VectorBoy

Michele I had the same problem on my first spectre. Shitty landings 60% of the time and after a just about perfect record on everything I've ever jumped since starting AFF from the big skymasters to a demo spectre 190 @ 1:1. It couldn't have been me ? I had to induce a little extra speed in the form of a shallow turn or hang a little double front riser ( not something a person with a handfull of jumps wants to do close to the ground BTW ) just to insure I didn't scream through the flare past any ground effect into a facial PLF. I had people watch my landings and they said I was doing everything right except that nasty part at the end. And didn't recommened low turns untill I could land that chute. It turned out all I needed was to get rid of a really humongus non-collapsing pilot chute that was spoiling alot of my glide, which 7 cells have little to waste. After installing a kill line PC not only was the canopy flying fast enough for a proper flare but on the first attempt I shot back up into the air. I didn't take long to adjust after and not having to do stupid things to gain speed for a flare was really a confidence enhancer. Now I believe that the DEMO gear your on has all the modern goodies like collapsing PC's? Could YOU be doing anything to kill your glide and speed required for flare early in the final approach ? Breaking or starting to flare too soon? I personally don't think going to the sabre2 will help. In fact it may compound your problem by being semi-elliptical enough that any un-even toggle input starts to turn you one way or another hard during your flare. This happens to everybody and it is an issue even on a spectre. And thats where you learn to tame that, on a canopy that isn't so sensitive to turns. But a sabre 2 is a good ride and I recommend you demo one later. After many more jumps. You may have better luck on a 9 cell but not one that turns too easy. I love the spectre but many people who don't DO like the flare of the original sabre ( I can't stand to be spanked on openings ). It does have better flare and its not too turn happy. If you can demo one and have the packers do it up as spank resistant as possible That may be your ticket. Don't give up, get experienced people to watch you land and try different gear or UP size if you can. After you lick this problem you can get some more confidence and skill , fly in proximity to others and tippy toe it on the grass in front of Jacks digital.

August, 21,1985. temploux belgium, back then a military /civilian para club. Did the whole static line progression through freefall. AFF was out but not in that neck of the world, tandems were unheard of to us then. stopped because I hated jumping rounds and they wouldn't let me on a square for several hundred jumps. Still have my licence # 255 . Started up again and damn it was too long being away.

Yah I have an 83 cj with that mopar injection. I was going to swap out that t5 with the dodge 4500 untill jason at tri-county said its fine if I kept it fresh. I put the tera low 4.0 kit for the dana 300 it and and 4:10 gears and detroits so my weakest link tranny wouldn't have to work too hard. And new everything else. I did all the work myself, could not have afforded it otherwise, over a long period of time. BUT its still sick to think I could have bought two brand new top of the line complete skydiving rigs plus sundry gear and suits for the money sunk on the 4x4. Two days ago I was playing with the transfer case twin stick shift I'm cobbling up from a salvaged xtra stick ( too cheap to buy curries ) and I fell asleep under my jeep on my creeper for a few hours. I tell you its sucking out all of my energy. Or maybe I'm skydiving too danm hard?

Clay you gotta good ride.Your 300 transfer case is a very strong and sought after unit. Before you plunk down money on another t-4 you may want to investigate other tranny options. For your jeep there are alot if your a tinkerer. Or a direct replacement with a little number called a "world class" T-5. Our jeeps have borg warners with sleeve bushings the world class units have nice tapered roller bearings and can be found in mustangs and other high output street cars. If you find one in salvage make sure the shaft length and size and spline count are the same. If you can't deal with this much tinkering now you can buy it new from various aftermarket jeep sources or advanced adapters. Bad part, est $2200 good part you will not ever break it. Be glad you don't have the french tranny that came in some later wranglers its over $3000 to replace and garanteed to break again. And now I apologize to everyone else if I sound like a jeep tech weenie from offroad.com. Just trying to help a brother score a Voodoo and keep his jeep. Glen

I was going to pull at 9k to demo a canopy. Absolutely last out was a wing-suit jumper and we worked out a fly-by while I float in brakes. As I was crouching to let the two tandems, boyfriend girlfriend couple, get by me the really freaked out girlfriend closed her eyes tilted her head back and screamed "I love you" right as I was going by but obviously to her man seated across from her. I reached down touched her leg and said "I love you you too. There is a lot of love on this plane and now I'm going up to hug our pilot". Everybdy loved it.

I run into a lot of people like that. They are pilots with extreme credentials. Para-rescue or spec ops etc with wild jumps and water infiltrate tales. Some liar loozers you can walk away from if in public but thats not allways the case. Two perticular bad boys from work had everybody fooled, they were the HEROS and I couldn't escape. One was so bad at an airshow we attended that he turned off a helo pilot I was trying hard to smooze a ride in, so bad that the pilot wouldn't even talk to us anymore. An idea hit me while trying to find old pilot buddies on the Airmens medical web search. If you're a civilain pilot you have a medical cert right?Two seconds to find out on the net. If you were air force para-rescue you can tell me the size and color of the wind tunnel at yuma that EVERBODY goes through (gotcha). But if you were a Navy seal and you can't remember your military ID was DD form xxx you are definately busted. Remember that fruad that was doing some talk show and charity circuit a few years ago viet namm green beret this medal of honor winner that, until someone looked it up, he had the whole country fooled. Shame, shame and I have the perfect punishment. A couple of hours forced PT with some of our countrys SILENT proffesionals all on video.

Congrats Lisa. Can I put one jump on your spectre? I really miss my 170. I'll even pack it before and after I jump it.

I got a couple a jumps on a spectre 190 and choose to buy and put a hundred jumps on a 170 @1.1loading. I loved it! Best all around canopy, Fantastic first canopy, forgiving of sloppy "still learning to pack" jobs. And rock solid stable when you learn to pack and deploy properly. Like someone else said I regret having to sell it to play with elipticals. In a perfect world I would have a 120 for bird-man jumps and a 190 for a pro rating and demo work as part of my "everysize campaign". Not the flare of a 9 cell unless you induce a little speed. But that doesn't stop most of shit-hot camera flyers that use them. I hear Bridgett liss is not to shabby on hers either

I had to work this evening. I have my new Cobalt 135 that I got monday and only managed to put five jumps on. And it looks like Perris was hopp'n this 4th. I cudda been there.

Sorry Lisa its really tough balancing sales with giving advice to someone you don't know or have seen fly, over the phone. You are doing the right thing. The reality of this situation is that this individual needs to rent various non-ellipptical lightly loaded canopies and or get MORE canopy coaching until he is stand up landing a much higher percentage of his landings BEFORE he ever calls you. And its tough convincing this guy of that with tact. I have an issue with even semi- elliptical canopies be marketed as entry level. And I have only heard of one other person who is a dealer second that. I couldn't answer that without watching someone's flare in person.

All right break it up, break it up Dan. Enough playing with funky loadings ( most impressive BTW ) and send me MY 135. Its been eight weeks now. I'm starting to get attached to square1's demo 120 and thats getting expensive. Glen.

I love my slinks. I've heard of people using them to attach the pilot bridle also. You don't have too pull the slider down past em but if you have 1" risers your slider might descend past your slinks on a grommet or two. In fact a couple of high velocity slider grommet to fingernail taps have made my much more aware of where I put my hands and when during deployment. Reasons for pulling the slider past the links and behind your head , High permance canopy riser spread and less wear from a flappy riser. Although it may not stay there unless you have some method to hold it down ( velcro strap or rubber band around your reserve cover flap.) it could creep back up. Reasons for not camera flying, less chance of tangle and better visability.

Flight in chop- Xaos- 5 Crossfire w/mod- 6 Crossfire2- 9 Diablo- 10 I would have thought that any x- braced canopy would out perform all nonbraced canopy in choppy air. First of all I really like your personal canopy comparison And I would like to see more of this from others. I do take into account they are personal "impressions" but important to me nun the less.

Haven't jumped for too much time. Stuck at work and low on dime. Missed the night jumps. Its all my fault. 6 to 8 weeks wait for my Cobalt.

This question is for those of you lucky bastards that have actually cut away and deployed from rigs equipped with two soft handles. Is the sequence a straight pull or more of a twisting and pulling? I've not had my first reserve ride "yet" and every time I have simulated deployed both handles, whether in a hanging harness or my gear for repack, the velcro was vintage not robust. After being puckerd a few times by people taking harness grips too close to my handles I am delighted by my new rigs double pillows. The velcro is just "TIGHT" and being that it is a just slightly used rig sized for its former female owner it came with little stubby pillows. I don't want to modify the harness just to fit the bigger pillows because it does fit me even though its not custom. I do practice my procedures every jump and I want it to be a natural procession, when the time comes, and not a struggle.

A cool twenty years ago there was this early mixmaster rapper type in the uk who had some strangely dressed girls referred to as Buffalo girls. One line in several of his mixes was buffalo girls go round the outside,as in a mock square dance. And Paul I'm ashamed that I know this.

Hey Kope I was in a similar position myself, 100 some jumps on a spectre170@1.1 . Then was going to swap a gentleman who wanted to up size for gentler landings straight across for his cobalt 150@ 1.26 . I was hooked but he wasn't sure. See that cobalt can land slower than the spectre. A slightly smaller 9 cell will still be flying after the 7 cell has put down conditions being equal .Nine cell vs seven. Elliptical airfoil vs lower aspect ratio lightly tapered. My touch down speeds are actually slower. That cobalt has a fairly large flight envelope. Of coarse any fully elliptical is going to be much more demanding than any seven cell in all flight regime. More so the more its loaded. And of coarse the difference between a loading of 1.1 to 1.3 is nowhere as dramatic as the difference between 1.45 and 1.6 . I am really going to miss my spectre but I have fallen deeply in love with the cobalt 135@ 1.4 Never put money before safety but it helps if you have a gear dealer who will give you a good trade in on your 150 in 100 jumps or so when you want the 135. I vote for the 135.

Does anyone know if it's possible to replace a hackey without having a rigger do any sewing to it? I have a Cazer kill line, and I want to change hackeys, but not pilot chute. I was wondering if I could do it myself somehow. Thanx in advance for any info!

I have never flown the original Sabre But I do like the sabre2. I got the chance to demo a fairly new 135 loaded at 1.4. I couldn't compare the speed because of some brisk winds on landing. but the glide was very close to some stillettos in our group loaded around the same. I usually try to demo in no winds to get a real sense of speed and hands off glide. Its opening was very nice a little faster than the spectre or similar sized cobalt. I personally like long snivels but if you want something just a tad stiffer it fits the bill. Overall I found the stall point, both toggle and RR, to be gradual and well mannered. Turns were faster than a non tapered 9 cell but not as fast as an elliptical. It had hardly any oversteer even when turned hard in and out of diving turns. Riser pressure was fairly light well balanced. I really liked the flare. I would recommend one.

Hey Quickdraw if you read what I said " for the most part this group". They fly specters and sabre2 s maybe a Safire loaded at or around 1.1 or 1.2 Max. I don't believe the IllumiNazi's would have trouble with that. Now I did say our friend was testing aggressive canopys. He alone.This was a personal situation.

When I heard who it was that hooked in I was in shock. I have jumped with the guy and his friends and they are conservative. The freeflying never gets more daring than the least comfortable jumper can handle. This guy himself had toned down the nature of few jumps I've been on with them to make them safer and more relaxing even though he had the skills for a more demanding jump and the group was game on one. Like posted earlier this group NEVER hooks it. There are no ego problems in the bunch. For the most part I believe this group fly canopy's that would be considered safe for your first rig. And it is unfortunate that his core group has been taking the heat for being aggressive they are not. This individual did display eagerness and zest. He is driven and does display a love for this sport openly. I was aware he was testing aggressive canopys but not that he was flying them aggressively. It was a personal event. I could speculate, based on my knowledge that I've never seen him practice 90s, that the 180 wasn't planned. But I'll just wait and ask him myself. Again I am shocked. I feel for him and I feel for his friends that were there that day.

How could the TSO deal with non-manufacturer or custom loft made risers for different rigs? How many people have swapped your hard cutaway riser housing for what came on their rigs in light of recent hard pull incidents? Some people like "slider proof" toggle keepers and not every riser is made that way. Glen

What kind of canopy do you guys fly with your wingsuit? The three pilots I know personnally deploy mild behaving spectres.

Do you think they'll sew me up one thats covered in fur with a long tail so the girls will come over and pet me when my tails standing straight up?