hackish

Ok, I know this wasn't a beginner canopy and I've always been conservative about making sure that I take the appropriate sized steps. I work in the auto industry and the last thing I want to be in that 16 year-old who takes his dad's viper out for a spin... So I've been flying a sabre 210. One of the guys at the DZ let me try his spectre 170 as there was no time to repack between jumps. For the record I'm 185lbs without gear. While it did fly a little faster and land with a little more toggle sensitivity the one thing I really appreciated about this canopy is that it did what I told it to do without feeling like I had to coax or sometimes provoke it into what I wanted. Now I didn't try any quick spirals or front riser stuff as it was my first ride. Unlike the 210 I was able to get a little more reaction from hip motion and I did notice that as Brian Germain's book the canopy and its pilot said you do need a little opposite toggle to stop a turn. All in all it seemed to be a comfortable and fun thing. Now what I do wonder is in the natural progression of moving up on performance what comes next? Or is a spectre a good medium level performance canopy? Personally I want to exploit the sabre 210 a little more first but I'm thinking something like this could be a good first canopy for me for next year? -Michael

I can't tell you if AFF or classic progression is better - I'm sure each camp could argue until blue in the face. I did classic progression. My first jump course was about 6h with a lot of drills and practice exits. It was scary as hell climbing out on that strut having never skydived before. So you're already at an advantage with 2 tandems under your belt. My suggestion is to go visit each DZ and talk to the instructors and members and decide for yourself which school and program may suit you better. -Michael

Just for comparison I just downloaded my jump data. Doing front riser spirals I was able to reach a maximum of 38mph. This was on a sabre 210. While this is more of an intermediate canopy it does show that in theory it is possible. -Michael

Ok, just got my jumptrack that I had ordered before this ordeal. Guess I couldn't have quit with a box of goodies from paragear on its way. Just thought I'd attach it. As you can see the main deployment initiated at around 3100'. Around 55 seconds you can see the descent rate was almost normal (that was with one toggle buried which almost stopped the spin) Spent about 10 seconds attempting to clear the entanglement and get it to fly straight. Cutaway was initiated at 2670' and the reserve was open at 2319. From there you can see a pretty conservative canopy ride down to the ground. -Michael

I was getting very inconsistent openings on a saber 210. Eventually I ended up reading PD's packing instructions and finding that few people (myself included) know that they have a specific way you're supposed to pack them. Basically a camera pack. So far in the last 4 jumps it seems to have made a big improvement. Some around my DZ have said that the sabre/sabre2's are known for either long snivels or brutally hard slammers. Most did not know there was any different packing procedure. Are you tucking the nose in or rolling 4 cells on each side and letting it hang? -Michael

I was getting frustrated at this sabre 210. I had nasty line twists a few times in a row. Things did not seem to be looking good. Some of the old-timers at the DZ suggested that most linetwists were probably coming from the position during deployment. Specifically my legs. Today I spent time concentrating on that. Had 3 very successful and satisfying jumps with no linetwist. As soon as I forgot to check the position of my legs during deployment that ugly linetwist reared its head again. Just my (limited) experience. -Michael

Around here (Ontario/Quebec) the DZ's close for the winter. I think the pay and cost of living is probably similar but every piece of advice I've heard says you can't make a living doing that. Out west near Vancouver they may operate all year around as the winters there are really really mild. -Michael

Darn 3rd hand... I'll ask if it's going to be safe to just leave the toggles on their stops. I did this last time - never really thought about it. Also bear in mind I'm doing this at about 3000'. -Michael

Okay on Friday before I got to chopping (or is that hacking) my main off I did have some time to play with the sabre making observations. Indeed the first few inches were more difficult and I was easily able to commence a spiral. As soon as I felt myself swinging out in an arch I was unable to maintain the riser's position and this is consistent with what the experienced diver's comments had stated. I consulted with my instructor and he felt that commencing the spiral more than satisfied their requirements for a 360 degree front riser spiral. It was too windy today so I spent time filling out the hack-away report plus hunting down the PC and free bag in the thick bushes. Tomorrow I will try holding it with 2 hands to see if I can maintain a spiral at all. -Michael

I'm just a lowly little novice so don't take this as advice. Last weekend I did 5 jumps - they were all just practice jumps for my "A" style set. Not a lot of stress and I was exhausted at the end of the day. The most my instructor ever let me do before I was self-supervised was 3 in a day and that was exhausting. -Michael

Thanks everyone for your kind words of encouragement. I had a long talk with my better half to make sure we were still both comfortable with the risks of the sport. Even she was encouraging me to get back on the saddle. What a rare non-skydiving woman to find. This morning I went out and did the packing CoP and passed. Had a long chat with the rigger who did the test. Then I headed to the DZ to fill out the AIM paperwork on the reserve ride. We went for a hike in the woods and amazingly the freebag was discovered among some cow paddies. Last night the canopy was recovered as well. Funny story - it was found by a couple of farmers who were positive they had just witnessed a skydiver death. So the only thing lost was the cutaway handle. At least I saved the silver. According to the altimeter the cutaway occurred at 2860' and after reaching a maximum speed of 84mph I was flying under the reserve 300' later. I will download the exact plot when my jumptrack arrives. Analysis if the chute and rig revealed that the brake stows were a bit loose and the velcro was a bit worn. This winter they will be replacing all the student rig brakes with tru-lock systems. Looking at the bruises on my legs I guess the opening was a bit harder than I realised so it must have popped both brakes out and caused the left brake line to whip around and form a tension knot. It is probably evident that I've realised that a couple of mishaps is not that uncommon and not reason to throw away such a good sport. Yes I'm sticking with it and I'm happy to see that improvements are being made. Thank-you all, the community surrounding this sport is amazing. -Michael

Ok, I'm a little pissed off. Jump #29 was the last jump of the day - I got 3 in today. Jump #27 was on the sabre 210 and someone elses packjob. On opening I got a little bit of linetwist. Jump #26 had about 3 revolutions of line twist and this one was only 1/2 turn. So I packed it with some supervision as I wasn't 100% sure about the camera pack thing. Opened beautifully and I flew it down nicely to a standup landing. Fast forward. I was on the next load and it was a hot load so there was no time to pack. I grabbed a student rig (parafab 284), checked it over and put it on. The skydive was uneventful until opening. Since I've been having problems with the sabre I threw out a little high - just under 4000. The opening looked okay - a little harder than I was used to but about on par with the sabre. I watched the slider descend and as soon as the canopy inflated fully it took a dive forward. I looked up before grabbing the toggles and noticed that the tabs (that normally stow on the little sleeves on the risers) were both out and facing inward. I immediately grabbed both toggles and pulled them down. The left toggles wouldn't come down and as I looked again I could see a giant knot around a bunch of lines. At this point in time the canopy had begun to spiral. I tried correcting with the opposite toggle. Tried tugging at the left toggle twice to see if the tangle would come undone. With the full opposite toggle it would still not fly straight. I checked the altimeter and was around 2800 and losing altitude fast. I think I remember muttering "here goes nothing", hooked my thumb around the silver and yanked the red. The RSL beat me to the silver but I ended up pulling it anyway. What an odd feeling to end up in freefall again staring at those trees as they're getting larger. The reserve deployment was quick and uneventful. Freebag was lost in the woods but I noted the direction of the cutaway canopy and turned into the wind to concentrate on finding a good place to land. Now I suppose I should pubically thank "Mo" Seguin my instructor for doing a good job of training me - teaching the right procedures and holding me back during my training to make sure I was able to do every requirement properly. Also N. McGrath the rigger who packed up a reserve that opened flawlessly... So back on topic. I've had 29 jumps so far. My first jump ever had 1 linetwist that came undone quickly. One time the altimeter stuck at 5000. One time the sabre had some issues with a brake line not routed correctly (which I successfully flew and PLF landed on the rear risers). Now this... Obviously at this point in time I'm a little upset and I don't know 100% if the rewards are worth it in this sport. I've raced rally cars for a number of years and have always been good at dealing with emergency situations. I was collected enough to follow the emergency procedures this time and feel like I could do it again. I've always liked pulling a little high in case something went wrong. What are the chances this much crap happens to the same guy in his first 29 jumps? There is maybe a 50/50 chance that I'll be going to my packing CoP test tomorrow or just saying fuck-it I'm done here. Anyone else ever feel like that after a situation like this? -Michael

Very informative - learned a lot from reading your response actually. I was basing my assumptions mostly on the physics of where the AR if a canopy would then place each line set. I was counting on the "thickness" of the wing to have a lot of effect on how it "handled" not simply how small it was. The speed versus inflation pressure thing does make sense but if you can pull a riser down far enough to initiate a turn and the forces from the turn do not make a big difference then you should be able to hold that during the entire spiral which some are saying is nearly impossible. -Michael

Neil the diver driver has a non-aviation GPS on the jump plane and he finds that it "lags". I suppose this is because it is not able to get a clear enough signal of the sky to pick up enough satellites. The real question then is how long it will take for your GPS to re-aquire while you're in freefall if it's not able to pick up satellites during the flight. -Michael

Are those the rules for the US? If I were a D and if I tossed out at 2000 the last opening I had would have been open at 800. The rules in the frozen northland are 200' higher. Not my idea of fun. Depending on how many jumps I get this weekend I'll try not tucking the nose in and see how it opens. -Michael

They do not. Some people need to analyze and understand the technical details behind a concept before it is truly understood. Others are happy to just accept what they're told and are able to regurgitate the factoids on command. -Michael

I decided to go step by step through PD's manual for the sabre in case the rigger who showed me the packing procedure missed a fine detail. "Sabres are designed for a slow-to-medium speed opening when packed as described in the P.D. manual - with each side of the nose rolled four complete turns towards the center. Do not tuck the nose into the center cells. The new airfoil design causes the center cells to form a pocket that can hold the rolls there during opening. Additionally, tucking the end cells into the center cells will result in unreliable opening times, with some very long snivels. Repeat: Do not do this." It would seem that although I got the 4 turns right I missed the part about not tucking the nose in. Oops! Looks like the snivels are being caused by the packing. Will correct that this weekend and report back how well it goes. -Michael

Maybe next winter I will be going down to Deland so if I do then I'll definitely have to look you up. Being new to this sport I don't really know anything about mirage. I can appreciate how much nicer the PD280 flies when compared to the Parafab 284 in the pile of student rigs so I can see why the secrets held in parachute patterns are not exactly that "available". -Michael

What I was incorrectly calling AoA is actually the RAI. If you can imagine deforming that canopy such that you're pulling on the A & B lines I believe it will increase the cross sectional symmetry of the wing. This should result in the decrease in lift but I'm not sure what it does with the airflow vector. -Michael

The pics do seem to make sense to what I've felt pulling the front riser. First few inches always seemed to be the toughest and after that a bit easier. It may have been due to my arm position and the geometry of that but if distorting the wing (it's AOA) has the effect shown in some of those photos then it will be moving the lift back to the rear riser on that side. Can't wait for this weekend to try it some more... -Michael

Not really itching to build something - I did consider it would be cool to build a smaller scale model of a complete 9 cell chute but that would consume time I don't have. -Michael

During the turn you are effectively increasing your weight through the centripetal force you are applying on the lines. The real trick is figuring out what affects the amount of force being applied to a single front riser at different amounts of deflection. -Michael

So in other words you really can't "buy" a parachute pattern? Or a pilot or drogue pattern? -Michael

Sure, sounds good. I'll pack it that way if you agree to "unpack" it at terminal. -Michael

I'm guessing if you had to do something major like replace an entire cell the canopy would go back to the manufacturer. What if a master rigger wanted to construct a PC or drogue or something like that? Where do they get the patterns? I've heard of some guys flying homemade canopies but who knows... -Michael