best elliptical

[eames 0]

I agree with that... the pilot matters more. Absolutely. So really, it's all subjective. Which canopy is the best? The one you like the most. That's not a really helpful answer, but it ends up being the only true one.
Jason

[jdhill 0]

the best canopy is the one that you feel comfortable under, gets you to the ground safely, and you can land anywhere... other flight characteristics are gravy, and determining which of those you want and what canopy you are going to fly the best is up to pilot.
There are soooo many different characteristics that go into evaluating a canopy's performance, but in the end it boils down to what you as the pilot want. Openings? Speed? Bottom End? You name it... Jump the all (provided you are ready for HP canopies, if you don't know that you are ready, you're not... if you think you're ready, check with someone else who will be honest with you) if you can... decide which is the best for yourself.
Peace
Josh
PS... the only way to legitimately compare a Velocity to a VX is to have the same pilot with equal familiarity with both canopies fly and land them in identical conditions... short of that its the pilot that makes the difference.
http://www.aerialfusion.com

[Martini 0]

When you are hanging in rear risers coming back from a long spot do you have your brakes released or stowed?

[MrHixxx 0]

Quote

When you are hanging in rear risers coming back from a long spot do you have your brakes released or stowed?

Released...
-Hixxx

[weid14 0]

brakes released, but depending on the canopy I choose either brakes or rear risers to get back. Velocity -- brakes, I actually gain altitude if the winds are right. Crossfire likes rear risers to float.

[rhino 0]

crossfire2 LOVES rear risers.. I flattened out BIG TIME on a long spot..
Blue Skies .....

[Martini 0]

The reason I ask is that I often fly back from a long spot (Stiletto 135 @ 1.4 psf) with brakes stowed and sometimes add a touch of rear riser. Everyone is moving faster brakes released but I get a relaxed hands-off ride back with the wind, just a little hip steer or rear riser steer. The real question is who gets back with the most altitude. Haven't got that answer.

[rhino 0]

The guy that pulled higher gets back with more altitude Blue Skies .....

[Martini 0]

Oh, you're supposed to pull higher on a long spot? I can't control that part 'cause when I see that we're long I close my eyes and count to one hundred. Then pull. It seems to work OK.

[jdhill 0]

Quote

Oh, you're supposed to pull higher on a long spot?

I think that was covered in an exit order thread a few weeks ago... I seem to remember the answer was a resounding NO!
http://www.aerialfusion.com

[rhino 0]

The people I jump with recognize during the dive that they are long and YES we pull a little higher..
Me personally, if I don't like what I see when I poke my head out the door I turn the plane.. I don't like landing off..
Blue Skies .....

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Quote

I actually gain altitude if the winds are right

How do you figure that?
Let's go play chicken with a planet !!

[weid14 0]

when the canopy planes out I feel the lift and can tell visually that I'm not sinking. My teammate, who has a similar wing loading watched me go up - he was trying to float also. true or not, it sure felt that way.

[prost 0]

It is possible to go up on a lightly loaded canopy if you catch the right thermals. If I am long I look for areas that would produce thermals when I plan how to get back.
William

[prost 0]

I am not even sure that would do it. Look at how under identical conditions a swoop competitor will have two runs that are very different in distance. Also one canopy might respond better to one style that the other.
William

[ramon 0]

stilleto 170 @ 1.3 very forgiving, all openings soft, mostly on heading, make it back from a hell of a spot.. low pack volume on the 170 size, heavy front riser pressure, great flat turns. easy to fly and tends to shock low timesers with lenthg of glide before touch down.
Alpha/Space 150 @ 1.5 spirited flight. beautiful openings (very soft, my friend trye jumped it after broke ribs), but you have to steer the canopy while it is opening, sensitive to pack style can spin up with sloopy packing, very high glid ratio, Warning...lightest riser pressure ever, better than Cobalt easy to pack (South african fabric). low 150 pack volume
Stilleto 150 @ 1.5. little twitchier in toggles than Space/Alpha, turn faster, dive the same, higher riser pressure lower 150 pack volume
Samurai 150 at 1.5 incredible flat turn capability. will make it bacek from a long spot better than any other 150. stable in turbulence. twitchy dancing openings. tricky to land, but lands well once you have figured out the toggle feel. braking just right pulls nice swoop out of canopy. packs big for 150
Crossfire 136 @ 1.66 twitchier than canopies at 1.5, snivelly as hell opening. nice flight, medium riser pressure, low pack volume. seemed smaller than it was.packs up small
Samurai 135 @ 1.67. sort of twitchy, dives fairly good for 135, tricky to flare flies flat and stable from long spot, opens sort of twitchy but ok..packs big for 135
Cobalt 135 at 1.67. ok opening, not quite as good as the old Alphas, but.(I can't explain), riser pressure was nice and light, brakers were tight (adjustable), easy to fly or swoop . nice canopy, braked turns nice packs up small.
Vengeance 135 @ 1.67 (I am biased). Flies like a bigger canopy (143.5), dives hard when hooked hard like a smaller canopy (120 ish). flies at speed like it is on rails toggle input reults in smooth results, has high aspect ratio and shuts down very good (ala Alhpa cobalt) when loaded up. Way too easy to fly aggressively and often surprises stillto hookers with the dive length. Opens softly and pretty much on heading, but tends to dive hard when one side opens first, handles turbulence well, packs up big flies big stops big, dives small. I love this canopy. light riser pressure.
FX 109 @ 2.0. flies fast, surfs very far when hooked long, but will run out of steam in strong head wind compared to a more highly loaded canopy. riser pressure is high. In deep brakes you can stay up with a much lighter loaded canopy due to wing efficiency, opens ok if trash packed, can dance around violently and when spun up things can get messy quick. Will get penitration in high winds, and has a very strong flare (not an all round canopy, you accept some risk when jumping one). Models produced at different times seem to be fairly different (some good ones, some bad ones) i.e. I have friends that had horrible openeings fixed by custom pocket sliders. rear riser pressure is light. packs up big. I thinkg 2.0 is right at most aerodynamically efficient wingloading for this canopy ( maybe a little higher for velocity and Xaos, and a smidgen more for VX). Av ery fun canopy when you get used to it, learn to anticipate being in traffic 500 feet ahead of where you normally think, you will be in the landing area quick.
ramon

[billvon 3,080]

>When you are hanging in rear risers coming back from a long spot do you have
> your brakes released or stowed?
In light winds I release the brakes and spread the rear risers to flatten the canopy. In strong winds (if upwind) I leave the brakes stowed and spread the rear risers to float as long as possible.
-bill von

[billvon 3,080]

>I think that was covered in an exit order thread a few weeks ago... I seem
>to remember the answer was a resounding NO!
Correct. Unless you're last out, pulling high could be very dangerous.
-bill von

[Lindsey 0]

Just to add my $.03.....I fly my FX (loaded about 1.7 or maybe 1.6 since I've lost a few pounds) very conservatively, and it is a SUPER fun canopy even for someone who is not flying balls to the wall.....
you can live in happiness too, like the oompa loompa dooba de do....

[prost 0]

Assuming I am upwind, on Pd canopies I leave the brakes stowed and on Icarus canopies I unstow them.
William

[Martini 0]

<>
That's an interesting twist. What's the difference between PD and Icarus designs that would cause you to fly them differently?

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

I'm assuming trim, airfoil shape etc etc.
Let's go play chicken with a planet !!

[weid14 0]

brake settings and how the canopy is trimmed mostly. you want the most efficient (less drag) airfoil, the way you flatten the thing out and which works better is inherent in the canopy design, play with yours, which works best?

[prost 0]

I can not tell you exactly which design aspect it is that causes them to respond better to one type of input than the other. As a tandem videographer I usually end up opening way up wind so I have a lot of chances to try out different techniques. I can't say I have any high speed measuring devices other than my Altimeter and my eyes. I look at where I open relative to the ground and what altitude I start at and what altitude I make it back to the DZ at (assuming I make it back). I also take the winds into account. If I am doing a back to back and the winds are the same it lets me get a good feel for the best technique. What I have observed is that when I am under any thing I have jumped by Pd (Sabre, Stilletto, Velocity) they seemed to respond better to slight rear risers with the brakes stowed. On the icarus canopies i have jumped (a lot of Crossfires, my two FXs and some other FXs I have borrowed) they seem to respond better to unstowing the brakes and using a little more rear risers. i get even better results pushing the rear risers out and down but this is very tiresome.
William

[alan 1]

Quote

What differences have you noticed?

First impression is.... WHOOOHOO! Openings seem a little better than with the original Vectran line set, although I had a good one that did not surge or get brutal. It still has that familiar FX/VX bow-tie opening, but seems to not seek a heading as much, it just blossoms out in 3 to 4 seconds. Glide so far seems to be flatter, but more speed?!?!
Front and rear riser pressure seems less at initial input and does not build as fast or as much. It is more sensitive to stalling on rear risers, especially with the brakes left set. Also seems to have more oversteer on rear risers with brakes set and released. Toggle pressure is similar to before the mod, perhaps a tad lighter. Dive and dive recovery.........it had a long recovery arc before, but now, after an aggressive dive it requires toggle input to recover. Before, I had to use an aggressive toggle turn and transition to front risers during the momentum loss in the turn in order to get into a critical dive angle where I could sustain the dive for several thousand feet with double front risers. Now, I can initiate a critical, sustainable dive with direct input of fronts, rears or toggles. I really like this, as there is no such thing as starting my landing maneuver too high and planing out early......just let it dive and steer it to what ever heading I want during the dive. I haven't done any rear riser landings yet, I think that is going to take quite a few more jumps before I'll get comfortable with that. The flare seems to be stronger, with longer surfs and better shut down. It feels like it maintains its' lift at a much slower speed now. One thing that it still has is very high toggle pressure at the bottom of the recovery arc after a high speed dive. By high speed, I mean in excess of 70 mph.
My exit weight is about 225# right now on the 89. I can feel the turbulence in the air a little more now than before, but it has been stable and maintains good pressurization, even during the flare. I'm going to get a few more jumps on it before finalizing any conclusions but these are my
initial impressions. At this point, I would have to say that the X-mod is a definite improvement and a very good value, especially considering the cost of line replacements for Vectran.
alan