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I had this happen about 8 months ago. I was jumping a Triathlon 175 loaded at about 1.2. Both steering lines broke on opening, both toggles were still in the keepers. The cascades on the right side were wrapping around the whole line group, while the left side was trailing behind the canopy. Honestly I couldn't tell how many lines were broke and wasn't sure if it was just the steering lines or not. The canopy was in a slow right turn that could be stopped using riser input. I tried flaring using rear risers but it would kind of carve while flaring. I still wasn't sure about landing it going through 1800 ft. so I chopped it. I really think you won't be able to answer this until your under that canopy thinking about landing it.

Well I think that it was forgotten completely that Dan was not posting to slam PD or any other manufacturer. But posting in direct response to another thread that stated. If it's not PD then its Sh*%. Trying to provide food for thought about blind faith and why its not the best answer to your canopy choices

I find it very offensive that anyone would say McDonalds suck. They have been around a very long time and are the standard that other fast food places try to achive. That in mind that's exactly what Dan was talking about with PD. You have to compare with them because they set the standard with the Sabre and the Stiletto. Every time someone talks about a new canopy they want to know how it compares to one or the other. On my DZ I walked in with a Heatwave the DZO did not know anything about it. He asked what it compared to I said a Stiletto, now he knows or has an idea. Then he said why would anyone want a copy when the real thing is available. This is a man that has been in the sport for a long time and has several thousand jumps. The message has to put accross to people like him and the only way is to compare with PD and say why this or that is just as good as or better then PD products.

Jessica The bottom line is someone made some sort of mistake. That wing loading would not be considered extream by anyone with any common sense. So you should be fine with the 150 but if you doubt, make a few jumps under very controlled circumstances and go from there

There is no reason on God's green earth for a manufacturer, company or business to lie to you. It would not have taken much for Icarus to say we have been developing some new canopies for quite some time, they are still in the testing stages and I don't see any being released with in the next few months. Only a fool would not buy a canopy with that type of information, and it would be an honest ethical answer. If they'll lie about one thing for business reasons then they'll lie about anything for business reasons. A company, a business, manufacturer, or person is only as good as their word. If their word is no good then neither is the person!

Well Steve That one kind of baffles me. My Hornet opened great every jump. I pro-packed it some of the time, on the nose I would fold the 3 outside cell towards the center and leave the center 3 cells alone and pull the slider out over the nose. I also pyscho pack most of the time with the same results soft on heading openings. I don't have that many jumps on a hornet only about 30 but never had any problems at all. Its a great canopy in every aspect, I just went to a Heatwave for a little more performance.

With modern equipment there really is no reason age should be much of a factor. You can jump using a large main canopy that will set you down softly even on a no wind day. You can match that with an equally large reserve just in case. You can use type 8 risers with large rings for more mechanical advantage. Of course you can add an AAD just in case the worst case happens. As far as back loops, turns and flying in freefall. It doesn't take very much physical effort. If you can pull your knee's up toward your chest you can back flip. Pull one arm in a little and you turn. Cock a leg some and you turn. As for stable delay you need to arch which is much harder on the ground then in the air. Most of the work is done for you by the air flow over your body. Now it can get very physical if you want it to. But it sure doesn't have to. As for reflexes well you really only loose 10ths of seconds not enough to be concerned about. Pull a little higher and you have no problems. Age just isn't that much of a factor anymore if you equip yourself properly.

Perhaps there is a lesson in the first fatality of the year. The jumper had a spinning malfuction, made several attempts to cut away but could not get the handle. He did find his reserve handle and fired it into the spinning main. He ended up with two canopies out, and impacted in a down plane. I think I would rather take my chances with two canopies out then nothing or landing under one spinning main. Of course this may have been a fluke and the soft handle may not be harder to find/pull

I psycho pack and I definitly roll the canopy like rolling a sleeping bag. I think the part you were misunderstanding is when you first place the canopy on the ground you fold it in toward the center in about the width of the bag. Once that is done you pull the bridle out and roll the thing like a sleeping bag pulling any slack out of the lines as you go. I get very soft consistant openings. Here's what they say from Precision's web site. This is a quote from step 10 "Here is when people start realizing you are truly psycho. Pull the bridle attachment point out to one side, and begin to roll the canopy up like a sleeping bag. Roll it tight, and be sure to keep slack from developing in the lines. The bridle ring should be pulled well out the "axle" of the roll, probably even a little more than you see here." Check the whole thing out at Precision Aerodynamic's site.

I just got my new Wings and a Tempo reserve from Rigs n things the first part of April. I have to admit great service answered any and all questions I had, and I called at least 3 times. Definitly the best prices I could find anywhere.

Even Jesse Jackson one of the most liberal blacks in the world admitted that when he hears footsteps behind him on a dark street in the dark of the night he is relieved to see a white man.

Throw in a trench coat and walk in a school and see if you profiled!

Hi Merrick I haven't had to make any adjustments at all to mine. It flys great there's enough slack to riser turn with no problems and I still have great flare for landing. So I'd make a couple of jumps at factory settings and go from there.

I have to admit I'm a little confused here. If your talking about hook turns thats one thing, but I read a 90 degree toggle turn on landing. That's what most of us do and it's what all students do and should do. You make your down wind, then you turn 90 degree's with your toggle, for your cross wind. Then you make another 90 degree toggle turn for you up wind. I certainly don't want to confuse any newer jumpers this is the way it should be done. Riser turns are great but should be left for the more experienced jumpers.

It wouldn't surprise me at all. I think it will get figured out. I just wonder how many will get killed in the process. If I'm not mistaken there were several that died just trying to devleope what we have today. I'm not knocking them, it was the same with parachutes in general.

Kudos to the spaceland jumpers. I only have about 185 jumps (96 of them from over 20 years ago) and I was at spaceland visiting on Wednesday. I was invited on a 4 way with Jumperpaula, John and Jesse all of whom have bunches more jumps then me and are way better flyers. Were talking these guys are going to be on the Texas record attempts. So we start dirt diving and they say " ok we'll do a meeker, then a diamond stairstep and then a" I have to stop them and say hey sorry but I'm a hick jumper and I don't know what a meeker is. Where I jump we just say ok we'll do this, then we'll do that then we'll do this. So I expect to get thrown off the jump, but no they say no problem. So we finish dirt diving and off we go. So the exit goes ok and we turn about 5 or 6 points and then of course I go low. Well they fly down catch me and we start again. After landing I figure well here go's I know I screwed the jump up and I'm waiting to here about it, even though for me it was a great jump! Well here comes Paula and I just know she's going to say it " Larry you are the weakest link goodbye" but no she says "Whooooooo Hoooooooo how was that? So I'm stoked, we go inside and the guys are great about it too. In fact I get an outstanding post jump critique on how to improve but still keep it all fun. Wow what a blast, they even ask me if I'm going to go again. Well unfortunatly I had a 3 hour drive ahead and had to get going. But I just wanted to say thanks to the Spaceland crowd for letting a low timer like me in on their jump and then making it a great learning experience and yet keeping it great fun. So for the rest of you experienced RW flyers take a page from their book and take some low time jumpers up when you can, it means a lot.

This post generated the kind of discussion I was hoping for. I'm like a lot of you I would hate to see more regulations we need to look out for each other. I agree totally that each and everyone of us is resposible for ourselves. How ever if you were one who thought this will never happen to me, it was just plain stupid. Then you were the one I was trying to reach. One day you will eat a big slice of humble pie! You will make a mistake! I hope when you do someone is looking out for you.

Here I was on a 5 min call for the otter load. I'm all geared up standing in the loading area. Chris a staff member ( I think ) at skydive Spaceland, looks at me and says you might want to check your chest strap. Now I'm not a 1000 jump skygod but I am fast approaching 200 jumps and I know how to put my gear on right. Wrong I look down and my chest strap is misrouted. I couldn't believe it, how could I have done that? I was very imbarrassed and all I could say was " thanks that could have been real ugly". Chris says no problem would you like a pin check? I say you bet, at least there were no problems there. So we go have a great fun jump! So there were a few things learned here I thought I would share. 1. Its easy to make a mistake, and mistakes in skydiving can kill you. 2. Make sure you get gear checks, and when you give gear checks be sincere, a life could be at risk. 3. If you are a very experienced jumper and a low time jumper questions a piece of your gear for saftey. Even if they're wrong, explain why your gear is the way it is and incourage them say thanks. Let them know that the next time they could be saving some dumb ass like me. 4. Don't ever think it can't happen to you! Before this incident I would have told you there is no way I could ever misroute my chest strap and yet here I am. Now I can't say I would have fallen out of my harness, but I can say thanks to Chris ( who has bunches of jumps ) I didn't have to find out! However even a new jumper might catch something like a chest strap, so please look!

I think Phree hit it on the head. On my Hornet I flare fairly low maybe 6ft. That planes me out at just where my feet will drag if I let them. Then as I start to sink I finish the flare and it will pop me back up so I can just kind of step up and the speed is gone. I rarely have to run out my Hornet loaded at about 1.4. You just need to get used to a little surf.

Thanks Jussi I'll give that a try!

Ok you wings owners I need a little help. I just got my new wings in and I'm a little confused by the freestyle handle. First the manual says that you mate the velcro from the handle to the velcro on the right side flap. I don't know about the rest of you but mine has no velcro. So do you just stuff the handle in the BOC or do you tuck it in the right side flap, or should I really have velcro? I have the throw out system not a pull out.

I use sight saver, I get it at work its for cleaning safety glasses. However you can get the same type thing at any saftey store and I'm not sure but I think most eye doctors sell the same type stuff. Also you can find it at scuba shops for anti fog on the mask.

This is what I was talking about, this comes from PD's web site. The Stiletto will be described in comparison to the Sabre of similar size since it is a very popular high performance canopy that most experienced people have jumped. Both canopies are first class high performance canopies but with different handling characteristics. Some jumpers will prefer the handling of the PD-Stiletto, while other highly experienced jumpers will still prefer the more traditional high performance characteristics of the PD-Sabre. Some folks love them and some hate them! The folks that don't like them tend to call them twitchy and don't like the openings. Some folks don't think they're twitchy at all and love they way they open. When your the one jumping it, you make the call!

I use an antifogger/cleaner on my full face and it has never fogged up. This is one reason I like the flip up lens though. At least he could have moved it. In the case of no flip up then tear the thing off. All things considered a face shield is fairly cheap. But the easy way is to get some anti fogger.

Perhaps what you find is that the sale prices are quite a bit different. I know I just bought a Wings with hip rings and the new price was $930 the Voodoo was on sale at the same time for $1250. So I saved $320 a lot more then the $60 your seeing.