Canuck

Yup, I agree with both of ya. But that doesn't take away from the point that a person can learn the art of the swoop under a Stiletto. Canuck

Tell that to just about every single pro competitor on the PST. Almost everyone who is into flying fast canopies has at one point or another been a Stiletto pilot... Canuck

That rig, without the Cypres, is pretty easily bought for $2500. So, is a five year old Cypres needing servicing worth only $200 less than a brand new one? I wouldn't pay more than $3200... Canuck

You gotta put Rickster Powell's name right up there. Canuck

Ahh, but the TMs I work with would, in this case, leg hook the student and pull them into a good body position. Nothing is ever cut 'n dry with tandems, but from my perpective, they fly the smoothest and the most heads-up when their arms are forward and their knees are bent. YMMV. Canuck

No shit. Bottom drogue rigs fly steep enough as it is. I really like it when the TMs get their arms out forward and their legs up their asses to flatten them out a little. Canuck

Nope, I'm guessing you are Packers shouldn't miss that. For 5 bucks for 5 minutes, they damn well better do a line check. Canuck

Simple. Make a kick ass promo video of what a tandem video should look like (read: outside video) and let the hand-camers do their best to come up with a promo that matches it. Show them both to prospective buyers, and if you're doing your job well, it will be no contest. The other thing is to push the still pictures, which are honestly where the value is. Someone might watch their tandem video a dozen times, but that glossy 8x10 hangs on their wall for years. If you don't have still equipment - invest a little more! Vive la videographer! Canuck

My freefly team recently had Go Crazy make us a set of matching team pants to replace our old mix-matched Michigan and Tony suits. We are all very happy with the product. Terrie was great at tailoring our pants to our individual needs (I'm 5 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than my team mates) to keep us looking and flying our best. She gave us several different fabrics to choose from rather than the one or two that most jumpsuit companies offer. Everything is done on a made to order basis - Want pockets? How many? Where would you like them? Zipper or velcro? Want stripes? How wide? Awesome! The cuffs are triple velcroed so they won't blow open, and the waist closure has a zipper, snap, and a belt with fastex buckle. They are also "low-rise" so you don't look like a geek with your pants riding up around your waist! As for how the pants will hold up, only time will tell, but with the rienforced butts and knees, and the rugged materials and construction, I'm sure we will be jumping these pants for years to come. I still see my old belly suit kicking around that Terrie made me 10 years ago and has been handed down twice, so I know her stuff is die-hard! So, save yourself money, save yourself time, and get a suit the way you want it.

I went from a Flat Top Pro to an FF2 - no regrets. Took me a couple jumps to get use to the new sight angles, and it's slightly more work for shooting tandems, but great for freefly and RW video. I just love how light and low profile it is. Canuck

I almost always preach to the conservative side of things, but this seems excessive. The Sabre 2 replaced the Sabre - it's not that radical of a planform change. The downsize from a 150 Sabre to a 135 Sabre 2 isn't a problem for me, but I would argue that a few more jumps are in order to get him within the Brian Germain wingload to jump # ratio. Just my 2 cents. Canuck

We have a company up here that's making them now with fast delivery times. Quality and design look excellent, and they will make them out of whatever fabric you like - hemp even! Company is called gocrazyman and is listed in the gear section. Canuck Canuck

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the outside videographers get a free slot in the plane to spec tandem vids at the Meadows (so long as there is a slot available of course)? I'll take a free jump with a cute, well-endowed girl anyday... As to the original question, we just plug in a sample DVD for the tandem customers to watch as they're filling out waivers, and if possible, at least one of us will hang out in manifest to pitch it a little. I find they really buy into how awesome it would be to have someone flying in front of them to give them the "flying perspective." We sell lots... Canuck

One of my buddies has just started jumping his Comp Cobalt 95 with the brakes not stowed to soften the openings - so far so good. Icarus tandem canopies don't even have brake settings. They open soft. I've heard that JC use to jump his VXs without stowing to soften things up, but that's just hearsay. Bottom line - not stowing your brakes results in slower/softer openings. I imagine it can also result in some seriously violent/shitty malfunctions... Canuck

Compared to basically everything else on the market when the Stiletto was released, it opened really nicely, but by today's standards, it's not that impressive. I much prefer the openings of my Velo to the openings of my Stiletto. And nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to my old Crossfire (1) openings... Canuck

If you're leaving from the strut, get as far up it as possible and make sure you are at full arm extension from it. You don't really need to see the TMs count - go when the student is past the point of no return. The other option is to go from the rear float position which works really nicely and gives the best student shots from a 182/206. Canuck

Negative. Take a look at some video from a recent pro meet. For some reason, Tagle comes to mind as a person to watch. His transition from rears to toggles is very early in his swoop - not when the canopy is on the verge of stalling. Nobody is trying to go the distance solely on rear risers. Watch from the side sometime. What you will see is that the entire canopy starts to get pulled behind the pilot as more riser input is added and airspeed reduced. Transtioning to the toggles allows the canopy to get back overhead. Final thing - done properly, you don't hear that "pop" that someone mentioned when transitioning to toggles. That generally comes from waiting too long on rears and then stabbing the toggles. Canuck

troll...

My thoughts: JVX = Way too much money. Unless this canopy proves itself superior to everything else out there, it's not worth $500-700 more than what you can buy a Velo, VX, or Xaos with. VX = If you're going to buy a 27 cell x-braced canopy, you might as well get a Xaos 27. Better openings, better lines. Xaso = Yup, I'd deffinately consider one of these in the future. Velo = I love mine, and the competition results speak for themselves. Yes the PD crew trains a lot (but so does the Icarus crew and the Xaos crew). For sure it is mostly the pilot, but even Mr. Tagle isn't going to win any pro events under a Stiletto these days... Canuck

It has a lot to do with the fact that Sony cameras have proven to last 100s and 1000s of jumps, where other brands often don't. Not to say that they can't, there are for sure people jumping JVCs, etc. with good results. Also, most Sony cameras have a LANC port used for Cam-Eye indicators. Most other brands don't have them. Canuck

Dunno. I'm not in that community, I just lurk their posts every once in a while, and I remember seeing Tom A writing something to that effect. I do know that the BASE people (for obvious reasons) have devoted much research to finding out what opens fast. Canuck

See, now that shit just cracks me up!!! Canuck

Ha! That's funny. (Cobalt) Dan Preston is notorious for his overzealous ravings about how awesome the Cobalt is (and how shitty basically every other canopy on the market is). No, Atair has never admitted to the poor openings of the Cobalt, with the exception of the 170. Canuck

What's the Riot? Canuck

There are a bunch of threads on this topic, the summary of which is that the opening characteristics of Cobalts are very inconsistent from one canopy to the next. Canuck