narcimund 0 #1 June 26, 2002 So I recently came into some old copies of Sky Diver Magazine from the 60s. This issue has a long article on the then-cutting-edge Para Commander (round) parachute. The article contains some wild info that makes me realize the things going on today are old news. ------------------------------------------------ "[B]Basic Maneuvers[/B] "Once you're fully open and hanging comfortably in the saddle, after a while, you're finally ready for a few basic maneuvers. Very basic ones, mind you, but they'll get more exciting later on.... "The very first maneuver is called the gentle, banked turn. Nobody wants to go skidding around corners by any means. What you've got to do is lean a little to one side, keeping the skirt of the canopy, at all times, on the horizon. You do this by simply pulling one toggle down below your waist, down to about your knees, while leaving the other one up there on the riser. It's really very thrilling, but on your first few attempts don't turn more than 720 degrees at the most. Any more than that and it falls into the spin category. And you're not nearly ready for that yet.... "[B]Basic Landings[/B] "On your first Commander landing all of your skill as a parachutist will likely come into play... It's a fact that the Commander flies best when it has a certain amount of speed behind it and when this speed is taken away the parachute will just sort of stop flying. This is what is known as a stall.... "[B]The First Loop[/B] "To do a loop you need pretty good coordination. I'd like to add that you also need steely nerves too, but I don't wnat to be romantic about it or anything. You do have to have confidence, however. Confidence in yourself, in your Para-Commander and in your reserve.... "... Get going downwind as fast as you can go and then pull both toggles down to your knees. Hold them there for one second, then let tham all the way up again. Leave them up for one second, then bring them all the way down. Do this four or five times. "What'll happen is you'll start rocking back and forth, sort of... After a while you'll get so you're swinging out in front of the canopy, and then out behind it until you're actually looking down on it from above.... After four or five swings you ought to get up enough speed to actually do the loop itself...." "[B]The Hook Landing[/B] "... First of all you've got to get going pretty fast over the ground. The best thing is to run with the wind for a while just before beginning the maneuver for landing. When you're really zooming along, at about 150 feet above the ground, simply yank down on one toggle, all the way. Turn around about 180 degrees or so, let go of the toggle, and hang on to the capewells. Pretty soon you'll come in for a landing.... "If you make an error and turn at about 100 feet, I'll try to explain what happens. Basically, you'll end up with no speed at all. In any direction. And like I've said before you need a little speed in order to perform these basic maneuvers.... The big problem is most people who find themselves in this predicament reach for the ground. They reach and keep reaching until the ground just comes up and usually breaks something. The thing is to always try to avoid breaking something, like I've said enough times already. "About the only other thing I have to say is don't get out there and try to command your Commander, just enjoy the damned thing. Just get out there and have fun with it. Play with it. Maneuver it a little. You can really get a lot of satisfaction out of it, believe me." First Class Citizen Twice Over Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #2 June 26, 2002 Those crazy hi performance PC jumpers, they're all going to hook in. Its better to stay with the safe T-10s that we know will land successfully. All of those guys are out of they're head, they shouldn't be jumping those with under 200 jumps... LOL! Man, that's cool. The loop thing makes me want to jump an old PC even more...--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lazerq3 0 #3 June 26, 2002 QuoteWhen you're really zooming along, at about 150 feet above the ground, simply yank down on one toggle, all the way. Turn around about 180 degrees or so, let go of the toggle, and hang on to the capewells. Pretty soon you'll come in for a landing.... Well geeze if that wokrs on a PC I'll have to try that on my Hor150...lets see....150ft off teh ground I'll yank down on a toggle...let go of it and then grab onto my three ring system..(no capewells)......and I'm sure pretty soon I'll come in for that landing...... jasonFreedom of speech includes volume Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hobbes4star 0 #4 June 26, 2002 i actually saw a old video of someone trying to do the loop thing. but they never got it to go all the way around. still looked crazy though.if fun were easy it wouldn't be worth having, right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
