Best gliding Canopies?

[cloudstreet 0]

I am a recent entrant into this sport coming from a paragliding background. I am interested to know what is the best canopy selection I can make with my primary criteria being glide and sink rate. I don't have a lot of interest in getting into swooping in order to pick up forward speed/glide, I just want a canopy that can offer me as much glide as possible because it seems like there must be ram air out there that can get better than 3 to 1. Thanks for any tips and no worries I will be jumping my dz's canopies for a while before I make a selection I am just curious for down the line.

Brendan

Paragliding proverb: When in doubt, top out.

[ryanl2006 0]

Of the canopies that are appropriate for a new jumper, you might want to check out the Pilot by Aerodyne. It is known as having a fairly good glide ratio.

As a rule of thumb, 9-cell canopies have a better glide ratio than 7-cell canopies, but some of the new 7cell canopies that have been coming out lately have pretty flat glides as well.

Unfortunately, most skydiving parachutes do not have all that great of glide ratios (upper limit seems to be about 3 to 1). It is also not a published figure by most if not all manufactures because it varies depending on wingloading, and because many skydivers are not concerned with glide ratio as long as they make it back to the dropzone. Basically any responses you will get are largely opinion because there have been few quantitative measurements of skydiving canopy glide ratios.

[monkycndo 0]

For a skydiving canopy, some with the flattest glide would be Pilot, Pulse, Stiletto, Nitro/Nitron. The Stiletto and Nitro/Nitron are elliptical and should be for intermediate and above skill level canopy pilots.

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Jump an Infinity

[skyrider 0]

You opened up a can of worms here..

Everyone will have a different choice!

Ask a canopy coach, if you don;t have access to one of them, ask 5 jump masters, (NOT one)

no manufactuor in the market right now, (That I know of) makes a "bad parachute", they all are good! It isn't like the 70's and 80's where shit was Iffy..

But someone that Knows "You", that knows your size, and attitude, (yes that matters), is the best person to ask...Not a group of strangers on the net!

JMO!

[skyrider 0]

BTW...I personally love stelleto's...good glide, and easy to land in tight spots...My sabers are even better for tight landings!

[quade 4]

Quote

I just want a canopy that can offer me as much glide as possible because it seems like there must be ram air out there that can get better than 3 to 1.

Not significantly. You're looking at an entire range that only spans a few of tens of percentage point of difference. The major difference is what skydiving canopies have to deal with for the purposes of skydiving. They have to pack and they have to deploy. That deployment has to be fairly reliable with an average malfunction rate of roughly 1 in 300 or better (hopefully better). Nobody is going to buy a canopy that malfunctions significantly more than what canopies do now even if it doubles their glide ratio.

Regardless of whatever you may have heard about any aspect of the sport, the main thing a canopy has to do is deploy because reserve repacks slow down your fun quite a bit.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[skyrider 0]

Cut into yoru dinner budget too!

[millertime24 8]

I have both a Pilot 150 and a Nitron 150 that I'm absolutely in love with. VERY responsive, but tame on openings (the Pilot more so). Just demo the crap out of a bunch of 9cells out there and see what you like the best..... With proper mentoring from instructors/canopy coaches.

Muff #5048

[cloudstreet 0]

thanks for the info guys.

Paragliding proverb: When in doubt, top out.

[ryoder 1,590]

Quote

I am interested to know what is the best canopy selection I can make with my primary criteria being glide and sink rate.

Minimum sink rate is for riding thermals.
This is skydiving, not paragliding.
If you want minimum sink rate, then jump the biggest, slowest canopy you can find.
That would mean jumping a the largest student canopy available, or even a tandem rig w/o a passenger.
If you enjoy driving a bus, while everyone else is driving sports cars, then go for it.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[LouDiamond 1]

Welcome to the sport. There is a RAM air canopy out there that has a 6:1 GR but it is a military canopy and not sold to the general public, it is called the Hi Glide. It is a fantastic canopy and is absolutely amazing to fly. However, it definitely isn't a canopy you would use for your average civilian skydive. My advice to you is that if you want to fly around the sky in a similar fashion as paragliding, stick to paragliding, you won't find anything in a skydiving canopy that compares to it for canopy time/performance. The best you can expect from sport canopies is in the neighborhood of a 3:1 GR at the high end of GR performance.

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[4000m 0]

Found some public info on the Hi Glide

http://www.airborne-sys.com/pdfs/_AS-Website_Marketing_PDFs/2-TROOP%20PARACHUTES%20HIGH%20PERFORMANCE%20RAM-AIR/Hi-Glide/Hi%20Glide.pdf

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