TALONSKY

I find that I can take my SUUNTO Vector Altimeter watch and put it around my chest strap and using the smallest setting on the wrist band it makes a great make shift chest mounted altimeter. Kirk

Hey Dan: I would like to address the sample of the Icarus Safire. In Icarus defense 2 years ago when I contacted them to ask about the Safire, the very first thing they explained to me is that they were sized wrong. In fact about a year ago I e-mail Simon and asked if he would reply to the issues on the Safire so I could post it here. Now reading Simon’s response it sounds more like a sub-contractor issue than a sales scheme that when you call the factory they tell you about up front. Kirk (below is the letter from Simon) The Safire-1 and the Omega are measured differently to PD canopies. As a rough guide a Safire-1 or Omega is about the same size as the next size down - eg A Safire 149 is about a 135. A Safire 119 is about a 109. Use an equation of 8%. The Safire-2 and Omni (Omni supercedes Omega) are measured the same as PD. All other Icarus Canopies are measured the same as PD. The reason for the difference is due to Precision measuring their canopies differently. Icarus have always measured the same as PD however when we originally commenced in the USA, Precision were building parachutes for us under license and were doing it using their size equations and not Icarus/PD's. We have therefore had to wait to supercede these models to change the size equation. Only the Safire and Omega were affected. Blue skies Simon Icarus Canopies USA: 1S671 Bender Lane, West Chicago, IL 60185, USA Ph. (630) 562-2735, Fax (630) 231-4430 Europe: P.I. El Ramassar, c/ Vallés, s/n O8520, Les Franqueses, Barcelona, SPAIN. Ph. (34) 938 496 432, Fax (34) 938 497 971 www.icaruscanopies.com

Hey Derek, I do not think your post got lost. I am sure you have noticed that Atair avoids answering the more direct critical questions. They prefer (at least it seems by their posts) to only address questions they can skirt indirectly around. Kirk

I would really say that the old school RW people with quick opening canopies may want to take it to 2500 to 2000 AGL. My canopy can take a 1000 ft to open so I will not open below 3000AGL. to pull. Kirk

I agree with everyone else here. I think if he was saddled out at 2500 AGL (and he was the low timer on the jump), the rest of you should get yelled at for being taking it down way too low. As jumpers in a load we need to be aware of the experience level on each jump and more importantly where each person in the jump feels comfortable pulling at. Then plan break off 1000 to 1500 feet higher to allow for seperation. This jumper did screw up by not looking above him before pulling but I would really have to say everyone else on that dive made bigger more dangerous mistake by not breaking off at the appropriate altitude. Kirk

Dwain was a key element to my first wing suit flights. Through him I was able to learn wingsuit flying. He was a truely amazing skydiver and even more amazing person. He was very easy to talk to and very open. In a very short amount of time that I knew him I truely felt close to him It had been over a year since I had spoke to him but the last time we talk he had spent alot of time talking about his girlfriend. I wish I could remember her name but I just wanted to say that he really truely deeply loved her. I will truely miss him Kirk

I think what some may be forgetting is that a rep for Atair (has in the past) bashed every canopy manufacture out there stating that "Atair was THE only company that made a presicion made product that would it was FAR better than any canopy out there". Now this is just one of many statements made by the rep. I have never seen any other company come into these forums and bash EVERY other manufacture as Atair has. So if they want to state how great they are than they should back it up. Kirk

Hi Dan: I would like to thank you for responding to this thread. I find it very intriguing that you have to deploy your canopies in a track. I mean “maybe” your canopy is designed for high-speed openings but I do not understand why that would make it susceptible to hard openings if not deployed a very specific manner. It seems in several ways what you state about your canopy is very contradicting. One it can be opened in a head down position (but you need to pull in a track belly to earth). Second this fully elliptical canopy it great for beginners up to expert swoopers (I find it hard to believe that your product is sooo great that it fly’s great for expert swoopers but is not susceptible to the high speed malfunctions associated with all elliptical canopies). I personally find it unconscionable to sell a fully elliptical canopy to a beginner. To be honest it is this obvious contradiction which has kept me from ever trying or buying your product. As for the comment on the handful of hard opening Cobalt’s out there, I think if you look back at threads on this site you will find more often than not (which means a lot more than just 10 canopies) your customers have been complaining about hard openings. Kirk

I know that there are a variety of ways to exit a Cessna 182. I prefer the dive out exit. That is where you only put your left foot on the landing gear and dive out from the door. I prefer that method for doing solo dives because you a not exposing hardly any of the wings before exit. By the way his exit looked great especially if it was his first Kirk

Well as stated by canopy pilots who jump Cobalt, that one Cobalt would open great and the next would slam them. So obviously they made sure that the ones used on the video open slow. It sounds as though the design might work fine but do to some problem(manufacturing tolerance or something) a fair amount of their canopies do not perform as well as they should i.e….(they slam you on opening)

Well I guess what I was really trying to say is that for a company that their most prominent feature of their canopy was suppose to be the really great openings it seems from the feed back here over the past year and a half that most of the canopies have opening problems and need very special attention to packing( body position, or a smaller than stock pilot chute) to get good openings. Maybe I am just spoiled by canopies that need no special attention to open great. I can say that for the 330 jumps I put on a Safire I never had a hard opening(and I would trash pack it in 4 minutes). I now fly 2 Crossfires an original and a 2 and have only had 1 hard opening(due to a really bad pack job) in over 200 jumps. I also have seen reps from Atair on this web site slamming every other manufacture out there, in short I personally feel their product needs some work and the companies sales tactics are far too similar to a used car salesmen. To be honest I was at one time considering a Cobalt until I saw how their reps act at this web site. Kirk

Best way I have heard to get good openings on Cobalt is sell it to someone else and buy a Crossfire 2. I find it interesting when hearing how most people get good openings on Cobalt’s they pack just “this way”, oh and you need to buy a smaller pilot chute. Then to get a good opening you always need to pull in just the right body position. Hell all that sounds much more of a pain than any canopy should need to open well. In fact reading about Cobalt seems rather reminiscent of the original Sabre openings. Sorry to slam the Cobalt but for a canopy that is supose to have the most spectacular openings of any canopy, they sure seem to fall short of that clam. Kirk

I e-mailed Icarus and explained that this had been talked about here and if they could give me a reply that I could post so here is Icarus's reply The Safire-1 and the Omega are measured differently to PD canopies. As a rough guide a Safire-1 or Omega is about the same size as the next size down - eg A Safire 149 is about a 135. A Safire 119 is about a 109. Use an equation of 8%. The Safire-2 and Omni (Omni supercedes Omega) are measured the same as PD. All other Icarus Canopies are measured the same as PD. The reason for the difference is due to Precision measuring their canopies differently. Icarus have always measured the same as PD however when we originally commenced in the USA, Precision were building parachutes for us under license and were doing it using their size equations and not Icarus/PD's. We have therefore had to wait to supercede these models to change the size equation. Only the Safire and Omega were affected. Blue skies Simon Icarus Canopies USA: 1S671 Bender Lane, West Chicago, IL 60185, USA Ph. (630) 562-2735, Fax (630) 231-4430 Europe: P.I. El Ramassar, c/ Vallés, s/n O8520, Les Franqueses, Barcelona, SPAIN. Ph. (34) 938 496 432, Fax (34) 938 497 971 www.icaruscanopies.com

Thanks ManBird but for all the forward speed I get I just would love to master the slow fall as you and so many others have. I mean I can get into the high 30's for breif time but I would like to do that all the time. I find it even more amazing to watch you just pop and leave me as if I am in normal free fall. The people who have never tried birdman flight really have no idea the fun they are missing out on. Kirk

A while back I loaned my Crossfire 2 130 to Manbird for a few weeks(he had a cutway and never recover his main). He was loading my Crossfire a about 1.3 to 1 and got some great 200 plus foot swoops out of it. He was totally impressed considering how lightly he was loading it. Kirk

A little over a year ago I made a similar transition. I weight 240 out the door and had been flying a Safire 169 for over 300 jumps. I went to a Crossfire 2 130, the first few jumps were very shocking as the Crossfire 2 at the new wing loading fly’s a hell of a lot faster. There is nothing like loosing 400 + feet in a toggle turn to wake you up. I landed fine just taken back a lot by the drastic difference. After that I found another fun fact about the Crossfire 2, they are very sensitive to hip input. Since my Safire was not hip input sensitive I had never had to worry about that. Well for the first 20 jumps on my Crossfire 2 after opening became a stressful few seconds as I was either spiraling to the right or left until I could unstow my brakes. After 20 jumps I got use to the hip input and ever since have had no problems. Now, just to let you know how different the Crossfire 2 is to the Crossfire 1. A friend had been flying a Crossfire 1 129 for over 150 jumps. We decided to trade so we could see the differences. He almost chopped my Crossfire 2 because he was in a spiral for the first 2000ft trying to get use to the added hip input sensitive. Things I would have done differently would be: I would like to have put 50 or so jumps on a Crossfire 1 or 2 149 getting use to an elliptical canopy before jumping in and going straight to the Crossfire 2 130. You may be a Skygod in training and can handle these things better than I did (I am not a Skygod in training) but you should just consider these things I have mentioned. Kirk

When I started flying wingsuit a GTI, I started with a Falcon 195. I did about 60 jumps on it before I switched to my Crossfire. I put together another rig so I could leave one on my wingsuit and I thougt it would be easier to have two mains that flew very similar than to have two that flew different. My main in my none wingsuit rig is a Crossfire 2 130. While there are some differances between my Crossfire 1 and Crossfire 2, they are fairly similar. When starting out I would definitly recommend jumping a non eliptcal canopy till you are comfortable with the pull sequence Kirk

I use a Crossfire 1 129 loaded at 1.8 to 1. I just love the Crossfire opennings with Birdman suits plus being able to harness turn while dealing with unzipping is nice Kirk

I e-mailed Icarus and explained that this had been talked about here and if they could give me a reply that I could post so here is Icarus's reply The Safire-1 and the Omega are measured differently to PD canopies. As a rough guide a Safire-1 or Omega is about the same size as the next size down - eg A Safire 149 is about a 135. A Safire 119 is about a 109. Use an equation of 8%. The Safire-2 and Omni (Omni supercedes Omega) are measured the same as PD. All other Icarus Canopies are measured the same as PD. The reason for the difference is due to Precision measuring their canopies differently. Icarus have always measured the same as PD however when we originally commenced in the USA, Precision were building parachutes for us under license and were doing it using their size equations and not Icarus/PD's. We have therefore had to wait to supercede these models to change the size equation. Only the Safire and Omega were affected. Blue skies Simon Icarus Canopies USA: 1S671 Bender Lane, West Chicago, IL 60185, USA Ph. (630) 562-2735, Fax (630) 231-4430 Europe: P.I. El Ramassar, c/ Vallés, s/n O8520, Les Franqueses, Barcelona, SPAIN. Ph. (34) 938 496 432, Fax (34) 938 497 971 www.icaruscanopies.com

My workout routine is Day 1 Chest Incline dumbell press (4 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Flat dumbell press (4 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Incline fly(5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Back Lat pull downs ( 5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Compound row( 5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) 10 minutes of stair stepping on an elliptical machine Day 2 Triceps Dips ( 5 sets adding weigh 6-10 reps) French bar curl super seted with close grip bench press (3 sets 6-10reps pyramiding my weights) Pulley push downs (2 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weighs) Byceps Barbell curl ( 5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Preacher curl (5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Count 21’s ( 1 set) 10 minutes of stair stepping on an elliptical machine Day 3 Cardio day Use to be run 2-1/2 miles then bicycle 3 miles however I really sprained my ankle so now it is 25 minutes of stair stepping on an elliptical machine Day 4 Legs Leg Extension ( 5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Leg Press ( 5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Standing Calf Raises( 5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Shoulders Upright Rows( 3 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Shoulder Shrugs ( 5 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Military Press ( 2 sets 6-10 reps pyramiding my weights) Now most bodybuilding programs believe in working one major muscle group with one minor such as Chest and Triceps, Back and Biceps, Legs and shoulders. I have found personally that my back is out of portion to the rest of my body so I have changed it around. Also I found that it was really hard to get a great burn on my biceps and triceps after working the major muscle group so by combinding to majors Chest and Back, it let me take a day and work on my arms. Kirk

You should try both on to see which one is more comfortable. It is my understanding that Z1's are meant for smaller headed people. That aside I have over 600 jumps on a Z1 and love them. The visor has never come open in a sit or stand. In fact, if you look at the visor they are very strudy and I had a friend make a few jumps with the visor open and it did not come off during free fall. Kirk

I have jumped with a cold quite a few times. With congested sinus passage it can do a few different things. One thing it can do is push that mocus into the inner ear which could cause an ear infection or damage(I personally never had any problems with this; however there has been a fair amount of pain from the inner ear not popping allowing them to equalize the pressure). I personally found out one obscure side affect to jumping with a cold, I pushed an infection deep into the top part of one my molers in the route and had to have it pulled(I can say that the pain I expereinced in free fall made my face turn numb and made it hard to concentrate on anything). I do not think this has ever happened to anyone else though. Hope that helps Kirk

This weekend was a blast. I had sooo much fun flying with ManBird and GrassHopper. The tracking dive were a lot of fun ManBird and I would spend about half the dive flying with Grasshopper and then we would pop up and just fly regular for the end. It really gave a cool perspective into flight differences between birdman and regular skydiving. Grasshopper with his birdman tracking pants could get into the low 80’s which made it a lot easier to fly with him. I also on one jump started playing with Grasshopper on forward speed, I got down on level and then would go about 15 ft forward then slow down and get back inline with him. As ManBird stated I got under 40 mph which has been a goal of mine and to be honest at my weight I just really did not think it was achievable. Blue Skies Kirk

I second the Infinity vote. They are a great rig and Kelly give great customer service.Plus I think they look great. Kirk

I would say it is any landing where you purposely add extra speed for landing( such as front riser or not good to do but toggles) Kirk