crazy

to be accurate, the air density varies by ~1.5% when the relative humidity varies from 0% to 100% (standard conditions). Not objectively perceptible while flying a canopy, and far below the variations caused by other factors (mainly pressure and temperature). I have no doubt that the comparative density of dry and moist air is a valid question and that your answer is correct. However, this detail seems to be confusing. It is even used to support the misconception that canopies fly significantly better on dry days. -- come -- Come Skydive Asia

Don't be confused. Humidity has no significant effect on air density. For canopy control, forget both the question and the answers. bb -- come -- Come Skydive Asia

I know a few, with a few hundred hours in a wind tunnel. I would really want to see them in the sky and i have no doubt that they would be incredibly good students, from the exit to the opening. Maybe, for the exit they would have to adjust something (different orientation of the airflow), but they fly quite well and have excellent time awareness. Unfortunately skydiving is much too expensive for them. -- Come Skydive Asia

IMNSHO, Sam should improve his eating habbits and do some work-outs. Winter is only 3 months. 30 pounds of fat within 3 months is a lot (almost 20% of the initial weight), whatever the size of the canopy the risk of injury is quite high. Even bowling would not be recommended. Come -- Come Skydive Asia

Question of risk, in terms of probability to have a collision. Double the horizontal separation and you reduce the risk by 4. double the vertical separation and you won't change significantly the risk (in some cases you will even increase the risk because you provide an opportunity to use the vertical separation to reduce the horizontal separation). Hence, vertical separation is a very secondary point compared to horizontal separation. Imagine you are in a full load of solos from a MI-8. Would you jump with only 500ft horizontal separation and no vertical separation at all? Would you jump with no horizontal separation (stationary) at all and 500feet vertical separation? Now, once all the important parameters have been considered, if there is still some freedom left in the order of the groups, of course it doesn't hurt to use vertical separation.

So what? They released the Ninja, a problem was reported and they think that the problem is not with the canopy but with the pilots. What are they supposed to do? Keep making money and let the inexperienced pilots kill themselves? Or are you blaming them for releasing it in the first place? Maybe because other manufacturers will not react until there is a serious accident. PdF is used to react as soon as a problem is reported. Unfortunately, the only sensible thing that they can do is probably idiotproofing the ninja. It will probably not be an improvement in terms of performances for expert pilots. bb Come

maybe you don't need to get another canopy. Releasing the risers a bit slower might solve the problem. Pushing a little bit on the front risers after releasing them might help too. The nitron, even 1 size smaller, will probably have the same problem, however the recovery arc will be larger. I never tried it at intermediate wing loadings, but even heavily loaded it can flatten out by itself. -- Come Skydive Asia

Some do even worse, they fly in the openED position for ages...

That's a Troll. Another excellent product from Atair. Don't mix Trolls up with Cobolts. bb Come -- Come Skydive Asia

This is not a popular opinion, it is the procedure to save your ass. I sincerely hope that this thread makes you feel much better. Why would you damage your main and take a significant and useless risk when you can get good value from the money you give to your rigger? That would be really stupid! bb Come

I definitely second this opinion. F111/ZP hybrids are excellent beginners canopies. In some countries it is the favored choice as a first canopy. The Electra from Parachute de France is even comonly used by intermediate skydivers, or even by experienced conservative pilots. bb Come -- Come Skydive Asia

If atair recommends a minimum wing loading of 1.2 there is probably a good reason. bb Come

You're right, couples using the wedding night as a pretext to get involved in filthy activities are sickening. -- Come Skydive Asia

As a general rule, i don't think that closed questions are useful to credentialize an expert. I can't find 7 open questions, but i would ask things like: - the socio professional background - the achievements - the contributions to the sport - the incidents The answers to these 4 questions should give an overall view of the experience, the skills, the currency and the ratio balls/brain. With the 3 questions and 2 minutes left, i would try to figure out the ability to understand my needs and to communicate the advice. This is the difficult part and if i could do this in 2 minutes with 3 questions i'd be rich and famous. So, as you specially specified that the skydiver is a her, i would ask her vital stats, availability and preferences. bb come

What do you mean by "slack to front-riser [your] stiletto" and by "hit the sweet spot in the flare"? What difference does the length of the risers make? Is it that with the shorter risers when you pull the toggles all the way down, you can't reach the stalling point? come

ROTFLMAO With such an amazing talent for bashing competitors' products you are probably sponsored by atair, aren't you? Strange that after ~300 jumps on nitro(n)s 120, 108 and 98 i still think that for the price it's a very good deal. Though i'm nothing close to a pond swooper. come

how long did it take between line stretch to fully inflated canopy, slider down? Was it a normal cobalt? Normal slider? Any additional reefing gimmick? come

a nitron loaded at 2.2 lb/sqft still flies quite well. I've heared from people used to jump the original nitron at 2.4 that it's where they get the best of it (anybody selling a 2nd hand 88?). In my opinion, downsizing from an original nitro 108 loaded at 2.0, to a nitron 98 loaded at 2.2 was much more difficult than expected, but now i get longer swoops with the 98. When i downsized from the 120 loaded at 1.8 to the 108, i immediatly felt a huge improvement, though i had only 20 jumps on the 120. My personal feeling is that the optimum wingloading is much higher than the recommended wingloading. However, i know shit about canopies, so the manufacturer's recommendation is much more valuable than my opinion. bb come

Please can you explain a bit more? If the lines are adjusted so that the bottom of the ribs is straight, I don't see why the slider wouldn't sit against the bumpers. On a stiletto 135 with suspension lines of a 120, at low (~1 lb/sqft) wing loading, the owner said that it opened a bit faster and that the possibility of closed end cells was reduced significantly (unfortunately i couldn't try it). Why not put a bigger slider? Come

Do you mean that manufacturers agree to do this kind of modification? Until know i thought that these were always home made. From what you say, it looks quite good... Do you know if there is any competition swooper flying with shortened suspension lines? Come

Once more you seem to be absolutely right. I should have done the math before posting. Come

May be i'm wrong, but i think that if you reduce your drag ("increase you speed"), in addition to nose up, the canopy will fly slower. The reason is that the canopy needs less speed to compensate the resultant (weight+drag of the pilot). The opposite (flying large flags under a "small" canopy) seems to increase significantly the airspeed. Come

What would be the flight characteristics of a canopy with suspension lines shorter than the factory setting, for instance a stiletto 135 with the suspension lines from a stiletto 120? If you have actually tried it, which canopy was it? What was the effect on the performances? BB Come

Maybe for the same reasons why some people think that you cant see the full moon during daytime. If your grandma, or your instructor, hammers a stupid idea into you, it takes a lot to change your mind. Faith against thought is unfair because it's easier to believe than to understand. The striking news is that i checked and noticed that in australia it's just the opposite: the aircraft climbs better downwind and the canopies tend to turn upwind. BB Come

Easy, even with stupid units like feet vertically and miles horizontally :-) First try to figure out the vertical speed (V) and horizontal airspeed (H) of your canopy in half brakes. Either measure it or take typical values (like V=10ft/s, H=14mph but these are arbitrary values and don't reflect the characteristics of your canopy). Then you have to know the winds (W). Just take an average between the uppers and the winds at 2000ft, else you'll get headaches. As you know your opening altitude (O), you can get the duration of the flight D=O/V. For instance, you open at 8000ft and your vertical speed is 10ft/s, the duration will be 800 seconds. This is the maximum duration, assuming that you don't waste any time after opening and that you land downwind. So, to be on the safe side, remove 500-1000ft from the opening altitude. Knowing the duration of the flight D, the horizontal airspeed of your canopy H and the speed of the winds W, you can compute the distance travelled: T = D*(H + W), assuming that you're going downwind. For instance, with D=800 seconds (0.22 hour), H=14mph, W=20mph, T=0.22*(14+20) = 7.5 miles. Again, the values are given as examples, and the result is the maximum distance. You might want to open closer to the DZ. Have fun (and take warm clothes :-) Come