TALONSKY

When I started skydiving, I wore glasses. I was able to fit mine underneath a Z1. The frames I had were small and made be Flexon (spring Titanium). Since then I actually broke my unbreakable frames and switched to contact do to the fact that they were cheaper than getting another pair of the Flexon frames. The frames cost about $300 by themselves. Blue skies Kirk

I hate to say this but you may have a longer wait than 6 weeks. A guy at my dropzone ordered his on the 10th of June and has not received it yet. When he called they said it would be ready close the end of August. Kim told him that they have been receiving a lot of orders and are backed up. I luckily beat the back log I ordered it on the 3rd of June and received it July 5th. Blue Skies Kirk

Also, I noticed the toggle pressure was noticably higher on the Hornet. Kirk

Well, first off you need to be comparing similar sized canopies. The old Safires are smaller than stated(169 is actually closer to 153). I believe they fix that on the Safire 2. On openings the Safire opens softer and more consistantly than the Hornet That is some Safire open soft all the time and others will open hard all the time( I have one that opens soft and I believe billvon had one that opens hard all the time). Where as the Hornet will open soft most of the time and every once in a while you will get hammered on openning. I have a Safire 169 and in 300 jumps have never had a hard openning and I have really trash pack it at times. My friend has a Hornet 170 most of his opennings are soft but occasionally he gets some really hard ones( he broke a rib on one of the hard openings) Flight wise I believe they are pretty comparable. I have not jumped a 150 Hornet to compare my Safire to. but I have jumped my friends 170 and it was a little slugish ( I feel that would have to do with the 17 more sq feet of material on the Hornet) Hope that helps Kirk

I live 35 miles one way from work. It takes me 45 minutes to 1 hour each way. The total plus of this is I live 1 mile from my home DZ

I really do not know the total cost was, but it broke down to $50 per day to have him evaluate your jumps and debrief our landings on video. This also included a two hour condensed class from the 6 hour class. I believe there was about 20 of us and probably 10 that had evaluations all 3 days Kirk

I just thought I would take a minute and say how great the Perris Evolution canopy flight school is and Jim Slaton. This last weekend my home DZ had Jim come up and teach a condensed version of the Evolution canopy school. It really did not matter what level of canopy pilot we were he was able to help us all out. It seemed that few pilots that just did straight end approach’s got a lot of help and in general everyone involved learned a lot. A few local canopy swoopers that are starting to compete also got a lot of useful help. Most of us found that our brakes were not set right. So if you have the chance it would be time and money well spent to attend Perris Evolution canopy flight school. Blue Skies Kirk

Bill Booth made some jumps at the north pole where on the ground it was -75 degrees or something like that. I would think he would have used zp main. Kirk

There are things I would like to go back in change, but every change could really change who I am today. Tobe honest I really like who I am and everything in my life right now so to risk changing something in the past could really change where I am(or who I am, since everything in our past shapes who we are) now. Soo, I would choose not to change anything. Blue Skies Kirk

Add one more for FireFly. I have about 100 jumps on my and love it. I am still getting coments on how good the suit looks 8 months after getting it. The one thing FireFly offers that I do not believe any(or atleast veryfew) is a two piece free fly suit. Which gives you a wider range of choices meaning you can use just the pants or the entire thing. This also allows you to replace the pants if you wear them out for half the cost. Kirk

Hi Drew: Terry, Jim Steffeck an I ordered a GTI about three weeks ago. It is measured to fit me so I am not sure how it would fit you. Birdman said it would be between 6 and 8 weeks for delivery. If you would like to try it out come on up to Skydive Oregon sometime after that. We, three are asking $10.00 per jump for anyone that would like to try it. Kirk

Well I do not have all the details but I thought I would pass along what I know. An experienced skydiver that occasionally jumped at Skydive Oregon, it appears dropped a toggle while performing a hook turn and only flared with one toggle this last Friday. He broke both femurs and some facial bones. Luckily there is no permanent brain damage. He was listed in critical condition on Saturday. I believe his first name is Jerry. This year is really starting out bad. Please everyone be careful Blue Skies Kirk

I have jumped with a cold several times. The first time I had several sinus headaches under canopy only did 3 jumps that day. Last time about a month ago the pain centered in the left sinus cavity and I got the MOST intense toothache I have ever had. That time I did five jumps (one was an evaluation dive for my coach rating), at 4000 AGL every jump was very intense tooth pain. I found out later that I had pushed an infection into one of my rear molars (the root went into the left sinus cavity) and I ended in having to pull that molar. So there can be far reaching consequence that we may not see when jumping when you are stuffed up from a cold Blue Skies Kirk

I was under the impresion that the Omni and Safire 2 were measured to the PD standard. Do you know when if they did change measuring styles on Safire's and Omega's if it was done prior to the 2nd geration canopies( Omni and Safire 2)? Thanks Kirk

About 10 months ago I talked to Icarus and they said that the Omega's and Safire's were measured about 10% off of PD products. I know my 169 Safire is about 150-155 sq ft compared to a Sabre. Your Omega should measure 135-130 sq ft compared to PD products. Just thought you should know. Kirk

It seems that my previous comment was out of place, so I apologize Sorry Dan Kirk

Nothing like plugging your company and putting all other companies down by implying that they do not thoroughly test a new canopy design. I find it very nice when companies come to these forums (Precision Aerodynamics and Big Air sports and Bill Booth I believe from STRONG) and talk about their products without the need to slam all other companies. Kirk

I talked to Icarus about 10 months ago on this subject and they said that all Safire's and Omega's were measured about 10% off from PD products but Icarus had changed measuring to PD standard with all of it's other products ( Extreme VX, Extreme FX, and Crossfire) Blue Skies Kirk

I have a friend that broke a rib on a hard opening on his Hornet. He said that is was a sloppy pack job, and every once in a while he will still get a hard opening. I think this may fall in to the same category as some Safire’s, some open hard while most do not. I fly a Safire 169 at 1.6 to 1 and have totally trash packed in 6 minutes and never have had a hard opening. On the same token I think it was billvon that had to put a slider pocket on his Safire to keep the openings from being hard. Blue Skies Kirk

What about adding a sewn in pad to the D-bag. That way the geometry of the rig is not changing. Awhile back, I was talking to Icarus abou pack volumes and they suggested doing that for the application I was talking about. I ended up not needing to add anything but Icarus made it sound like a standard change. Kirk

I have not tried other helmets but I love my Z1. Mine is a little tight fitting too but I got use to it plus in the winter months it is quite nice to have the extra warmth with the kind of tight fit. I got the impression that skydiving helmets are supposed to fit snug but that could be wrong. Anyway, I have 250 jumps on mine and have never had any problems with it; this includes about 80 freefly jumps. I think the visor on the Z1 is one of the best visors out there. A friend of mine has left his visor up on a couple of jumps and visor was still there and worked fine after those jumps. Blue skies Kirk

I know this is not the information you wanted but you might want to put 50-100 jumps on a Sabre class canopy (rectangle or slightly elliptical) before trying the Diablo. I would think a fully elliptical main would be a persons second or third canopy not their first. Blue Skies Kirk

I would have agreed with Lisa that it is for motorcycles but bone heads ad sounds more for a skydiver. Open Ears to feel and hear your airspeed Heavy–duty, Cast, Stainless-Steel Retention buckle. Custom Fit, Thermo-formable Liner Available in Carbon Fiber Finish or Black Gloss I would not think a motocyclist would need to hear their airspeed. Plus there is no Shnell(or how ever it is spelled) rating on it , which motorcycle helmets need. Just a few thoughts on this. Kirk

Thanks PhreeZone, I actually knew that one. I did not want to start on that subject because that one has been debated here before .I have taken a tape measure to mine flat on the ground and compared it to a Sabre 150. Mine actually was a tad smaller than the Sabre 150 do the Safire being tapered. I did find Icarus to be a great source of info when I called up and talked to them prior to purchasing my Safire. They also told me about the sizing issue. Blue Skies Kirk

I find it very interesting that some people have a hard time landing a Safire. I do not consider myself an expert at all but after 150 jumps on a Falcon 195 wing loaded 1.28/1, I got a Safire 169 wing loaded a 1.5/1 and in my first 50 landing I had 2 that were not stood up. Since then I have put on 100 more jumps and have not stood up around 10 for various reasons. I personally feel that if I can land this canopy without problems then most people should be able to. I am very current and jump 5 times a weekend (weather permitting) which may help. I think Safire is a great canopy and can be flown as conservative or as aggressive as desired with out problem. I definitely have not gotten bored with this canopy nor do I see myself for several years. I also love the openings, they are crisp but not hard. I have never had a hard opening on this canopy and I have done some pretty trashy pack jobs. I have flown Hornets to, I think they are a good canopy and comparable to Safire. I have found the Hornet to be less forgiving on packing. I also found the Hornet’s toggle and riser pressure to be greater than the Safire. Kirk