johnny1488

Not that I'm biased or anything (or a complete fucking nutjob, as some would put it). In my defense, Tony put me up to it! Something about a double dog dare! hehe Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Its late, but a bunch of ranch jumpers got together at Puck Fair tonight (as we do many thursdays, thanks Pauli!) and we raised or glasses for Tommy Colaneri. I didn't even realize I knew Tommy until 2 days ago. I had glazed over the thread in the incident forum for a month until I made the conection and looked at the badfish website. I havent had a drink in about 4 years or so but I had 2 tonight. Maybe its just me but I felt it a fitting sacrifice for a friend I never got to know as well as I'ld have liked. If you have a drink, or even if you dont, give a shout for Tommy tonight. We would do good to have more people like him in this world. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

The xfire2 comes with a good chunck of responsibility (as do all hp canopies, hell even any conopies, but I'll save that for a yelling thread) but it is one awesome canopy. Give that a shot as well as anything else you think you might like. I look forward to jumping other stuff to see how they try to compare to my xfire. I doubt I will find anything that can. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Come on, south park is a microcasm for life! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

This is where Scott actually agreed with me on Icarus canopies. I have tried this on many occasions and you can verify it with many Icarus jumpers. I cover more ground and lose the same amount of altitude (if not less) on rear risers. This is one reason I didnt like the sabre2 when I flew it. When I went into brakes, it felt like I was gliding all over the place. I slow down to a crawl in brakes on my xfire. I like the ability of having 2 slow flight options. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I will soon as I can figure out how to get the picture to my computer from my cell phone Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I just came upon Scott Miller's name in an incedent forum regarding getting the best glide out of a zp canopy. He did say the more brakes the better. He also said I don't count because I fly Icarus. (yes that came from his mouth) So what has worked best for you. Feel free to give your canopy, wingloading and mindless rantings. Mine is xfire2 169, 1.36, and Xfires bury anything else on the market (and not on the market yet, Im willing to bet!! Bring it on!) Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Hey mike, I was on the plane with you during the IAD training. I was the other dummy for those and the mock-static line jumps. Chipped ice is fuckin with your memory! I also would want one of the instructors who knows what they are doing to do it. You know, anyone but grouper! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Yeah, but I felt leary of commiting to having my p/c out before I get out of the plane. I am gonna try my new modified exit once before I give that a shot. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I hope you would give cutting away a thought before you go for the silver in a high speed spinner! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I like saying, "damn, I've never thought about that." And then turn away with a perplexed look on my face! hehe Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I was talking with my s+ta about this the other weekend. He basicly said if your not over congested airspace or an open assembly of people, and you file a notam, you can pretty much do whatever. He said its a good idea to notify the police beforehand so they dont fly off the handle when they get calls. He also said if the authorities decide to look into the jump there is a lot that could go wrong after the fact. One example he used is if you take the door off a cessna, you need a special certificate for that. If thats what you did and they find out, hello shits creek. Also had a bit to do with compensating the pilot if he's not commercially rated. This is an extreme over-simplification, but it seems a bit more do-able after talking with him. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Yeah, it wasnt my ideal situation. From what I can tell, we either didnt have the airspeed to pull the bridal yet or the burble from the 2 of us was too big. I will try it again but have the variables worked out (I think) As long as we stay stable this time, it should go better. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

"If your gonna be dumb, you'ld better be tough". "Pull your strings, save yourself!" Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I tried my first this weekend. Pilot slowed the plane down to 60kts for my exit. We got out and I pitched Imediatly. Had the pin pulled we would have been good. Te bridal didnt even get out of the bridal channel. It stuck there for a second and we went unstable. The bridal went around my leg and then around my girlfriends. tumbled for a second, she got the bridal off our legs and then the container opened. She decided to abour as soon as something went wrong, but I didnt see it so I decided to hold on to her. My xfire2 open soooo soft I held on to her with one hand. Just as the canopy finished opening she fell away. I know have the plan worked out for next time. I also have awesome video of it but its on a regular tape. If you all chant in unisyn, maybe jerm will put it up for us! Or Ill just smack him around a bit! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I havent jumped a new javelin that isnt an odyssey, but I jumped a 99 or 00 jav the same size as my odyssey and mine is 10x more comfortable. Are the thicker legpads, oeitker clamps and longer riser covers on the regular javelin? Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

You cant get it to open hard. Just keep those toggles tight and you're good to go. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I love my xfire2, if thats what you mean. Im a sucker for a deep control range. The sabre2s I've flown felt twitchy and I thought flew like shit, but thats just me. The lotus was super twitchy and more than half of the toggle stroke was useless. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Here's my review from the gear section Lotus Reviews -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Review ID:586) 3 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Opened fast and hard Rated by: johnny1488 on Thu Oct 03 2002 (user profile) (user reviews) Pros: Airlocks if you want them Cons: Twitchy and scary at least to me I demoed a lotus 190 when Brian Germain was at the ranch. I have never been so scared in all my 360 jumps. Opened fast and hard. Tried some flares and the sweetspot seemed high but good enough. Went to do a toggle turn down to my waist and after 180 degrees it tried to collapse on itself. Even minor turns and braked turns felt twitchy. I spent the rest of my 5000' hoping I would make it to the ground. I respect Brian Germain very much as he was very willing to share his wealth of knowledge but his canopies are not for me. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

With 10000 jumps on a canopy, you could do all sorts of crazy shit, no matter what it is. Not taking anything away from them, but thats a lot of canopy time to play with. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Im sure its all relative. The jumper in question was a girl who had expierenced diffuculty in holding down the front risers on other canopies. She was able to hold down the front risers indefinetly. No one I have talked to who jumps a cobalt was able to hold the front risers down indefinetly. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

From my understanding this is because the canopy is not trimmed as steep as most canopies and glides further and loses less altitude than another canopy of the same size. This also contributes to atair recommending the cobalt be loaded at 1.2 for novices. Under that wingloading I have personally seen this canopy fold in half on a no wind day 20 feet of the ground before any toggle input was given. The cobalt 170 was shipped as a demo with atair knowing of the planned wingloading. After the stability concerns were brought up to atair, they informed the jumper (140 lbs with under 200 jumps) they should be jumping a 135. This was unacceptable to the jumper. On a side note the light riser pressure the jumper raved about was because of the unsafe light wingloading. On other cobalts on the dz jumpers loading over 1.2 have said the riser pressure got much heavier. Paints a good picture of the internal pressurization of the canopy at that loading. This is all just my opinion on things I have witnessed involving the cobalt. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

details details Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Edina rocks! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome