Joellercoaster

Anecdotally (I haven't jumped one, but I know a couple of people who have/do): Opens nicer than a Sabre1, has a steeper glide angle, and is otherwise a fine (if old) canopy. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

You can always tuck your booties in until you want them. And you will eventually want them -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Well, more like £2000 a year not inc gear, after your initial setup cost (which is huge). 100 jumps a year in the UK can actually be hard to achieve for the casual jumper, or even the weekend regular at a small DZ. So speaks the voice of experience -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I know a guy who does run a DZ... a jumper of the old school in many ways, though he isn't really that old. Our DZO not only farts in the plane, he'll sit up a little and waft it at us with both hands. For some reason, the tandems find this hilarious -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You could probably sell a lot of Chasing Amy T-shirts. Hie thee to Cafepress, guys! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Dammit, I missed the Hooligan. I always miss everything. Or do I? Darn amnesia. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

In that case... you may want to postpone going to Headcorn for a while. It really is a pain (I live in SW13... you?) Your most accessible DZs will be Weston, Hinton (both roughly towards Oxford) and Nethers. I've never jumped at Hinton but have heard nothing but good things, and the other two are fine places. There are a few more out that way, depending on your tolerance for driving. I spend most weekends at Redlands (Skydive London) because I happen to like it but it is a bit of a hike... you'll have trouble going wrong, I think, wherever you end up

Firstly, don't believe everything you read. As a new skydiver, you aren't going to get sucked into the politics of various DZs and whatnot for a while. Treasure this feeling Specifically regarding Headcorn and the negative press it gets... I can only tell you how I was treated there on the one time I went out that way (two days). It was great. Probably a slightly older crowd than some other places and it had its fair share of "characters", but basically it's a medium-sized DZ, and I honestly had a great time there. Students tend to get treated well most places anyway. All DZs over a certain size have their cliquey element. It's really not that big a deal, and no worse at HPC than anywhere else as far as I could see. They have a Let. The Kit Store is great. Oh, and their bar is very nice

Respect. So, what did it for you? (And don't say finally coating the canopy in enough sweat that it started to grip and not slide around so much

If your head is really freakishly large and funny-shaped, then you may want to stick with Bonehead but try the Havok. I tried on a Mamba (XXL) and found it a bit cramped (my head is very long front-to-back). I ordered an XL Havok and it just turned up today... haven't jumped it yet so I can't give you a proper review, but I can say this: This is the first helmet I've ever had that I can get onto my head without taking bits of liner out. It fits. I am so happy. [edit: It also looks totally evil ] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[looks] Yup, pretty much identical to the one on my Icon. Badass bottle opener at the end of the day too... -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

So... is this really happening? And if so, which ones? I know a couple of people who'd kill for an EFS shirt :) -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

The Pilot and Sabre2 did land differently. The Pilot seemed to have a much longer toggle stroke, which meant I felt like I had much finer control over the degree of flare as I came in to land. I only have 50-odd Pilot landings so far, but the only times they haven't been standup have been a stupid downwinder, and the time I landed it in a ditch -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I can only give you the perspective of someone buying a novice/intermediate sized canopy, but since that's exactly what you're buying if your profile is correct, I guess that's fine. I flew a Sabre2 190 and a Pilot 188, both loaded pretty much at 1:1 at the time. To my untrained eye they flew at the same speed - both, faster than a Spectre. Your guy may have more finely honed senses and be able to tell because of his years of flying mid-performance canopies, but if you won't notice the difference, then there is no difference. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

"Here's a picture of a spirochaete!" Clicky - it really is. a picture of a spirochaete. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I bought a Pilot straight off student status after trying out a Spectre and Sabre2, and now have about 50 jumps on it. It's a 188 that I load a bit over 1.1:1. Few too many pies after I ordered it, maybe. Openings are soft - perhaps a little too soft... I've had a couple of jumpers deploy at the same time and be momentarily worried as they see me fall down away from them. The snivelling also seems related to my having a closed end cell about one jump in four, but it's easy to sort out with the risers. On the upside, only one slammer in 50 jumps (entirely due to deploying partly head down, nothing to do with the canopy :P), and no others that could even be described as "firm". I can say that the Pilot has never once given me cause to regret buying it. And a couple of times, I've had cause to be very glad I did. Novice pilots will inevitably make mistakes, and there have been a few times now I've come out of dumb decisions without a scratch. Most notably, when I was going to land in a 10' hedge... I had to flare out to level flight to miss the hedge, and was still able to flare again on the other side and stand up the landing. The Pilot has a really short recovery arc coming out of turns and dives, which is good for your confidence when you're new but still want to be able to throw it around the sky, and still feels agile enough for entertaining and sudden changes of direction :) It flies very intuitively - it has always done exactly what I asked it and nothing else. I have to really whip down a toggle and hold it through a couple of revolutions to get any noticeable oversteer. Rear riser turns and flares are fine, but front riser turns are prohibitively hard over about 180 or 270 (even with the handy dive loops) and you can forget about double fronts - I can just about do chinups on mine without too much change in angle. Packing has been hard, but that's to be expected on any new ZP canopy. One thing that is cool is the addition of coloured packing tabs on the line groups... very highly recommended for any newbie packers out there, they remove one big potential source of error before you even start. Landings are probably my favourite thing about this canopy. If I time it right I can get a nice little toe-drag across the grass, but if I don't, it's no big deal. The window of landable flare times seems huge, and there is flare power all the way through the toggle stroke. I can't stall it with toggles at all, and I have very long arms! I've landed it crosswind, downwind, over hedges and ditches and in fields full of crops, and it has never once let me down. I love my Pilot.

Rave on -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

For what it's worth, I have a Hurricane, and a big funny-shaped head. Specifically, it's very long from forehead to inion (that little bump everybody has at the back). The sizing chart said that it would fit me (the biggest Hurricane), but that was a bit optimistic. I had to remove the central panel of the lining completely, and when I put it on there's still a bit of manual adjustment of the ears that goes on. I also feel jealous of my my friend's internal audible pocket on his Mindwarp, especially since my audible doesn't come with a mounting rack. Either, both, or none of these things might be relevant to you, of course, but this has been my experience. I quite like my Hurricane, but I'd get a Mindwarp next time I think. [edit: speling] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Nah, these things happen, and it's not like waiting a bit longer for an oil change in your car or something. Thanks for keeping us all informed. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Er... I was due in the tunnel tomorrow (June 23rd) and have just had a call from my coach that that's now off too, citing this announcement. Can we take it the maintenance has been brought further forward still? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Did I meet you in the Montagu Pyke a couple of months ago? That was a good story. (For varying values of "good" maybe, but it was funny ) -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Sobering... but then I the second-to-last turn was going to be the one that broke you. Thanks for posting this video - we learn mostly by making mistakes, but this kind of thing is a rare opportunity to see exactly how it shouldn't look without having to do it ourselves. Small consolation to you I guess, but thanks. Glad to hear you finally escaped the clutches of the Kiwis too 8) -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Which, I guess, is why the oldtimers keep reminding us... -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

kirrz, this post isn't directed at you and I have to apologise for taking this bit of your post out of context. The rest of it touched me, and I agree with a lot of it. But this need to reiterate that "you can do everything right and still die", as happens all the time on this forum, bothers me. I've heard other low-timers reassuring themselves by pointing out that most of these fatalities are the result of human error. This is missing the point. Most of those fatalities are people with way more experience than us, maybe more natural talent than us, and they still died because they made a mistake. The fact that they died because they screwed up shouldn't reassure us at all. Everyone makes mistakes, and thinking we'll be better trained/quicker on the uptake than all those other people is self-delusion of a particularly insidious kind. "You can do everything right and still die" is a cliche... we should also keep saying "I will make a mistake, and I might die too." -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

And, for those of us with Icons, bottles to open I've actually been meaning to ask in this forum - was the knife deliberately designed so it could be used in this way? It's very effective for an accident, if not! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?