BossHogSkyDog

Guys, do you remember when we were kids and we would jump off of something a tad too high? The jolt upon landing would jar your jiggly bits so hard that you'd see little stars! That's what I experience consistently with my SR-71 (210). This canopy was basically modeled after the Sabre-1 and has identical flight & opening properties (or so I've heard). I'm slightly over-weighing it (1.3 to 1). I've tried every thing under the sun to slow the openings down. Larger slider, getting really big with camera wings prior to deployment, direct slider control, double stowing all lines, rolling the nose, rolling the crap out of the tail, meticulous packing (flat, pro, flat pro-pack) and every combination of all of the above. The softest openings are the sub-terminal openings, period. Every thing thing else gets thrown out with a hope an prayer that this one doesn't break something (be it the gear or me). I'm seriously considering up-sizing to a newer model canopy, as jumping at a 5k field elevation probably isn't helping my cause either. Until the the money is there, I'll continue with my hopes and prayers. Oh yeah, and all the TLC I can give the pack jobs meanwhile! In the last 100 jumps, I've made maybe 4-5 open acceptably and have never trash packed this rig. Am I giving it too much attention or is just time to turn this ugly old puppy into a car shade?! Any additional input or suggestions not on the board already would be much appreciated! BS*BD Revisiting my previous review... I think I've gotten these brutal openings under control and here is what seems to have made the difference.... I'm actually meticulously pro-packing, rolling the hell out of the nose (7-8 times per side), punching that to the back of the pack job, using double half bands (on center c-lines), each double stowed, for direct slider control, not encasing the entire pack job with the tail (due to this canopy's odd shape) and just cocooning the tail around the pack from where it lays after the tail's been flaked (about half way up the bundle. Slimming folds prior to the tail wrap seem the help with control-ability and in keeping all lines in the center as well. Then I double stow all my line stows and this seems to slow it down to an acceptable opening. I was able to pull a significant snivel out of this thing over the past weekend that was a little more than satisfactory as I approached the hard deck. I threw out at 3,400 and was saddled by 2300. That got my attention as I've been so used to a 300-500 ft opening range (OUCH!). Though I'll take a 1k + snivel over having my teeth knocked out any day! I hope this helps any one that may be experiencing similar issues * Oh yeah, and don't forget to cock your pilot chutes ALL THE WAY, boys and girls! ;)~ BS/BD!

Rich, You're the man! I distinctly remember my pre-second jump with you for my 18th birthday in Belen, NM. You saved our lives by opening up that tandem rig (even though my alti was stuck at 8500 ft). You told me to keep my feet up at landing, but I ran like a banshee anyway, determined to stand that one up. The running started about 10' off the ground, per my VHS video, lol. Now here we are all these years later still jumping out of perfectly good airplanes and loving every minute of it! WTG on an AWESOME tandem career and thanks for not making me be the one who had to break it to you, hahaha! Much love to you, brother man! Big Alex Little

First off, the DZ Forums were an invaluable resource for me to gather info on making my pre-second banner jump and I thank all the peeps who posted info on this type of skydive! So, we thought it was a fitting idea to honor our friend Andy on his birthday with a banner jump. He was diagnosed with brain tumors 2 years ago and this past Sunday was his 32nd B-Day. I hand made this banner in my sign shop with some vinyl graphics on a piece of "cut to size" banner material (it came out 3'x3'). Then I double stick taped a stiffener in the handle side. Once it was all cut out and reinforced with more double stick tape, my gorgeous girlfriend took it to work for all his friends to sign, then we took it to the sky on his B-Day. Our friend CJ filmed and we edited up a copy of the jump for all to see.... www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIAauO2Wajs A quick Google search for "Banner Skydive" will turn this up too! Before and after pictures of the banner are also attached to this message. Free fall will undoubtedly beat the snot out of this type of material, but it made for an even cooler memento, post jump. I didn't know what to expect drag wise, force wise, etc. What an experience! Climb out alone was a challenge (poised launch from the C-182). Free-fall was a hoot! Banners like this will make you backslide and can turn you unexpectedly and expectantly! Keeping a hold of the banner handle at pull time caused a slight left turn, but not enough to even cause any line twist. I heard from the ground crew that the noise was AWESOME! and that we should employ this for demos to get spectators attention, hehehe. Noisy eh! Well it all went well, I wound up clipping it off to my camera suit wing attachment point after hitting the saddle and flew it safely in for landing. This one goes out to Andy, an awesome dad, an amazing musician, and an all around great guy! Missed and loved by many.... Blue skies from now on Brother Man * I hope you all get a chance to see this little video we created for our friend, please thumb it up if you get the chance and Blue Skies to all!!!!

Since we are a weekend operation, I can see how that would be. Sorry for your troubles there * We look forward to seeing you at the DZ though! Our best air is typically in the morning and later afternoon. Weather is creeping into the "windy" but not as cold type. Hope you got your call back and questions answered. If not, write back and we will be sure to get one of our talented staff members in touch with you!