cobaltdan

weid14, i though i answered that.......? will be up on our site probably in september, also some information will be submited as an article for consideration to skydiving. sincerely, dan ps. opening shock mini vs standard: i doubt the difference in elasticity between the two types of webing is signifigant.

good point... btw, what post? dan

btw. on skydiving canopies i would not exactly call it slope "soaring", more like down hill gliding....slope sinking.....? dan atair

btw. on skydiving canopies i would not exactly call it slope "soaring", more like down hill gliding....slope sinking.....? dan atair

mini risers can cause very hard cutaways on highly loaded spining canopies. this is because the mechanical advantage is signifigantly lower than standard risers and the yellow cable can become kinked into the riser gromet during a very high g spin. a slight kink will have a large mechanical advantage against pulling the cable, far more so than friction in your riser cable housing. so why are they used on tiny highly loaded canopies? fashion.....no other reason. after a very scarry hard pull last new years, i have spent a lot of design time on the problem. we hope to introduce a redesigned mini ring release for 'competition' rigs late this year. sincerely, dan atair

Post deleted by alan

hmm line over... last week i got to land a 95 with the left line over. wouldn't clear and wasn't too happy with more than a few inches of brake tension on that side. i didn't feel like choping and i figured i had practiced rear riser landing enough times for better surfs, what the hell.... mind you during practice i always kept the toggles in hand. this time at 1500' when i made my decision i let go of my toggles. i didn't want to instintually on landing pull the toggle and risk collapsing the canopy. i went for a big corn field, set up over the tree line, did my usual 180 carving front riser and then surfed out on rear risers. for most of the surf i didn't need to remain on the rear risers, just push them a bit for corrections, at the very end of the surf i was leaning on the rear risers steadily now and was suprised at how fast the canopy was still going. right then was where i could have used a little pop from the brakes to shut the canopy down. i am not used to running at all with my canopy, this time i had to. it was a good experience as i am now confident i can land completely without toggles. (not to mention i think that was the longest surf i have ever done about 300') i was loading 2.25 on that jump, i am going to try this again (the landing, not the line over) with a lightly loaded cobalt about 1.3 to see how it differs. sincerely, dan atair

have fun...(dont trip)... i have done it a bunch of times. at a ski slope where we take newbies to try paragliding for the first time. i tried it with our 65 cobalt befor we did plane jumps....(didn't work very well, needs a strong head wind and i cant run that fast) but on a 120 loaded 1.7 i can make it down the entire ski slope (about 1 + mile) sincerely, dan atair

dont over look cobalts. they are excellent begineer canopies at light loadings (1.2-1.4) in our opinion definately a superior choice of first canopy over a sabre or safire. ie. better opening characteristics, softer and safter at higher speeds. more efficient wing, flatter glide, & far better flare. sincerely, dan atair www.extremefly.com

??? cobalt front riser pressure is lower than a stilletto, sabre, vx or fx. additional characteristic is that it is quite smooth over the usable range. sincerely, dan

i watched marcus (pier1) do a mr bill. they had someone hold their pilot and static line them out of the plane. the person holding the pilot did not hold on that tight and the guys tumbled on exit. we all watched as they fell out of sight with the bridal wrapped around both of them twice. they got out of it (eventually) but it was enough to make me question the wisdom of the stunt. sincerely, dan atair

hey chuck, i jump a rs +1 as i am pretty tall. my 95 is a medium firmness pack in it. gary roth jumps a rs with an 85 cobalt and complained once it was soft pack. he told me he was going to get his next rig a rs -1....? btw i have packed a cobalt 120 on several ocasions in my rs +1. wont make your packer happy but not that big a deal. sincerely, dan

"that guy" ....there are alot of them... myself included....fractured C6 on opening of a sabre 135. sincerely, dan

hi faitor, 65,75,85,95,105,120,135,150,170 and pack sizes are equal to stillettos. btw this info is posted on the web site as far as weight limits if you are referring to max weight we have tested the canopies, it far exceeds any harness system available. a more usefull question is max recommended weight for your skill level. if you call me at the office i would be more than glad to discuss proper loading with you. sincerely, dan atair www.extremefly.com ps. we get almost 100 email per day. sometimes it takes several days to reply. if you have an urgent question please call. thanks.

the cobalt is an elliptical canopy however being elliptical does not mean it is unsuitable for begineers. what determines if a canopy design will be a student canopy or a pocket rocket is determined by a host of design variables. by itself an elliptical planform only means that the wing will be more efficient...period...you can not make any other assumptions without looking at the other design variables of the canopy. as far as begineers on cobalts : in our opinion the cobalt is a far superior choice to a sabre or safire. loading should be in the range of 1.2-1.4 #. as it is a much more efficient wing, loading should be slightly heavier than on a sabre. ie. 1# on a sabre = 1.2# on a cobalt for equal foward speed. we have many instructors flying cobalts and even more newbies. demo request forms can be downloaded from our web site. sincerely, dan atair www.extremefly.com

who says a 7 cell spectre can out glide many 9 cell canopies?

make sure you keep your eyes scanning under canopy. do not look in any one spot too long. >>it is very easy to fix on a point and not be able to see other parachutes around you.

yes, we intend to post tons of data on our web site. we just hired a new programer to update and expand our site. (this has been a huge sore point as we have strugled with several programers over the last 8 months and our flash forms still do not work the way we want). as far as published papers on pc testing. i do not know of any. sincerely, dan atair

i agree with geoff. the pc is just one variable. some parachutes by sake of their design variables definately open harder than others.....although i kind of view pocketed sliders as a fudge fix for a hard opening canopy. better to design the canopy so that it opens with acceptable force..... (don't mind me, i am biased towards sabres as i broke my neck on opening while jumping one.) anyway on cobalts our pc recommendations are as follows: 170: 24" jim caser zero-p collapsable pc 150: 22-24" """""" 135 and smaller: 22" """""" currently we are testing 20" pc for use with our 65-85 but at present we still recommend the 22" as we have tested that size thoroughly.. sincerely, dan atair

vicoden is in the mail..... guess i am just going to have to make some red-white&blue cobalts... get better. dan atair

cobalts will open slightly brisker at slower speeds than higher speeds.......to a point... ie. looking at dataloger graphs a deployment at 140 is softer than 120, but if you dump right out the door you are signifigantly slower and with the smaller pilit chute we reccomend it will take a few additional seconds. i have no problems hop&poping from 3k but i do not go for 2k cobalt hop and pops. sincerely, dan atair

at the ccs boogies a few months ago i spoke to derek (sun path) and took exception to their policy of no zp pilots as well as their sizing. when i asked why are you dead against zp-pilots derek gave me several reasons: 1)-zp pilots pull more and therefore will create wear and tear on your canopy. 2)-because zp material does not leak air the pilot will fill up and then air must spill over the lip causing instability. i replied that 1) a zp pilot can pull with however much force you like. size it properly. this is definately not a valid an issue. as to 2) by the same logic zp canopies should be unstable...this is false and easily tested....and we already did: we had pilots manufactured for us in 28", 24", 22", & 20" by jim cazer. we tested them with a digital load sensor/data logger and threw them out of a pickup truck at 70mph. we collected data on the force vs time and graphed it later on a computer. from performing these tests i got to watch the deployment of many pilot chutes, dozens of times. zp pilots are not unstable and do not waffle. as a result this testing and other testing measuring opening shock on canopies we recommend very different pilots then sunpath. do not get me wrong i love javelins, i have jumped one since i became a skydiver, but their opinions on pilot chutes are wrong and based on wives tales, not one bit of scientific theory or testing. my javelin rs (smallest javelin made) came stock with a 30" pilot. this is not right. this container fits a maximum of a 95 sq ' canopy. and yet you get the same pilot as you would use for a canoipy more than double the size and weight. on a graph of opening shock you see a peak from your pilot chute then your canopy. the peak with this stock javelin pilot is as high as the peak caused by stage 1 of a cobalt 95 deploying. the opening shock that pilots were noticing was from the pilot chute snag instead of the canopy. we recommend a 22" zero-p which is almost 100% less surface area than the stock javelin pilot. when i pointed out the scientific testing we performed and showed graphs on our laptop to derek he responded well then it is dangerous to use smaller pilots because they will be loose in your spandex pocket. ...make smaller pockets.... and if anyone is switching to a smaller pilot have your rigger modify your pouch if it is too loose. (you can also pack your pilot mesh out as it creats more friction on the spandex, but best to have a proper fitting pouch). sincerely, dan atair

list is $1600 and the average dealer street price is $1450 you can find a list of dealers on our web site. sincerely, dan atair www.extremefly.com

one of our top factory pilots, caven warren has over 1600 jumps on the smallest nova made before switching to alpha's and then cobalts. i looked into nova's after 'red' owner of flight concepts called me and asked if we were interested in resurecting the nova design. what i concluded from speaking with caven and other past nova pilots, accident reports and talking with howard adams (rigger from glide path), is that i am guessing there must have been construction flaws. what i mean by this is that the airfoil used in the nova seems to be very sensitive to particular construction tollerances. i believe this fact was not realized during construction and many nova were effectively out of required spec. there were many accidents and fatalities where a nova simply collapsed on a turn. then there were particular nova's that were flown to the limit for 1600+ jumps ie. caven warren 540 king, without incident. overall my sugestion would be to avoid an old nova, as you never know...? sincerely, dan atair

> Is a cobalt considered a high performance or intermediate canopy. ------------------------------------------------------------------ the cobalt has the widest loading range and best glide of any canopy i know. the cobalt is an IDEAL canopy for anyone competent flying a sabre. because the wing is more efficient you need to load it a little bit heavier than your sabre to compare apples to apples. ie. if you are comfortable flying 1# loading of your sabre you will be equally comfortable flying 1.2# on a cobalt. at this loading the cobalt will have the same forward speed, drastically better glide and flare. turns will however be more spirited. it is also the only canopy that has been tested for jumper safety at high speed deployments with force vs. time data taken at speeds up to 220mph. (drop testing of canopies only measuring peak force is testing of canopy survival, not jumper safety as no data is recorded that would indicate potential harm inflicted to the jumper on opening. broken necks on opening are much more common than most people would expect. something to consider if you will be freeflying) the april issue of parachutist magazine did an unsolicited review of the cobalt. they reviewed a lightly loaded cobalt in addition to a highly loaded cobalt. they tested a cobalt 150 loaded 1.1# and wrote " opens like a dream; smooth, no spikes, on heading. it really is the smoothest opening 150 this reviewer has ever jumped, compared to at least four other brands and models." we will be posting the complete article as a pdf on our web site. beginner range for a cobalt is 1.2 -1.4# the majority of the people flying cobalts are beginers (ie. > 50 jumps on sabres transitioning to cobalt) and intermediates. i know it is hard for some people to believe that a cobalt can be suitable for both beginners at low loadings and experienced pilots at high loadings. this goes against some of the propaganda that has been cramed into heads over the years. but the fact is the design aspects of this canopy that make it so stable and forgiving at low loadings allow it to be safely loaded heavier than any other 9 cell canopy. that is why you are seeing us develop a following of high performance pilots "it is a welcome relief when a canopy has the power to save you after a mistake". sincerely, dan atair