reinhart36

If you haven't jumped a 190 in the past, do yourself a favor and do your first jump or two back on whatever canopy it was that you did your last jump on. Yes, even if that means you'll have to rent a rig. There are many people out there who can explain from personal experience why the above is a good idea. That's a good thought. I'll definitely do that. The canopy I learned on was an F111 sharpchuter 245.. Much different than the tri will be. The only other smaller canopy I've jumped was a tempo 210, which was a reserve ride. thanks for the input!

So, I'm a new skydiver with 30 jumps, and haven't jumped since October or November 2006. In the meantime, I've been building my first rig. So far I have a container ('00 G3), a reserve ('00 Raven 218), and a main on the way ('04 Triathlon 190). Anyway, by the time it warms up enough to jump here, I should have my rig completed and ready. I'll hopefully be jumping my own pack job for the first time, on my own first rig for my first jump of what will only be my second season, after a several month break.. This should be quite scary! Anyone else ever been in a similar situation?

Thanks for the help everyone. If it changes matters, the seller just informed me that the canopy has about 500 jumps on it.

I think it has low 100's of jumps on it. The seller thinks the lines have another 150-200 jumps on them before it will need a reline. I was hunting for a triathlon 190, because it is the right size for me, and will fit my container. It sure is ugly though.. Purple and orange, and my container is blue and yellow.. Ouch Considering style might be a little silly though, if you guys think it's a good buy.

This is what the seller said about the canopy: "The Canopy is a Triathlon HYBRID, same as regular, but Center A lines are red dacron, and the center A/B are not casaded." This canopy is less than 3 years old, and I might get it for 350-400 if I want it... The price sounds good, but I'm actually not a fan of the colors Perhaps, I should hold out for something a little more "perfect" ??

I've found a very new Triathlon "hybrid" 190 for sale. I'm trying to determine if it matters to me that the canopy is a "hybrid" as opposed to a regular. I'm building my first rig, and presently don't plan on doing any CReW in the short term. As far as I can tell by reading: http://www.flyaerodyne.com/fly/products/triathlon.asp#triahyb the leading edge is reinforced and the lines are different. Should these things matter to me? I did a search but I didn't find the answer to this question.. thanks!

When's the last time you saw a canopy do a go around? I know Remster, I was being facetious.

Thanks Phreezone. Very helpful as always!

*** Dont kid yourself. You can apply power on a plane if you fucked up your approach. *** Seriously?

If you were me, what would you be searching for? I want a fun but safe canopy ride. My only other criteria is that it fits in my G3 M6 size container (and cost of course).. thanks!

I believe that. My comments above are just my thoughts, but I value your advice and will heed it. thanks again!

Thanks to everyone for their input. I realize my jump numbers are low and a conservative canopy would be good. Honestly though, the only thing that's really intimidating me about the sound of this canopy is that opening with twists or a loose toggle might be pretty spooky for me to deal with (resulting in immediate spinning). Fast responsive turns sound good, and I've never had problems landing. I fly airplanes too, and I think it gave me a slight edge in that department. Tempting as it is though, I should probably hunt down a triathlon..

I feel a bit of a crash after, but it's not bad. I just feel a little numb to everything for the rest of the day. It's nothing like a drug crash though (not that I would know).

Hi, I've done some searching and reading on the Aerodyne Diablo main, and find that people generally tend to like it (depending on it's purpose). I'm wondering why Aerodyne would discontinue it? Is there some problem with them that I'm unaware of? A 2001 Diablo 190 is being offered to me with ~200 jumps on it for $600. Is this resonable? I'm putting together my first rig. So far I have a '00 G3 container, a '00 Raven 218 reserve. I weigh about 175-185 lbs depending. Any opinions on this welcome! thanks in advance for any input.

This may be a big "no-$hit", but since nobody else said it, I'll mention it: In any impact there's a change in velocity (of your head) in some given time interval. The average acceleration experienced by your head is simply dV/dt. The thickness and stiffness of the padding in your helmet will effect the dt (time interval). Car chasis are designed to crunch in a crash, so that the time interval is extended, which reduces the average acceleration (decceleration) felt by the passengers. Point is, if I had the choice between two helmets with the same type of padding material, with one being thicker than the other, I'd choose the thicker padding. Just having a hard shell around your head with minimal padding will only help you with abrasions and small bumps. Twice the padding would result (very approximately) in a little more than half of the acceleration felt by your head. This is a simplified explanation, but worth mentioning, I believe. ER PS - I'm in the market for a helmet..... Any recommendations?

Actually I earned my PPL about a month before I finished my A-license. Landing airplanes definitely made landing a canopy easy. My accuracy and flaring were good right away, whereas other non-pilots going through AFF at the same time as me were not so hot. Take care!

Thanks guys! I'll pass on this rig.

Thanks for the replies! PhreeZone: I'm sure there are hundreds of jumps on the Laser, though I don't know how many. The swift is the 5 cell with SN R3-1933, which is not included in the recall due to aifoil misshape. I weight 175 lbs, but occasionally get on body building kicks that put me up to about 200 lbs. The harness was used by a guy that is 5'10" and 180lbs. I'm 5'11" and 175, so I'd bet I could fit in the harness alright. Thanks for the feedback! Eric

Hi all, here's the situation: I just got my A-license this year and am shopping for an inexpensive first rig (because I don't have a lot of $ mainly). I found a 1983 RW Vector V-5 that seems to be in pretty good condition. He's selling it with a Laser 7 main that is about 230 sq ft. Also there is a Swift 190 reserve installed. I spoke with the guys at relative workshop, and they can replace all the velcro, convert it to BOC deployment and make it cypress ready for about $145. All of the hardware and webbing looks like it's in good shape. I was also told that there are riggers out there that could make this rig freefly friendly with some mods. The rig is being sold for $200. I'd like the opinion of a rigger as to whether or not this would be a foolish buy? My feeling is that after all of the mods I could end up with a decent (complete) first rig for less than $800. Any thoughts about this from an experienced rigger/skydiver? I have several pictures of the rig, if that would be useful to anyone willing to help me out. Many thanks! Eric

Out of curiosity, what's your altitude AGL when you jump? If you're living at higher altitudes, you're probably pretty well acclimated to handle something like that, whereas someone who lives at SL might have a problem. That's interesting