in my flying or deployment and canopy flight. I wear my camera helmet 99 out of 100 jumps. Never know what ya might catch on video. Just watch out moving around in the plane. You dont want to bust yo expensive lens on anything.

I own an older Mirage G3. Its about 13 years old and still works great. I do camera work, freefly, RW, and wingsuit jumps in it and have encountered no problems. Original Velcro still works gret. No flaps have ever opened when they shouldn't. Have had two cut aways with it where no problems were encountered. Stitching has stayed togather great. Only con is how bulky they can be. I just ordered a brand new Infinity because they are very sleek, comfortable, and very easy for riggers to repack. Mirage is nice - Infinity is better in my opinion. BTW-Mirage beats a Talon any day.

Well I got a head start on my shopping. Ordered a new Infinity container about a month ago. Got my PD 113R waitin to go in it. Now all I need is- A New Main Canopy. Cookie Composites Camera Helmet. Some freefly pants and swoop shorts so I dont have to wear a whole suit during the hot summer.

Tandems at 14 and sixteen. AFF at 18. Am 19 now and jumpin a ton!

Here in Taft we have a big boy student container with a manta 330 in it. We allow AFF students up to or a little bit over 270 pounds to jump. There is no way for you to do a tandem with us but we can get you through AFF.

Funny that you posted this because just last Sunday I had a severe problem with my ears. They actually started bleeding. It was a high altitude memorial jump. 17,200 ft Everything was fine until several seconds after I pitched. Canopy was just fully inflating and I heard a cracking/squeaking and felt pressure in my ears changing. Then it started to hurt really bad and kept on hurting until several seconds before I landed. On the ground I was ok except that it felt like I had blood coming out of my ears. I was right. It didnt hurt much anymore but my ears were bleeding. It stopped shortly after and I feel fine now but it really sucked. Went to urgent care and they said I perforated both eardrums and cant jump until I see a ear, nose, and throat doctor and that doctor clears me to jump. I have never had previous problems with my ears. I had the slightest bit of congestion before the jump but didnt think anything of it. Urgent care doctor said use congestion pills and nasal spray to thin out and clear the mucus before I jump from now on if I am feeling stuffed up at all. So dont jump with congestion unless you take the right precautions. Thank god my hearing isnt damaged but now I have to take a weekend off jumping. That blows!

Used mine twice. Loaded at 1.2 Opened, flew, and landed great. (Stand Ups) Slight built in turn but it still did the job very well. I have a PD 126R now just because I had the money. Basically, it works like it should but there are better reserves out there.

Sorry to hear about that. I never jumped at Cal City but was there as a little kid while my dad was jumping there and it was an awesome place. You are welcome to come jump in Taft. We have a great group of people with a very friendly atmosphere like Cal City. We also jump an Otter so come meet new jumpers and have some fun with us. At least you all were able to have such nice moments at Cal City to remember, talk about, and laugh at. Stay strong and keep jumping!

I havent done a solo since I was forced to once off AFF and another for my night jump a while back. The ocassional wingsuit solo but thats a lil different. Solos might be great for you but not for your flying. Find someone with a camera to film you doing your manuevers. That will be worth more solos than you think. Find someone to jump with. Build a two way, let go, try your 360 and then dock again. Then you can at least see how your turning affects relativity to another jumper and you can practice turning in place and not changing your fall rate as you turn. Doing too many solos will give you bad habits. (Backsliding, fall rate issues, and most important not knowing how to track. If you continue to jump tracking WILL save your life when you are falling through canopies or someone is deploying 50ft underneath you. Its the difference of reading the canopy label as you manuever by or falling into that canopy. Not tryin to scare you. Another jumper explained that to me and taught me how to track and it really helped. A LOT! As in life saving.) Some people really enjoy them....personally I cant stand to do a solo unless im the only one jumping a wingsuit that day. As for getting bored.....it can happen. I have thought that one day I will be burned out and need to take a break. My dad has 10,000+ jumps and still continues to jump. He doesnt jump nearly as much as he used to and often times passes up a jump because he is burned out on it but after a week or two of not jumping he cant stand it and has to do some videos, tandems, or a fun jump. Well have fun and keep up the jumpin.

Scary. Glad your all right...that could have been really bad on landing. I know a jumper with 8000 jumps who swoops every landing and had this happen to him after a jump. He had a cheap knot tied and it came undone as we were riding back to the hanger from the landing area. Came right undone and off came the toggle....spooked him pretty good because he knew the consequences of that happening during a landing. Anywyays everyone was all right and lived to drink a beer and tell the tale. The jumper that happened to always tells everyone- "Check your gear, check your gear, check your gear!" Goes to show that even the most cautious can overlook something. So- "Check your gear, check your gear, check your gear!"

I have seen people killed and busted up by poorly executed swoops. (Grew up around the sport) Rapid downsizing was never the cause of their problems. The fatality was an individual with 500 jumps with a WL of 1.3 Another almost fatality was at the same wing loading. Several other cases I know of are the same. Bad decisions on "a" canopy. Not a small overly advanced canopy they should not have been jumping. My conclusion is any canopy no matter what size can be a problem if a bad choice or mistake is made while flying it. Fatalities involving pro swoopers are usually due to the fact that there is only a split second to flare if coming in too deep or not plaining out on rears. Does that mean that they should never have been jumping these canopies? Yes, jumping a larger canopy will give you more of a chance if a mistake is made but people dont realize that they made a mistake until they hit the ground. Even a larger canopy pounds you into the ground almost as hard as that smaller canopy. Basically, individual skill is what I think matters when downsizing. Jump numbers do mean a lot but some people should just stick with a canopy longer and others should downsize more rapidly. Many swoopers downsized rapidly and never got hurt while the guy that always took it easy broke his legs. I currently jump a Competition Cobalt 85. I can land it straight in, i can land it after a brake surge, I can land it in a braked turn or braked approach, I can land it downwind, and I can do a 90 degree or 180 degree turn and land it. I can also land it wherever I want in the landing area. Does that still make me an unsafe danger when other people are considered safe bruising themselves on every landing just because their canopy is larger and more docile? Many people on the forums will say I downsized too fast but I have also never had a problem. I always made sure I could perform the necessary tasks on my current before I went smaller. I have never turned too low to where I needed to stab out. I have an idea in my head that if I am not set up right for a turn....I just dont do the turn. I decide to practice something else like double fronts or accuracy. It is very easy to stop a turn if you are too low. Many people get hurt trying to milk that turn out knowing they are low and they get what they asked for. A low turn injury. I have never been warned about being too radical or doing something stupid. I was even told not to worry about jumping a smaller canopy and keep up the good work by experienced jumpers and instructors. I am at the point to where I understand and feel the canopy in its dive and can predict the plane out. Basically I am safer than ever but still jumping a small canopy. Yes, I can be seriously hurt or injured and any mistake I make will probably be worse on a small canopy but I hope not to make those mistakes. I am a very conservative pilot and perfect my current landing method before getting into bigger turns, steeper dives, or new ways of doing something. Just my two cents. Stay safe people.

Sad but true. I got a chin cup that was donated by the deceased. We used to joke about getting each others gear if it ever happened. My chincup sucked anyway...his is way better. BSBD Bro!