ramon

Spectre 230 said the spring on a racer is not strong, but it does not need to be. Packed correctly there is nothing keeping the pilot chute from springing off the back. It is a racer jumpers proud feat to go to his riggers for a re-pack, pull his reserve ripcord and have his poptop shoot across the room. Talons are not pop tops and have very strong springs if this is necessary or not, I don't know, but it is definitely intended to get the pilot chute away from the flaps. Reflex's are pop tops also. The c-flex has tiny little flaps designed to keep a line from going under neath it, but still I would perform Crew in a different rig. Fliteline (manufacturer of the Reflex) just went out of buisiness due to law suits. Another company will be taking over their, parts buisiness, so until they come online, if you have a mal, try your best to recover your free bag . Also I have never had a problem with my reflex (600 jumps on it, 400 mine mostly freeflying). you just have to make sure the pop top is tight, and you want your rigger to do this. If your rigger tightens your poptop really tight, always make sure you check your reserve pin, If it is crimped (sharp bend at the closing loop) ground the gear and tell your rigger this can give you an impossible pull situation. If there is a barely perceptible bend in the pin it is okay. You rigger should be able to hook a scale to your reserve cable and I beleive it should take less than 18 pounds to pull. Rob correct me If I am wrong . Racers do not have this problem, becaus they have two pins, so they are very neat and cosmeticaly pleasing when packed right, however some riggers dislike packing them because of the difficulty. I like my reflex and cheap as it was I have had one riser flap undone on video and it was undone when I left the plane. Mine is very snug and never gives me any problems. However my next rig will be a Vector III micron. I think they are designed the best (all rigs are pretty damn good these days, if there is a quality program in effect during manufacture, but I believe Vector leads the way) bloo skies ramon

I decided to a large amout of experimentaiton on the ground and next time I will have a better start for vide in night jumps. results PC5: 1.Low lux settings tried to film plane takeoffs. shutter speed very slow, everything very blurry and choppy...BAD worse trying to use zoom..yuk. 2. Moonlight settings infinity focus...ok video if someone swooped 5 feet in front of me and the car lightss, very difficult to see the canopy pilot until they were on top of you. All video crap. 3. auto Exposure, ok but only if someone swooped right in front of you close to a light source. Best shot someone landed by some little shit heads right when a big fiery explosion (home made fireworks) went off. It lit up the canopy pilot briefly for a spectacular Apocolypse now shott....very lucky. 4!!!! Night shot settings infinity focus no lens. Best swoop landings. Everything smooth and through the view finder you could see the canopy pilot on approach and judge your video. just like day time video as far as smoothness probably because shutter speed was fast. Battery was not eaten up quickly at all if you use the viewfinder and not the screen. My best shots were using this. I did not try super night shot as it is very close range. I will probably use night shot on some jumps with lots of glow sticks (facial area too), I suspect this will be the best other than heavy spotlights . bloo ones ramon

{useful respones} a mirror purchased at a store where normal people (non laser scientists) shop will reflect IR if it reflects visible light. {ramon's assinine respone} Depends on the type of mirror...you know some materials reflect certain wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum while allowing others to pass through. It.s cloudy and I think the night jumps will be cancelled. bloo skies ramon

If your going 9 cell Hornet is your best deal $ wise. I personally know too many people that dislike their Safires, though I don't really have a problem with them. You can demo one. If you like the way a saber lands better than a Safire go for $ deal on Hornet versus Saber. Saber is old technology for high price brand new, If you find a sweet deal on a used one go for it. I used to disagree with Dan about the Cobalt thing, but...shee...demo away...plan your landing approaches and open high a bunch of times to learn the flare point, you will be very pleasantly suprised. There is absolutley nothing wrong or bad with a Hornet though. ramon

I put 3 jumps on a Sonic 190 2 years ago. I remember it opening pretty hard. It was easy to fly coming off of student status flying 215 and 195 F111s. It is very mildly eliptical (not to confuse with the semi eliptical this and that), you won't notice. It flew similar to a saber, it was pretty tame. I beleive it is an older version of the hornet (which I jumped a 190 a couple of months ago for fun) and it opened a little softer. Hope that helps I wasn't really an experienced canopy pilot when I jumped the Sonic. Never seen a PISA website. bloo ones ramon

I have two freedom means choice jump suits. Best value for your money. very well made. If you want somehting really fancy, you should call Karen and talk to her as she has made some nice custom ones, but if you just want inexpensive, it will hold up longer than a michigan suit, that is for sure.

We have 4th of July night jumps and I have a PC-5 (I know small aperture..but anyway). Should I try a low light setting? or no light (bad focus), or just try to light up the subject? Ideas? bloo skies ramon

My friend hooked into a swoop ditch and broke three ribs. He will not be able to jump for quite a while. Here is the lesson. He was seeking advice on piloting and was flying ok performing 90 degree carving riser turns on to final. We had discussed (with the resident swoop champ) not swooping over water for a long time because it is different on your depth perception that land and can be tricky. My friend casually planned (no one really new his intent) to do a hop'n pop and swoop the ditch, down wind, and he performed a 180 carve (lots of altitude loss) and he slammed in to the water at about a 45 degree angle. Lessons: 1. Never change more than one variable when trying something new, too many variables will make it dificult for you to adjust to an unexpected change in you flight path. a: He decided to land down wind. b: He decided to hook it in down wind instead of land straight in). c: He decided to land over the water (first time) d: He decided to do a 180 carving turn (first time) and performed it from his normal 90 altitude or maybe a little higher. This seems to be doomed from the start. He was loaded at about 1.28 on a stilleto which is not high, but you can see that loading had nothing to do with this. He is lucky someone was right there to pull him out of the ditch where he was face down with his bell rung. Low turns can kill at any loading. Beleive the 1000+ jump swoopers when they give advice or criticism, many of them know from experience. I have eaten dirt when I thought I knew better and I need to follow safe swooping also so I am not preaching, but showing the variables that may have cause my buddy to get hurt. A good swooper advised to , walk your swoops out, have preplanned outs at various legs of the approach. If one thing changes from you desired landing pattern, abort your landing and come straight in, it is that easy. Peace ramon

When I open my Alpha (precursor to Cobalt) at subterminal speeds it opens very slowly and tends to fly itself, based on body position, while opening longer. I am failry certain that a cobalt opens very similarly. For me this increases the chance of off heading openings and I only do it on corss country canopy rides. If I do a hopn' pop at 4000' I do about a 10s delay, If I do one from 3000 I delay about 3-4 s and hope for a good opening bloo ones ramon

Shreveport used to be a great DZ on a real Airport with a good relationship with the other airport residents. Gonzales LA has a Cessna, sometimes a KingAir and an occasional CASA boogie (very fun). There are a bunch og fun people out there and some good freeflyers. Jeanrette, LA (close to Lafayette) had a Cessne DZ, but they closed when Airport raised lease. It is for sale or maybe bought and getting ready for operation. bloo skies ramon

Thanks Chuck. I'll demo a Cobalt when I get back from a buisines trip. I enjoy my light riser pressure. BSBD ramon

Aside from the infamy that it killed some people, I know a deaf guy that has one and he surfs it pretty well. It is hard to communicate with him, but the gist I have is he only does light left then right alternating carves to land it. He does not do any snap hooks.(he passes his hand under his throat like death when he shows how he flies it)..he is an excellent pilot and his other main is a small vx. Hopefully someone with real expeience on one will reply to this before you buy. bloo skies ramon

I jumped a crossfire 129 this weekend (~1.8). I liked it very much, it flew and flared very similar to my Space(Alpha) ...except the riser pressure was heavier. I was loading this at 1.8 versus 1.5 on the Space and so a small amount of riser deflection caused a great performance change. Is there any advantage/disadvantage to heavier riser pressure on specifically a small canopy? I can only imagine that a similarly sized Cobalt (Alpha/ space etc) will have lighter riser pressure yet flare about the same (midlength brake control point as opposed to deep flare on samurai or shallow flare on Stilleto), and other differences will probably be minor and only expressed by expert canopy flying. So..riser pressure...is it just preference....or will the center of gravity under the canopy effect something, or is there some other advantage or disadvantage in riser pressure? thanks bloo skies ramon

Come to the Dark Side my son. ha ha ha Ramon

Cool story on the Para Performance Games. I guess luck of the wind can be a huge factor, but to his credit Slaton is always consistent (on his turf...yuk yuk) If we have a swoop meet at Spaceland you should come out and try our 350' ditch....show some of the hard heads what an Atair canopy can do. we're just small time now...but we already have a stable of good pilots. bloo ones ramon

.. Imagine an emergency exit down low with a 5 second(unintentional) delay prior to the D-bag coming out of the container.. Mike If it is low enough to where you might die if you have a problem, use your reserve.. bloo skies ramon

I think it was one of the best, safest, all round canopies. Very versatile, opens soft, easy to land. I put 180 jumps on one and will always like them even though I jump more radical canopies now. ramon

Demo away dude. I would keep the wingloading where you are and demo (buy)used parachutes. when you get the fever and begin to want somehting faster than a 1.25 (which could happen quickly once you get the hang of flying ZP), demo smaller parachutes. Demo, demo ...it is really a good deal...in fact..you could demo all year and probably come out ahead and really know what you like ramon

Cameras being verboten...sounds like Olav... ha ha ha Hey how long for a Cobalt 135 demo ramon

.....ahem..... aspect ratio nuff said

They're both damn good..who knows. They will hold some events in Spaceland in the future.

If you're interested, or you have a buddy that went to it (My friend Raymond came in 7th in Pro Speed). You can check out the results here. http://www.perriscam.com/pararesults.htm Hopefully someone will write a review of the competition and send it to Sangiro, the website does not go into detail, but Clint Clawson did swoop 340' legally. Wow. bloo skies ramon (in Toronto no jumping :-( just work)

If you're interested, or you have a buddy that went to it (My friend Raymond came in 7th in Pro Speed). You can check out the results here. http://www.perriscam.com/pararesults.htm Hopefully someone will write a review of the competition and send it to Sangiro, the website does not go into detail, but Clint Clawson did swoop 340' legally. Wow. bloo skies ramon (in Toronto no jumping :-( just work)

I have flown a triathlon and a stilleto at the same wing loadings 1.3. I agree the triathlon was less jumpy in turbulence as I have said before. The stilletto (only at that low wing loading to my experience), had a much greater range as I said before, could drop on a dime or could swoop 70 feet with a carving front riser turn. A stilleto 170 is a pretty big canopy and it acts that way, but it can develop some impresive speed for it's size. My Space Alpha at 1.5 does not have a speed range that I can compare to the triathlon it is faster and much faster.. off landings have to be planned quickly. I have always maintained in my discussion that a large triathlon was less likely to have an end cell colapse 40 ' above the ground. I have also maintained that a similarly loaded 'modern' 9 cell has more range. bloo skies R

Looks more like a double play to me. That's double plays as in two outs (not double to second base), just so were apples to apples. bloo skies jump high, pull low, surf long ramon