scott2002

My profile is not current anymore. I have close to 250 jumps now. I usually see people advocating rear riser landings as a skill necessary to learn before downsizing (which I'm not planning on doing until the end of next session). I didn't think it was possible to stand up a landing on just rear risers without skidding it out. From other peoples posts here, I can see I was correct in this assumption. But I did not get my jumpsuit dirty in vain. I saw first hand how using rear risers could really improve on swoop distance. But do to the complexity of transitioning from front risers, to rear risers, to toggles smoothly, it will be quite some time before I incorporate them into my landings.

I finally tried a couple of rear riser only landings the other day in no wind conditions. It was another hop-n-pop Friday so I figured I try something new. I checked my stall point with the brakes unstowed after deployment and I was ready to go. Well, I got my canopy to plane out nicely but it didn't bleed off hardly any speed. About 2 seconds later the canopy stopped flying and I ate shit both times (I can't run that fast!). I was at the end of my rear riser control range and did not want to risk pulling them down further. So is this something I should be able to stand up? I got sick of getting dirty so I kind of retired the idea. I jump a Crossfire loaded at 1.1 plus mile high DZ.

I've been wanting to get into BASE for a while now, but it seems like most people want you to have your own rig before you start jumping. Well, I'm trying to decide what kind of rig to purchase. I've been surfing the internet looking at the different types of containers and there appears to be 3 different types. I've seen single pin, double pin, and velcro closed. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Why do you choose to jump what you do?

That's usually what I jump in. Anyone know where I can get some pictures of Firefly suits? I didn't see any on their website and I'm curious to see what they look like.

I currently in the market for my first freefly suit. I've been looking around on the internet for a suit but I'm not sure which one I should get. I only weight 140 pounds and I'm having a lot of trouble keeping up with other freefliers. Anyone know of a good suit for light weights like me?

The first part of this post is just sharing my very limited experiences with elliptical canopies. I'm currently making the big transition from square to elliptical. I just thought I would share it with those thinking about doing the same. My question regarding flat turns is at the bottom. I've made three hop-n-pops from altitude on a demo Crossfire 149 loaded at about 1.1. First off, I would like to say I LOVE this canopy so far. Even at my conservative (matter of perspective probably) wing loading, the canopy is VERY responsive to toggle and riser inputs. More surprisingly though is how much the canopy responses to shifting your weight in the harness. WOW!!! I could get a pretty fast turn going by just doing that alone. The openings on the other hand are quite squirly but very soft (use to jumping Sabres snivel...snivel...BLAM!!!). Each time I jumped it I had a different person pack it too. You definitely have to watch it on opening! It likes to hunt for a heading and sometimes surprise you by all of a sudden diving off into a turn. This is contradictory of what I've heard from other Crossfire pilots but this behavior is most likely do to my higher field elevation (faster terminal velocity). Well, the first time I jumped it I made the mistake of trying to fly it like a Sabre 150. The control range is TOTALLY different and MUCH more sensitive. I finally understand what people mean by "more responsive". It literally only takes an inch or two of toggle in the control range to make the canopy turn. Ellipticals also have an interesting trait that I didn't know about before I jumped it. They like to "amplify" your control inputs. Example: I started a right turn by pulling the toggle down a little bit and holding it there. I would have expected the canopy to start banking and stop at a certain point like most of the canopies I've jumped do. But instead the Crossfire started to bank and continued to do so until the canopy began to dive. All the while the turn is growing in speed quickly. I found this to be true with ALL control inputs. One of the coolest new things you can do has got to be shifting your weight in the harness. This technique can complement every other control input you give. When I did an aggressive toggle turn and shifted my weight in the direction of the turn, it was WAY faster for example. Also while doing 360s I could speed up or slow down the turn by doing this. I'll tell you one thing, doing these turns reset my perspective of speed both during and after the turn!!! This thing is EXTREMELY fun to fly up high. The rear riser pressure was really light but the front riser pressure was a lot higher by way of comparison. This is most likely do to my light wing loading though. My landings have been good but I have to work on getting the flare speed down. Even though I stood up my landings in no winds, I knew I was flaring too fast and not as efficiently as possible (I'm using a two stage flare). But that just takes time to develop along with everything else. Did I mention the Crossfire has tons of lift? Okay, I'll shutup now and get on with my question. While doing flat turns at about half brakes, I noticed the canopy was banked quite a bit more than what I'm used to on squares. So to try and remedy this, I would bring the lower toggle up a little bit. This would make the canopy bank a lot less but the turn became too slow. I was wondering what experienced elliptical pilots do to fix this? Or is this just normal for a canopy of this type to bank that much?

I've been skydiving for about a year now and have only had the chance to jump at two different dropzones in my area. Both of these dropzones are located 5100+ feet above sea level if memory serves me correctly. Well, I got to thinking about it and was wondering how big of a difference does field elevation make in canopy performance? For those of you that have jumped at both high and low field elevations, what did you notice different in your canopy flight characteristics? I would assume at lower altitudes you would get more lift at flare time but what about turn rate, forward speed, etc?