While We're Discussing Cobalts....

[Zennie 0]

Just finished my demo of a Cobalt 135, loaded at around 1.4, and here are my impressions (DISCLAIMER: I only have 170 jumps, so I am not a canopy expert by any stretch)...
I made around 10 jumps on the canopy in varying conditions, from fairly windy to no wind.
The canopy has fantastic glide, it got me back from a pretty bad spot on one occasion by keeping the canopy in brakes and laying on the rear risers a little. On that particular jump I made it back but was forced to down/cross wind it. I managed to run the landing out, so it seems pretty good with off-nominal landings wind-wise. It also butt slides pretty nice .
Cross wind landings were fine, as were upwind. Flare was predictable and very controlled. Seemed fairly Sabre-ish.
I was very pleasantly surprised with how well the canopy performed in braked turns. I have a couple of jumps on ramon's Vengeance 135 and a decent braked turn on it is almost impossible... it's very divey. The Cobalt didn't do that. I felt that if I needed to do a slow braked turn with the Cobalt I could without worrying about pounding in.
Toggle inputs were responsive but not twitchy, but they became very heavy about 3/4 down. I never could do a full out toggle spin by burying the toggles.
Front riser carves were great. However, I noticed that the canopy seemed to buck a lot if I did any significant double-front riser dives. This may be a line trim issue, but it made me somewhat uncomfortable, especially when doing them on approaches.
Openings were great, but once I got smacked pretty hard after a trash pack. Not a Sabre back-breaker, but pretty stiff nonetheless. Other than that the openings were very soft. End cell closures were pretty common, so I had to manage direction after opening. I also noticed that it is pretty sensitive to harness weight (no big surprise for an elliptical), as I found myself turning when shifting my weight to grab & collapse the slider.
The ZP material was very easy to S-fold & pack. Not the super slickery stuff PD uses.
I hope this doesn't come across as too negative, because overall I liked the canopy a lot. It is very forgiving, for an elliptical, but capable of high performance moves if you so desire, which I think is what Atair was striving for. My only "major" complaint was the bucking during double-front riser approaches (wind didn't seem to make a difference).
Overall though a great canopy and one I'm strongly considering purchasing.
"Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

[cobaltdan 0]

hi zennie,
sounds like the brake lines are too short.
i will check them as soon as the canopy comes back in.
btw. it is good to be able to judge this for yourself. begin with canopy in full flight, toggles up. look at the brake linesthey should bow slightly back and the tail should be straight. slowly pull down the toggles until the tail just gets tension on it and begins to lip down. at that point look at how far below the keeper rings your toggles are. this tells you 1 the start of your control range and 2 if the lines are equal length. next continue to flare to a swoop and then a stall, observing the same. then finally perform a riser turn and look at your tail. brake lines should be adjusted so as to not significantly affect the tail during a riser manuever.
one of the reasons it is important to learn to judge brake settings for yourself is that this is not a one size fits all adjustment. different rigs, different length and type risers, different height & arm length pilots, different flying styles and diferent loadings all have effect.
enjoy the demo.
sincerely,
dan
atair

[ramon 0]

Yeah the brake lines were too short, bucked hard on a 180 front riser.
nice glide and very predictable flare and landing.
Good canopy for Zennie.
ramon

[Zennie 0]

Hey Dan check your private messages. I had some questions for you. Thanks! "Wear the grudge like a crown. Desperate to control. Unable to forgive. And we're sinking deeper."

[freeflir29 0]

Hmmm...that's not the first time I have heard of brake lines being "too short" on a Demo Cobalt. Dan, you guys being conservative or what? "and I'm not easily impressed...Ooohh look...a blue car!" -Homer Simpson

[burnitin 0]

I just bought a Cobalt 105. Only have 5 jumps on it so far, but love it. Problem is, it has a tendency to turn to the right when brakes stowed or in full flight. I've messed with the leg straps, but as much as I had to adjust them, the canopy shouldn't be that far off. I emailed someone at Atair, but haven't heard back yet. I won't get rid of the canopy, but would like to find out what the deal is with the consistent right turn.

[PhreeZone 20]

how many jumps are on the canopy total and have you got a trim chart for the canopy to make sure its in trim?
I agree with a few other people on here, I think the factory settings are a bit short on the brakes, I'm going to have to replace my lower lines with new and add about 2-3 inches to get my 150's lines it to the right length.
I'm not sure what to put here right now.....

[jumpervali 2]

As much as I hate to admit it. I thought I had the same problem with my 105 too, but I just had to uncross my legs.
Ooops!
jumpervali

[burnitin 0]

I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary. Experimenting around to see what the "out of trim" right turn could be from. I'll still keep jumping it until I have about 20 or 30 jumps on it before I can tell for sure what's going on. I hope that it is operator error (me), that way I don't have to send it back and wait all over again.

[cobaltdan 0]

i received your email today and sent you the following reply:
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> From: "Mark"
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> Name=3DMark Nesser
> email_address=3Dburn_it_in@hotmail.com
> address=3D
> city=3D
> state=3D
> zip=3D
> country=3D
> phone=3D
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> exit_weight=3D170=20
> jump_to_date=3D440
> cur_canopy=3DCobalt=20
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> jump_curr_can=3D5
> body_text=3DLast week I received my Cobalt 105. I have made 5 jumps on =
> the canopy so far and am concerned about the trim or a possible =
> manufacturing defect in the canopy. After deployment and under a fully =
> inflated canopy, there is a slight - moderate right turn built in. This =
> happens when the brakes are stowed or when the toggles are all the way =
> up (full flight). Since the first jump, I have been very cautious of =
> the legstrap lengths and haven't noticed anything unusual. On the fifth =
> jump, I purposely tightened the left legstrap about 1" more than the =
> right leg strap to see if this would correct the right turning tendency. =
> This resulted in straight flight, possibly a very slight left turn =
> (assumed this would happen). I had my rigger check / compare the line =
> lengths and nothing appeared unusual. Until I hear back from Atair, I =
> will contiue to jump the canopy to try to figure out if the problem is =
> within the operator (me) or the canopy. I would assume that if the =
> error lies with me, that the turns would not consistently be in the same =
> direction. Have there been any other cases where an Atair canopy is out =
> of trim right from the factory?
> Any information would be greatly appreciated. I hope that safety will =
> not be an issue unless the condition worsens.
> Thank you,
> Mark Nesser
> burn_it_in@hotmail.com
>
>
dear mark,
to date we have never had an instance where a canopy with trim out of spec
has passed our quality control and made it to the hands of a customer.
canopies are qc'ed twice, first in europe and then again in the us.
i am not saying it is impossible, just highly unlikely. i can send you or
your rigger a line trim chart to double check all measurements or of course
you can also send the canopy back and we will gladly check it here for you.
a few things can basically cause a subtle turn: most common pilot body
position (btw in this instance it usually does consistantly happen on the
same side) , lines out of trim asymmetrically, or improperly sewn panels
(ie. if an asymmetry was sewn into the canopy). the latter is also so far
unexperienced by us as all panels have match points on them which we hold
to tollerences of several milimeters.
we did have one instance where a base prototype canopy we built had a turn
and we sluthed the problem to mixing 2 different brand fabrics. one
stretched differently than the other and created a slight asymmetry. note:
all cobalts are exclusively made from gelvenor fabric (no mixing).
please give me a call when you get the chance to discuss.
sincerely,
dan preston
atair aerodynamics
718-923-1709 ph

[weid14 0]

hmmm, I would think short brake lines would cause more unconservative type problems -- like bow tying the canopy at full flair.

[weid14 0]

A friend of mine bought a Jedi new (this was a few years ago), and the DZO jumped it (very good canopy pilot), when the DZO jumped it, if he let go of the toggles, an immediate right hand (not so subtle) turn. when the owner jumped it -- no instance of a turn, very strange.

[cobaltdan 0]

cobalts even very highly loaded and stalled will not bow tie.
--
people who do deep riser turns will have longer brake lines. this will put the control range lower in their reach. we leave this to be done to suit the end user on custom canopies. on our demo's particularly the larger sizes are do not have long brake lines. typically these larger size demo's are jumped at lighter loadings by jumpers not agressively risering, in this case as a one size fits all i prefer the brake lines on the short side.
it does sound like the 135 demo in this case could have the brake lines slightly lengthened.
sincerely,
dan
atair

[Jimbo 0]

***on our demo's particularly the larger sizes are do not have long brake lines. typically these larger size demo's are jumped at lighter loadings/***
Just curious, what's your definition of 'lighter loadings'?