Micro ravens-loading and landing

[pilotdave 0]

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Question is, of anyone who finds this thread that has landed more than one type of reserve, what reserve landed the most like a main? I know not to expect Sabre handling out of anything 7-f111, but of the models out there, which ones subjectively felt most familiar? Widest, strongest flare, lowest descent rate for the loading, quick response, easiest to land well even when you knew you screwed it up?

Get a demo of a PD Optimum 143. It'll probably fit in a container that holds a microraven 120. Flies AMAZINGLY well. I loved having it as a main in my backup rig when I demoed it.

Started off with a hop n' pop, a little afraid of the opening since it has a regular reserve slider with a hole in it. A jumper watching me land said he thought I was gonna stall and land flat on my back when he saw that I kept flaring farther and farther and planing out... but no, it just kept flying and set me down soft, not so different from my sabre2 (but not quite as much flare power).

Well, I was shooting video for my 4-way team that day. Plan was to do hop n' pops with my second rig between team jumps. But the team wanted to do back-to-backs and I didn't have time to switch back to my main on my backup rig, so I was stuck jumping the optimum for a video jump. Long story short, the opening was better than my PD150 ever opened. I kept jumping the optimum for 2 weekends on every kind of jump I was doing and wanted one as a main. Great canopy... might eventually replace the microraven 120 in my backup rig with an optimum 143 if I end up using that rig a lot this year (which will probably happen).

BTW, a regular PD reserve lands great too... but more like you'd expect a good 7-cell reserve to land.

Dave

[riggerrob 643]

24' flat, military surplus ... GRRRR! don't hate my ex-wife enough to let her jump it!

26' conical, F-111 Defender, landed softer than half the rounds I jumped as a student

German conical ? Steered me into a tiny clearing in a swamp and landed softly enough for me to walk away.

Strong 425 Mighty Mack, flies better than their F-111 mains.

Amigo 206: flies and flares much like a Sabre 1.

Amigo 172, flies much like a Sabre 1-170, just remember to flare ll the way.

R-Max 118 - despite over-loading - it flies pretty good. Just remember to stop flaring about diaphram level.

Yes, I know that diaphrams are at different levels on men and women.

[hookitt 1]

It's just a parachute. Canopy control checks solve many issues. I've landed a 109, 120, 135, numerous times and weigh approximately 150 minus gear.

If the only time a person flares a canopy is for the landing, it's no wonder they pound in. The Micro-Raven is not a spectacular canopy. They will, however, land just fine as long as you fly it how it wants you to, rather than how you want to.

Good luck.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[faulknerwn 38]

Tempo 120 ~8 jumps on it - lands easily, flies remarkably similar to a Lightning 113 :-)

PD 143 Landed easily (and I was a rookie when I jumped this one.) 1 ride.

PD 126 Landed easily just like a Lightning. 1 ride

MicroRaven 120 ~6 rides - high flare point, helps to come in with extra speed.

Dash-M 109 - stalled at my ears and I plowed in.

23' round - 1 ride - UGHHHHHH...

And if you're buying a new reserve and want to sell this one cheap, contact me :-) I've got a spare container sitting around with no reserve and I need a cheap one. I've got enough rides on the MicroRavens that I'm comfortable with them.

[ZigZagMarquis 9]

I've got one landing on a Raven, but it was the Raven IIg (what 213 sq ft) in my old rig and I don't load it even at 1:1... anyway... it landed really nice, soft, was ready to PLF, but stood up.

Anyhow, the "old rule of thumb" I learned when coming up in the sport regarding the Raven series of reserves, especially the micro-Raven ones, was to best not load them over 1:1... i.e. 1.3:1 is over 1:1. Its folks jumping Ravens loaded like you talk about that seem to have problems like you describe (IMO). Opinions may differ, but I think that this is an important caveat to remember that I also think frequently gets forgotten, or overlooked or what ever by some of the younger jumpers in the sport when talking about older series Ravens as being "Bad"... i.e. they forget (or don't know) that these older generation reserves have worked (saved lots of lives) and can continue to do so just fine if not loaded over 1:1... just my 2 cents. *where's my flame suit*

I still have that Raven IIg in my old (now back-up rig) and have cinfidence that I could / it would land just fine for me. Again, if under it, I'd be loading it under 1:1.

Like someone up thread said, the "sales pitch" from Presission is that their new series of reserves (R-Max) fixes all that.

[377 22]

I had Raven IIs (218 sq ft?) reserves in my two rigs. I rented a rig with a Raven II as a main to see how one handled so I would know what to expect if I had a reserve ride. The Raven II flew OK, but the flare was really weak, mushy...like an old worn out porous canopy. This rental canopy, however, was NOT worn out at all by its looks and line condition. I had it loaded at about 1.1 to 1. I subsequently read a lot about bad landings under old style Raven reserves in SKYDIVING. I decided to sell my Raven IIs to a rigger and buy PD 193Rs. I had a cutaway and had to use my PD 193R. It flew very similar to my Triathlon 190, no problems at all, soft standup landing and very easy to handle flare characteristics. Maybe it is pilot technique, not any Raven canopy deficiency, but I feel better having the PDs as reserves than I did with the Raven IIs. I don't want a reserve that takes a lot of skill to land successfully.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.