shadeland

That's not true. There are at least 2 manufacturers that have a pin-based MARD with Collins lanyards. Sife and SWS. Maybe what he meant to say is :" Non of the other MARDs on TSO certified rigs..." Actually, I was unaware that they had colins lanyards. My understanding is it was a patented thing (I could easily be wrong there), and UPT wouldn't license it without the SkyHook. That understanding is either incorrect, or the non-US location makes the patent invalid or unlikely/difficult to enforce.

People assume the bad outcome of skydiving is death. While it’s a possibility, good training and good gear make that thankfully rare. What is more likely is a hurt leg, broken leg, sprained wrist, etc. make sure you have a plan for that in case it happens. Would you miss work, lose wages, etc. It’s not inevitable, but is more common than rare.

None of the other MARDs (RAX/ACE/Boost) have Collins Lanyards. The Lanyard disconnects the non-RSL side riser in event the RSL side gets prematurely released/breaks. That hasn't proven to be a problem in the field as far as I know (though that doesn't mean it won't be). IIRC (and I could be wrong) UPT won't license it to non-SkyHook MARDs. Curv is doing test jumps with their MARD currently. I saw them testing it last week at the SDAZ Christmas Boogie. It was, as MARDs are, effin' fast.

Was this an AFF jump or a coached jump? What level jump was it? It sounds like AFF1 or 2? (Cat A/B depending on your nomenclature)? It was his first AFF jump. I knew one of the AFFI’s, actually a good guy, the other was a fucking asshole who was new at the DZ. Asshole gave a pre jump “Safety briefing” and talked down to us like we were all idiots, it was the first time we had a sky van. To deliberately not watch an first time jumper land a parachute is... not something that has ever occurred to me. So, no, that doesn't sound right at all. Every DZ I know put the student on a radio and try to give them help (calling out turns, flare, etc.). Radios sometimes fail (or the instructor forgets to turn them on) but at least one watches the student land (unless they land off). I only know one instructor that has ever sounded like that. He was out of the east coast, and he was a total dick to new night jumpers.

Was this an AFF jump or a coached jump? What level jump was it? It sounds like AFF1 or 2? (Cat A/B depending on your nomenclature)?

I'll take the liberty and add some good beginner canopies (in italics) Performance Designs: Sabre 2 (NOT the Sabre 1) Spectre Silhouette Pulse (I tend to think the flare is weak, but some people love them) Storm Aerodyne: Pilot Pilot 7 Triathlon[/] Icarus/NZ Aerosports Safire 2 Safire 3 S-fire IPT Axion Flight Concepts Sentry I don't recall ever seeing a Sentry out in the wild. The Axons I've seen primarily in Eloy.

Another mod I know works is a slider from a different, larger parachute. I’ve borrowed a Sabre 1 150 from a master rigger, he had a slider from a pilot 210 on it. Opened up nice.

32 jumps and already thinking about adding a camera. You need to learn to walk before you run. 32 jumps you need to learn to skydive safely first before adding a camera. Assuming they were thinking about a chin-mount camera because of the cut-away system, I would encourage that kind of forward (stress the forward, as in 200 jumps forward) thinking in gear choices for new jumpers. There are helmets that have a variety of either snag resistant, easily cut-away, or both, reduces the risk for camera flying. The less teletubby-snag baits I see the better.

Here’s a short list I’ve compiled of appropriate canopies for beginners. It assumes proper wing loading, and of course talk to your local riggers and instructors. This list does not cover all the canopies that would work, it’s just the short list of currently made canopies that you’re also likely to find on the used market: Performance Designs: Sabre 2 (NOT the Sabre 1) Spectre Aerodyne: Pilot Pilot 7 Icarus/NZ Aerosports Safire 2 Safire 3 S-fire IPT Axion Avoid Sabre 1s unless the slider has been addressed by a qualified rigger. Don’t let anyone tell you “you just have to pack it right”.

My guess is the term "fully elliptical" is what triggered that particular enforcement. Jumpshack/PLI markets it as such: http://plabsinc.com/9.html I speculate that they market it as "fully elliptical" to get the biggest market they can for their canopy, as it's their *only* canopy (other than their reserve). As someone else mentioned, it's pretty dated in terms of technology. Elliptical is not meaningful distinction anymore. As the John Le Blanc talk goes into, most canopies are "elliptical", even student ones. The Firebolt is likely a fine beginner canopy at low wing loading (as they market). All modern canopies are "elliptical".

um, not exactly. It's been out since at least 2003 (that is when the first user review was posted here on DZ.com). 2003 was probably the last time they updated their web page.

I don't know much about the Firebolt, though PLI does market it as a beginner canopy at the right wing loading (holy shit is their website garbage). Heck, it's their only canopy. With regards to "elliptical", that really doesn't mean anything anymore. John Le Blanc (performance designs) has a really good talk on this subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcOOAWpwSTM Most canopies these days have tapering, even student canopies. I've attached the wing shape of a Sabre 2. Tapering is what many people mean when they say elliptical. Tapering is the outer part of the wing is shorter than the inner part. The shape of the wing isn't much of an indicator as it used to be. Back in the days of the Sabre 1 and Stiletto, for example, the Sabre 1 is rectangular with no tapering at the ends while the Stiletto had the outer cells shorter than the middle cells (tapering, or "elliptical"). These days just about every wing (save for reserves) have some tapering, making them all "elliptical" to a degree.

I use these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014ATIV5W/ They're great for grabbing rear risers after opening, especially on bigways. They've done pretty well in terms of holding up. I also got them because they're synthetic, as I don't wear leather.

I've been working on a project to visualize and normalize the various container manufacturers sizing as a handy reference guide. It's a bit of a challenge given that they often use different canopy types for sizing, some use a single size and some use a range, etc. But given that there are at least 12 or more manufacturers, and some have 20+ sizes, I thought this would be a handy reference when looking at gear on the classifieds or Facebook forsale groups. I've done Aerodyne, Wings, Sunpath, and UPT. This is a beta version. And You should always double check and consult with a local rigger of course.

Where can this research (results, methods, data) be found? And how long ago was this research done?

I would caution people on that. The problem, I believe, with (most/many?) original sabres was the slider. Hence the fix for most of them is to replace/modify the slider (i jumped a Sabre 150 with a slider from a Pilot 210 on it, and it opened fine). Packing techniques such as rolling the nose will not slow a catastrophic opening if you end up with bottom skin inflation.

I think one of the problems with the original sabre was the slider: If it didn't do its job no rolling of the nose would fix the hard opening. I've seen Sabre 2s wack people pretty hard every now and then (of course any canopy can wack you, but Sabre 2s did it more frequently than Safires or Pilots). For you I might recommend a Safire 2. They have really soft openings that are well staged and usually on-heading. I haven't had much problems with end-cells on them, either. Safire 2s and Crossfire 2s, they're like the Bob Ross of openings. Slow, gentle, and very comfortable. The flare on the Safire 2 though you'll want to do some up-high flares with a wrap to make sure you get the best flare out of them. Like pilots, they seem to be susceptible to brake lines that are too long. The power-spot on the flare is deeper than a Sabre 2, so if your brakes are too long you might miss some flare. The best way I know of to find it is to pull high and flare and I see what it takes to stall (for the last Safire 2 I flew it was two wraps), and I'll use one less wrap to flare. They're not as aggressive, turn-wise, as a Sabre 2, but at 1.1 wing loading the difference I think is minor.

Yup, John Leblanc was where I learned about that.

1100 jumps: My normal deployment altitude is 3,000 feet. Low for me is 2,500. Below 2,000, I go for my reserve only (haven't had to yet, but that's my plan, based on not wanting to snivel through an AAD fire and having two-out). If a licensed jumper on the plane is planning on opening high (say above 4,000 feet) I will often ask they go with coaching/AFF students, or take the center of a formation. My concern that people don't start looking down until breakout, and with breakoffs typically between 4500 and 5000, people aren't looking down until then or shortly thereafter.

I used to agree, but having gone through some scenarios I think that's not really the case. I think the Pilot, like the Safire 2 and Safire 3, have a much deeper "power spot". Something like a Sabre 2 or Stiletto seem to have a pretty shallow power spot. As a result, if your brake lines are too long, you won't really miss out on much flare power. With the Pilot (or Safire 2/3), if your brake lines are too long, you'll miss out on the power spot, and the flare will suck. That happens on my Pilot 150. If I take a wrap, however, I get a great flare on my Pilots. Is that a design flaw on the Pilots? (and Safires?) debatable. But now I wrap when I land (having played with 1 wrap, 2 wraps, nice and high) and it makes all the difference.

Sabre 1s are interesting canopies. They're truly rectangular (no tapering of the leading or trailing edge, like Sabre 2s, Safire 2/3s, Pilots, etc.). They have a bad (probably well deserved) reputation for opening hard, sometimes catastrophically so. Sabre 2s don't have a lot in common with original sabres from what I recall. I think John Leblanc (IIRC) said Sabre 2s might as well have been Stiletto 2s. So to answer your question: What are you looking for? Softer openings (many necks, shoulders, and bones appreciate that), good flare, fast turns, etc. Or are you looking for consistent openings, a canopy that you don't have to think about, etc. There's a lot of options now from PD and others depending on what you're looking for in a canopy.

Technically, the Pilot is a semi-elliptical canopy. The planform for a Pilot, Sabre 2, and Stiletto are pretty similar. Tapered leading and trailing edges. This is from my canopy course slide deck:

I guess they could be opaque. Most of the bags I've seen used in this purpose are transparent, and the closets/drawers/bins do the job of blocking the UV light.

I'm my rigger! Looking for those plastic bags though.

I'm tired of carrying around my disconnected canopies in trash bags (and the eyerolls they engender). So where do people get those canopy-sized, thick, transparent plastic bags?