Samurai136

On a SPECTRE I don't think speed increases saftey. On an elliptical, after a speed building manuver, the 'pounding it in' scenario you describe only occurs if the pilot is totally unresponsive and doesn't flare at all or initiates a riser turn too low. On an elliptical, after building momentum, the flare begins higher in the toggle stroke thus a larger control range. If the pilot judges they intiated the flare too low, they have more control range in the stroke to get more lift and actually ascend. This advice assumes that the pilot has followed some regimen of high performance canopy training and is not flying outside of thier piloting skill. Like I said I think we are comparing apples and oranges. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

What specific rigging questions do you have? Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

1. Failure to properrly maintain and/or setting of brakes. 2. Freeflying. A friend of mine, exclusively freeflys, had his toggle come loose and KNOT the brake line around the riser. He had to chop it. It happened while the riser/ toggles were in the container before deployment. Deployment just set the knot and put the canopy in an obviously uncontroled spin. He even jumps a freefly friendly rig w/ the riser covers down the side of the container. (Mirage I think..) 3. Random acts of Karma and assorted bad luck. Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

I think we're comparing apples and oranges here. On Ellipticals more speed is 'safer' because the flare is further up in the toggle stroke. Thus giving you more range/control in the stroke to fly the canopy to touchdown. Of course if the pilot sucks ass, any canopy is unsafe. Speed building manuvers may be less safe uunder the spectre. Since it has a short recovery arc, doesn't stay in a dive like an elliptical, and is trimmed to fly flatter; the pilot has to stay in a speed building manuver until only the ideal flare point. If he gives up on the nmanuver too high the canopy will stay planed out at that altitude (let's say 10') until it loses enough momentum to return to normal flight. This scenario sounds unsafe. While it's possible to plane an elliptical out to high, or balloon the canopy, it does afford the pilot the option of releasing a speed building manuver at a higher altitude, and continue diving/ maintaining built momentum until reaching the ideal surf window. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Knowledge and safety go hand in hand. Learn by doing. I am often astonished by the tales of UK and Canadian DZ's that chastize skydivers for making high performance landings. If a pilot is discouraged from exploring the entire performance range of his canopy how safe a pilot can he really be? Connecting jump numbers to wing loading would be in-effective. Skydivers who die under good canopies forgot (or ignored) a rule taught in every first jump course: Do not initiate turns which the canopy can not recover from close to the ground. Creating tens or hundreds of new BSR's doesn't mitigate the fact that each skydiver/ canopy pilot is responsible for their own actions. No one makes you jump. No one makes you initiate high performance landings. No amount of rules will save someone from making one poor decision. That's my opinion. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Knowledge and safety go hand in hand. Learn by doing. I am often astonished by the tales of UK and Canadian DZ's that chastize skydivers for making high performance landings. If a pilot is discouraged from exploring the entire performance range of his canopy how safe a pilot can he really be? Connecting jump numbers to wing loading would be in-effective. Skydivers who die under good canopies forgot (or ignored) a rule taught in every first jump course: Do not initiate turns which the canopy can not recover from close to the ground. Creating tens or hundreds of new BSR's doesn't mitigate the fact that each skydiver/ canopy pilot is responsible for their own actions. No one makes you jump. No one makes you initiate high performance landings. No amount of rules will save someone from making one poor decision. That's my opinion. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Leblanc has an article about wing loading on the PD web site. The shortest explanation I heard once: "The 170 sq' and 105 sq' may have the same wing loading but they're flying in the same body of air molecules. Hence, the smaller canopy is the faster higher performance of the two." "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

I jump a 136 Samurai Loaded at 1.3 to 1.4 range. On no wind days I can get 30 yards of swoop out of a 90 degree front riser turn. I could get more but I'm still developing my piloting skills. Riser pressure is easy and I can drop about 500' to 600' of altitude on a single front riser revolution. The Samurai is more ground hungry than a vengeance or stilletto in full flight. On the other hand, w/ a bit of rear riser I've floated in from 2500'agl 4 miles out. This weekend one of my friends was knocking airlocks and I asked her what she expected her canopy to do if she griped her rear risers at the top and pulled them down to her shoulders and held them there. A non-airlocked canopy will depressurize and go back to a snivel. I can hold my risers down as long as I want and the canopy will not return to a snivel. The canopy just loses forward drive and sinks. Turbulence is tricky. My home DZ is gets rotors off a tree line to the south of the landing area. Sometimes I'll get a surge of drive about 20' off the ground just below the tree line. This weekend, first time, the surge hit right as I was flaring and dropped me 4'. I ended up skuffing the left knee of my jump suit and a few small raspberry bruises. Turbulence is always dangerous. If you are a buying a canopy to qualify/ compete in swoop competitions, buy a cross-braced canopy. Otherwise, I recomend airlocks. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Does this person have an highly experienced mentor they listen to? Have the mentor explain things to them. Has your friend read any of the technical material on high performance canopy piloting out on the web? He should read that first. What high performance landing experience does he currently have? If he still decides to jump the canopy I'd advise him to: 1. Fly the canopy from full altitude. 2. Do not use the front risers in his landing pattern. 3. Add 500' of altitude to his landing pattern 4. Be on final by 500' AGL It will be an eye opening experience for him. Obviously the single biggest danger is that he won't be able to handle the diving characteristics and go in. Additionally, if he can't follow those 4 points and land the canopy w/ at least a B-license level of accuracy he's way in over his head. Good luck! -Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

The Samurai has a nice negative recovery arc. They even make them in 150, 170, and 190 sizes. At any rate, improving your swoop is all about technique. Buying a smaller canopy only puts you in the situation of relearning how to swoop. Any smaller canopy you buy will dive faster for more altitude. Be safe about downsizing. What specifically are you looking to improve in your swoop? If your looking to get more distance, try learning rear riser flares on the canopy you have. -Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

I had was thru AFF in 9 jumps. On jump 15-20 I had the worst case of nerves. I suddenly realized skydiving was dangerous. "Why AM I jumping out of an airplane? I've done it 17 times and lived. What if I go in on this one?" It's normal. It will pass. When I'm in the plane, I review safety procedures and do some deep breathing/ relaxation. I also get anticipation jitters driving to the DZ. And sometimes when I think about making the first jump of the night. I figure the jitters are just a healthy reminder/ opportunity to mentally reherse emergency procedures. -Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

I would imagine the material would be fine. I've heard tales of 3-ring systems shattering on deployment from prolonged exposure to sub-zero temps at the poles. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Bud or Liam. If you want skydiving names go for funnel, ditter, pro-track or Spot. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Hmmm..... I remember landing a Triathlon. Get rid of it and buy a Spectre. If you're doing a student flare, wait until 10' agl (3m) and stab them all the way. If you feel comfortable using front risers, pull them both down a few inches at 50' until 15' agl and flare. The extra speed from the front risering will give you more lift. The Triathlon is a good, safe, all around canopy. I was tired of it 20 jumps after I learned how to safely land it. It's too docile to swoop. Buy a Spectre, than buy an airlocked canopy. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Yeah... The 'evaluate and take action' skills we practice in freefall don't always work so well in social circles. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

That reminds me of a story... My bud wanted to me to jump a teeter totter with him for his 200th jump. We spent the day working out all the details and had the jump video taped. The experienced jumpers thought we were insane. The exit went well, everything stablized and we ended up rocking back and forth in a 2-way sit fly position on the tetter totter. My pro-track said max speed was 155mph. The moment after things stablized I loooked at my buddy's face and notice a flash of toggle yellow and some lines whipping about his shoulders. I hoped it was not what I thought it was. BOOM! Pre-mature deployment for him. Joe was sore for the next 2 weeks. When he landed I looked at the spandex on his BOC. I could have stuffed 3 pilot chutes in there! Joe said, "yeah, that's been that way for a while... maybe I should have that fixed." Duh "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

guess what, i saw a crossbraced canopy (supposed to be the most rigid wing available) collapse on a crosswind swoop. The x-bracing rigidity affects the top/bottom skin of the canopy making for smoother laminar flow of air. That doesn't keep air in the canopy. I jump an airlocked canopy because wind conditions can sometimes be turbulent at my home DZ. If I'm jumping a higher performance canopy I figure I want to stack the odds in my favor. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

What 'issues' qualify as DZ politics? DZ politics as opposed to personality clashes. "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

Re-read, or read, pages 18-20 and 30-33 of your owners manual. 1. Bumping the toggles works because the canopy doesn't plane itself out after a riser turn. 'Bumping' takes the slack out of the brake lines, quickly bumps the tail down and changes the angle of attack on the wing; planing out the canopy. The more time you spend doing this step, the more airspeed you throw away for your swoop. If the canopy planed out immeadiately you' d have to stay on the riser(s) all the way to the ground or you could have your whole swoop spent at 15' AGL. 2. What wind conditions have you jumped your Samurai in? If you have any wind, it will retard your forward speed when you release from a dive. Also keep in mind that 'normal flight' for a Samurai is more ground hungry than a Stiletto or Vengeance. Bring your other riser down once you get to final and that should keep your speed up until you reach swoop altitude. 3. If the canopy is moving faster than you expect during touch down, finish the flare. You should have more toggle stroke left . All the speed you perceive is available lift to work with. Blue Skies! Ken "Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken

My understanding is that vectran stays in trim but if exposed to gritty hard material (sand, etc) it will wear quicker. Sand in the lines acts like a knife over time. At the end of the weekend I stuff my gear in the bag and pack it at home during the week to fully inspect the vectran for fuzz.

If your Safire2 has the old labeling make sure you sell it as the first run of the Safire2 limited edition. It's a Collector's Item!

I jump a Samurai and my friend at the DZ had a similar problem w/ his 170 Vengeance; off-heading openings. He sent it back and told them he was thinking about getting a Samurai since everyone else at the DZ w/ a Samurai thought the Vengeance was a dogsled. PD sent him a new 150 Vengeance and the problem is fixed. After a bit of research we got some answers into the difference between the two canopies. The Veng has longer suspension lines thus making the canopy feel slower and it's trimmed to fly flatter than the Samurai. PD compensated for the slower 'feel' by making some shaping to the wing to initiate quicker turns. Perhaps the shaping initiates off-heading openings? I've found that any combination of poor body position, tension and moving during deployment (before the slider is all the way down) will make the canopy take off; since you are essentially giving it a harness turn during the inflation process. Although, I think he may still wish he'd gotten a Samurai, my friend seems very satisfied w/ his Vengeance now. No issues w/ the openings. What they 'fixed' is a mystery of the cosmos.

If you are serious about moving to an elliptical like a stiletto, I recommend looking at a Samurai (elliptical) or Lotus (sabre2like, safirelike) from BigAirSportz. Generally, any elliptical (some companies call them 'truely and fully elliptical') canopy will turn, dive, and manuver faster than a similarlly sized square or 'slightly tapered elliptical'. The stiletto will perform the way you fly it and load it. Ask people you know what they think of you jumping a stiletto. Is the canopy you have an opportunity to buy new or used? If it's used, how old are the lines? why is the seller selling it? etc... If you don't want an over-all faster canopy an elliptical may not be for you. If you're looking to buy a new canopy I recommend talking to Brian Germain at BigAirSportz and demo a Lotus or Samurai. They are both airlocked which I think may be the control characteristic you are looking for. The airlocks increase the rigidity of the wing and the feel of the toggle stroke on landing. Good Luck!

Using toggles to swoop is dangerous because you have nothing left in the flare for landing. Using front risers leaves the full range of your flare to manipulate the speed, actually momentum, you've generated into lift and a long smooth glide. Practice making turns w/ risers and toggles above 1000m and see how much altitude you lose when you make 90 degree turns w/ risers versus toggles. The trick to swooping is visually knowing how high you are and knowing EXACTLY what the canopy will do w/ various inputs. My friend from the DZ jumps a Sabre 150 and has taken his time over 700 jumps to learn how his canopy responds in all modes of flight. Now he safely makes 270 degree front riser turns and easily gets 40m swoops. Don't attempt riser turns low to the ground. If your brain tells you "this looks like it might be low for a turn" don't make the turn. -Ken