Firebolt (First Impressions)

[PhreeZone 20]

I recently got the chance to jump the new Jumpshack Firebolt canopy. I was limited in the amount of play I could do since I was at the WFFC, but I was able to get some good initial impressions of the canopy.

Jumpshack was nice enough to let me try two different sizes of the FireBolt, the 146 and the 128. My Previous experience before this canopy is 220+ jumps on a Jedei 136, 200+ on Cobalt 150, 50+ Stiletto jump on 120-170's, plus some jumps on Lightnings, Sabre2's Spectre's and Samuari's among other canopies.

Initial Impression
First thing that I noticed on the canopy was it has double brake lines like a lot of tandem canopies have. In asking I was informed they were able to get more consistant openings but using the double brakes over a single break line. The material is the same as PD's. Slippery, but managble. The F111 bottom skin did make packing lots easier.

Openings
Very soft and on heading. The snivel even on a wingsuit reminded me a lot of a Spectre, only longer. There was very little seaking in the snivel and I felt very comfortable not even trying to harness steer it.

Initial flight
I'm used to poping the brakes and geting a surge from the canopy as it dives out of brakes and takes off. The Firebolt was very unique in that there was no surge or even rapidly notible speed increase from popping the breaks. After about a full second the canopy would increase its speed to full flight. With the breaks stowed the canopy remained pointed straight while I was dealing with the complexities of leaning in the harness to take off Birdman booties. With the breaks stowed it was very insensitive to harness input. With the breaks popped the canopy was mildly sensitive to harness input. The 128 was more so then the 146 for me in this case due to loading it at 1.73 instead of the 146 at 1.52

Flight inputs
The canopy initally flew a lot like a Sabre2 on mild toggle inputs. The canopy was extremely easy to steer for just minor direction changes and the oversteer was only notible on more then 180 degree turns. On a full toggle whip the canopy reminded me its a fully elliptical and was doing turns close to those that my normal canopy (Jedei 136) does. Full toggle turns were fairly fast and used little altitude. Deep into the input the canopy reminded me more of a Stiletto in that it would get a tad dancey and seem to want to wonder a tad to either side based on harness input.

It had fairly light front riser pressure. Less then a Stiletto, slightly more then an unmodified Crossfire used to have. Rear riser pressue was extremely heavy. Spreading the rear risers and holding fore more then a few seconds was hard to keep. Recovery arc was short like a Stiletto and in my few jumps on it I got the impression it would return to natrual flight on its own, but not as fast as a Stiletto would.

I jumped the 128 and flew through some canopy turblence due to the landing patterns and I noticed the canopy was a tad breathey, but nothing more so then a non Xbraced/ non Airlocked canopy would'nt do anyways. The Sharks Teeth on the front of the canopy seem to get inflated from the internal cell pressure and shape the nose to be more rounded.

Landings
On straight in approaches the canopy landed very Sabre2ish. Control range was very reminicent of a PD style flare. There was an inital surf the and rapid speed burn off and a soft landing. My second jump on the Firebolt was on a double Front riser approach and the canopy surfed. It actually surprized me that the F111 bottom (I was jumping one of the original demo canopies with the logo on it that was well worn) allowed the canopy to surf like it did. The canopy felt very natural in the surf and increadibly easy to steer. No distance records are going to be set on this canopy for the surfing thats for sure, but the canopy is capible of laying out a nice surf for a weekend jumper. On my third jump on the Firebolt 128 I had to do a low altitude turn to avoid a jumper that crossed infront of me and the canopy reacted extremely well to a flat turn to full flight to landing. There was no surging of the canopy in all the flight modes.

Overall
Jumpshack has a very unique canopy in the Firebolt. Its a nice 9 cell canopy that opens soft so Camera flyers would like that, but getting back from long spots could be interesting since you can't flatten the rear risers out for long. The canopy can surf, but the F111 bottom skin is going to scare off a lot of the pilots that the canopy is aimed at. The canopy is essentually a canopy with out a real market at the moment. I can see it being picked up by camera jumpers that are looking for an alternitive to the Sabre2 that is very low worries about messing around under canopy and throwing large body inputs.

The Firebolt does size up to tandem size canopies so I'd be interested in trying it like that and see how well it would work in that application. It seems ideal for a tandem canopy, easy to pack, soft opening, not sensitive to harness input, easy to land...

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[billvon 3,114]

I also jumped the Firebolt 146 at LP; the 128 was getting worked on so I couldn't jump it. I agree with most of your post, but I noticed the Firebolt had a significantly longer recovery arc than the Sabre 2. The double sets of brake lines were a bit difficult to pack; you'd end up with a lot of extra line to stow somewhere since one set of brake lines are not stowed.

[cssriggers 0]

Thanks, Phree, for your thoughtful review.

I've been quite curious about this canopy, and what the targeted market might be.

Alpha Mike Foxtrot,
JHL

[AggieDave 6]

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you'd end up with a lot of extra line to stow somewhere since one set of brake lines are not stowed.

I wonder if jumpers would end up doing what some people did on the old Sabres...put a rubberband up at the line attatchment at the canopy and create a stow there for the excess. *shrug*


Phree--

Thanks for the review, I was wondering how the canopy flew (even though I have no intrest in buying one).

I wonder how the canopy flight will change over a few hundred jumps, with the F-111 bottom skin?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[riggerrob 643]

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you'd end up with a lot of extra line to stow somewhere since one set of brake lines are not stowed.

I wonder if jumpers would end up doing what some people did on the old Sabres...put a rubberband up at the line attatchment at the canopy and create a stow there for the excess. *shrug*

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Why did P.D. never publish packing instructions for the big Sabre Mark 1s with the extra steering lines?

That decision was as bad as Sun Path not publishing drawings of how to route cables through soft housings.

I have seen several customers ruin their steering lines by packing the excess BELOW the steering guide ring. As it stretches out, the extra line abrades the main steering line, vastly shortening its life.

I told the last customer that there was no point to repairing his steering lines, as he needed an entire new line kit.

Good advice about adding an extra pair of rubber bands to the tail for stowing excess steering line. That technique works well on SET 400s.

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[Unstable 9]

I too had the opportunity to jump the Firebolt 164 as well as the 146 up at the WFFC this year. Everything i would like to say has been covered in depth by PhreeZone, so All that i have to add is how i was VERY impressed with the Customer service of the Jumpshack Staff. They knew what they were talking about - I was able to carry on several lengthy discussions with Howard about his approach to gear design and manufacturing. I demo'ed as much gear as I could this year at the WFFC, and i feel that as far as customer support and service is concerned, JumpShack was #1 this year. (and as for Sunpath, um, well, i think that they demonstrated their weakness this year)

=========Shaun ==========

[grasshopper 0]

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All that i have to add is how i was VERY impressed with the Customer service of the Jumpshack Staff

[off topic]
please don't mistake them having a good field rep. with them having good customer service. they have screwed me over twice now for a military order. the first time was when I ordered my rig, they told me not to spend the extra money on a rush job, that it would only take 4 weeks. I got my rig in 16 weeks, with 4 mistakes on it. there excuse for taking so long was that they got a military contract. I didn't let them know about the mistakes, because I needed the rig. now, what kind of mistakes were on it? small reserve pilot chute (I wanted the big one), wide chest strap (I wanted the narrow one), riser color, and the big one, the actual size of the container. instead of making it for a 120 spectre or smaller, it is 50ci bigger than my racer built for a 135.

so that was a couple of years ago. maybe things change. or maybe not. I had to order a d-bag a few months ago, due to mine being stolen. after a couple of months, I called and was told it was in production. after another couple of months, I finally got it, and it is the wrong color. there excuse for taking so long was again a military contract. oh, and the d-bag cost me $72.

needless to say, my next rig will NOT be from jumpshack. I don't care how good the product may be, with customer service like that.[/off topic]