Cobolt canopies and hard openings

[Shyandinnocent 0]

Hi everybody!
I'm writing on behalf of my better half, whose written english leaves some things to be desired!
He has jumped a Cobolt 95 from Atair Aerodynamics now for 5 years. You know, the canopy they advertise you can use for high speed deployment, because of it's unique 2 stage opening. I have tried this canopy myself a few times, and can honestly say I would rather not jump at all. And I would NEVER, EVER consider a high speed deployment. Would probably take my head clean off.
The 2 stages my man and I have experienced on this canopy are pretty much
1. Extract pilot
2. Open canopy
This takes less than a second.
It has pretty much behaved this way since it was new. It kept behaving this way no matter how it was packed, nose tucked inn, nose rolled, slider out, slider wrapped around lines, nose folded, tube stoes, rubber bands... It still behaved that way when the lines had 500 jumps on them and we were waiting for a new lineset from Atair. And it kept behaving that way after we had the new lines installed.
I have tried to contact the company about this, but have had no reply, so now I turn to the general community. Have anyone else out there had similar experiences on their Cobolts? I am trying to figure out if it's the design, or if it's just this one canopy...

Looking forward to some feedback.

Blue Ones

It's never too late for a low turn!

[AMax 0]

I jump a 150 and haven't had a single hard opening so far (including about 50 jumps with 30 inch PC). Off-heading openings is a different story but it always opens slow.

[PhreeZone 20]

I ha a 150 that was beautful.. wonderful canopy. The 135 demo I jump damn near took my head off. I got it NEW at jump 0 on the demo canopy and it smacked me so hard my video was jumping and turning off.

If you get a good one.. .its good, otherwise you are screwed.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Canuck 0]

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

[Shyandinnocent 0]

Thanks, I'll look into those.
Do you know if the company has ever commented on the experiences people have with the Cobolt openings?

It's never too late for a low turn!

[hookitt 1]

ha.. .you bet they did.

The Cobalt flies great. The openings on some of them suck.

The manufacturer suggests all kinds of stuff to help it open correctly. It's basically nonsense. All of my past Stilettos opened really nice no matter what I was doing or how it was packed.

I borrowed a Cobalt and it opened soft. I demod one and it would sit above my head doing pretty much nothing for a couple seconds.. then BLAMO... it was open. It didn't matter what I did, that's how it opened. A larger slider made it worse.

I've opened my Stiletto while in a head down, a stand up, straight belly to earth, but mostly in a full on track. Used what ever pilot chute was available and it was consistant soft openings.

The Xaos I have ... same as the Stiletto. Nice and smooth. The Velocity I'm jumping opens weird but it's definately soft.

My opinion of the Cobalt is shared by many others. It flies great. The openings on a good many of them, however, aren't so good.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Canuck 0]

Quote

Thanks, I'll look into those.
Do you know if the company has ever commented on the experiences people have with the Cobolt openings?

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

[bliston 0]

I had a 105 on demo. It opened so fast my video (which I sent to them) skipped a bunch of frames. I got me vertical and then tried to make my head go through my ass and say hello to my feet. This was when they first came out. Company said that my airspeed may have been to slow.

Ben

Mass Defiance 4-wayFS website


sticks!

[Shyandinnocent 0]

I've been reading some of the other threads on this topic now. I think a lot of Cobalt owners agree that the canopy flies great. I think so too. But the openings are so hard that everybody on my DZ that has tried it, say they will never jump this canopy again. They range in wingloading on that canopy from 1.2 to 2.2.

Apparently Atair recommends that you dump in a flat track to get better openings. And that falling slower leads to harder openings. This makes no sense to me at all. Can anybody explain this?

It's never too late for a low turn!

[Shyandinnocent 0]

I did a video jump on this one that crunched my neck so much I have my navel in the video one frame.... It hurt

It's never too late for a low turn!

[Canuck 0]

Quote

Company said that my airspeed may have been to slow.

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

Canuck

[imdskydiver 0]

I had a cobalt 120 that i put 400 jumps on , I had only 1 hard opening on that one . I then put on another 200 on it after getting an H-Mod and that really made for soft openings and an even longer dive , My next Canopy was a C/C 105 which opened even better , I never once had anything close to a hard opening on it , On both canopies i've tried different P/C's switching back and forth from a 22" and then to a 28" ," No difference" I then sold it to another jumper who immediately had one hard opening after another ,I can't explain it other than he was grabbing the risers as soon as it came off his back , this changes the opening from a 2 stage to 1 stage opening , I packed both with Pro Packs , Psycho Packs , Trash packs , Every pack job produced the same results , Nice soft openings ,

[mr2mk1g 10]

My mate demoed a Cobolt. He described the "two staged opening as a "two staged bitch slap". That's enough for me.

[cobaltdan 0]

hello shyandinnocent,

you have no name listed, however i brought your post to the attention of gina bernardo in our office and she has no record of any complaints on a c 95, nor any line sets sold to your area in the past year?

i dont know who you have tried to contact but you can reach Atair direct at:

Atair Aerodynamics
160 Coffey Street.
Brooklyn NY 11231 USA
718-923-1709 ph
718-923-1733 fx
www.atairaerodynamics.com

sincerely,

daniel preston

Daniel Preston <><>
atairaerodynamics.com (sport)
atairaerospace.com (military)

[JJohnson 0]

I have a 120 and a 105. Both open great.

JJ

"Call me Darth Balls"

[extreme 0]

I have 150 CC for over 50 jumps now and I have never had any hard opening. I followed suggestion from Atair on using 24" zero-p kill line collapsible, open in a forward track, straight pro-packing, roll the tail tight, microline small rubber bands double stow lines, keep hands at your sides until the canopy is in full inflated flight. I have the opposite story, the openings are so soft that it takes few seconds to open. Great canopy.

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

I have the opposite story, the openings are so soft that it takes few seconds to open. Great canopy.

The problem is is a total crap shoot as to what canopy you get. I tell people that are looking to demo a Cobalt "if you get a demo that opens good and you like it, don't send it back just send them money for the canopy." The quality control or something about their production sucks, you'll see one canopy that opens nice then the next canopy (such as the one I jumped) will open so hard it almost knocks you out and it takes nearly 5 seconds to regain yourself so you can check to see if the canopy has been damaged on opening some how.

To fix that problem Dan told me on the phone "double stow using small rubber bands and that should fix it."

Ok, that'll help the snatch force, what about the rest of the opening? What about when I have a baglock from that crap?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[metalslug 36]

Girlfalldown had a memorable opening on her Cobalt last year and speaks about it here.
Not necessarily the fault of the canopy, but the opening looks brutal on video.






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No 'mericans were harmed during the making of this post.

[Girlfalldown 0]

Quote

Girlfalldown had a memorable opening on her Cobalt last year and speaks about it here.
Not necessarily the fault of the canopy, but the opening looks brutal on video.

AGH! That opening sucked! I missed several weeks of jumping. I got right back under it though when I came back and never had another hard opening on it again. I also never tried to psycho packed it again.





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(Do not, I repeat DO NOT, take my posts seriously.)

[Shyandinnocent 0]

Thank you Dan
I will contact your company direct!

IM

It's never too late for a low turn!