avice on first rig

[pg8532 0]

i have about 40 jumps on current free fall canopies but hunfreds on military canopies and anyone who has jump in the military knows how hard you come down. i am looking at geting a new wings container and a spectre 150 with a pd 143. now i wieght about 145 exit wieght is about 155. everyone at my dz tells me i will be fine on it but i wanted to get some more sugestions. during all my affs i used a 230 for 5 jumps then went to a 190 and then a 170 i only have about 15 jumps on the 170 but when i land into the wind when its around 15 to 20 mph i float alot and tend to over shoot the landing zone and end up in BFE. any info or opinions are welcome. thanks

[GaryRay 0]

if you weight 145, your exit weight is more like 165....just a heads up, the rest of the shit i didnt pay attention to so maybe someone else can tell you to talk to your instructors at the DZ....

JewBag.
www.jewbag.wordpress.com

[theonlyski 8]

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when i land into the wind when its around 15 to 20 mph i float alot and tend to over shoot the landing zone and end up in BFE. any info or opinions are welcome. thanks

A smaller canopy is going to be worse, you'll have more forward speed to burn off before touchdown. Aim for a point short of the target, so your float will take you across and right to it.

Any way you look at it, a 150 is a HP canopy, its got shorter lines and less fabric to back you up when you do something you shouldnt have done. Check out Brian Germain's downsizing checklist (found here via a search) and make sure you can do all the things listed.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[countzero 7]

my exit weight's 165.

for my 1st. rig i went with used gear with a 170 main. as for it being kind of floaty i worked with instructors and more experienced jumpers on adjusting my pattern depending on the winds to land on the DZ.

demo some canopies if you can, especially if you're buying new for your 1st rig.

diamonds are a dawgs best friend

[Andy9o8 2]

Your exit weight is closer to 170 by my figuring. That puts you at about a 1:1 wing loading under a 170. If you've got fewer than 100 ram-air jumps, you really need to master all the flight characteristics of a 1:1 canopy before downsizing, to avoid a sudden avoidance maneuver down low auguring you into the ground. Under a 170, have you mastered flat turns? braked turns? cross-wind and down-wind landings? setting down into a very tight area (as if in an out landing)? Unless the answer is a strong Yes to all of those, I'd master the 170 before downsizing. And at your level, that means capably handling sudden emergency situations under canopy, not just landing on the DZ under more or less optimum conditions.

I also note the PD 143 reserve is smaller than the main. I urge you to have second thoughts about that, too. Yes, I know a lot of experienced jumpers with small mains also have "relatively" small reserves. But many jumpers deliberately have reserves that are larger than their mains. Consider this: if you're injured or unconscious, and must make an off-airport, no-flare landing under your reserve, with a limp body that is not prepared to PLF, how small a canopy are you willing to do that under?

[liftedtitan 0]

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But many jumpers deliberately have reserves that are larger than their mains. Consider this: if you're injured or unconscious, and must make an off-airport, no-flare landing under your reserve, with a limp body that is not prepared to PLF, how small a canopy are you willing to do that under?

two HUGE thumbs up on this!

Moriuntur omnes, sed non omnes vixerunt.

[pg8532 0]

i spoke to my aff insructors and they told me it was up to me. they said i would be fine under a spectre 150 being that i am not a aggressive canopy pilot and i would get more use out of it over a longer period of time. also we took my exit wieght with the 170 on and i was at 158. i am not going to buy a new main but i am going to buy a new container and possibly reserve and i did decide to up the reserve size to a 160. after resding some of the replies i got.

[skybytch 273]

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i spoke to my aff insructors and they told me it was up to me

Of course they did. It's not going to be their butt hanging underneath it.

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i am not a aggressive canopy pilot and i would get more use out of it over a longer period of time.

Conservative canopy pilots can screw up and die too. More square footage of fabric over your head when you do screw up is not a bad thing.

Take a basic canopy skills course ASAP regardless of what size canopies you decide on. The life you save could be your own...

[pg8532 0]

ya point well takin.

[Ironmanjay 0]

First off please dont be in any hurry to down size. You can still kill yourself or badly hurt yourself on a 170.
Any of the container manufacturers will fit one main size up and one main size down. So when you order your rig, talk to wings and tell them you want it to fit a 170 but with the ability to go down to a 150.... Ive even seen people put a 135 that was made for a 170, so that rig will last you a long time with those capabilities. On reserve sizing, Im a fan of the saying that bigger is better, so as other people have said, be willing to land your reserve, after having a nasty malfuntion, in a persons back yard.

[pg8532 0]

thats what i told wings when i order my rig. they said exactly that. i can put up to a 170 in it and as low as a 135. i will continue to jump the sabre 170 rental until i get my rig and then demo some canopies and take it from there thanks for all the advice.

[SpecialKaye87 0]

YYAAARR!!! CURSE THE T-10!!! MAY IT BURN IN PARACHUTE HELL ALONG WITH A THOUSAND PLFs!

Live young, die fast, leave a nice looking corpse