Cloud canopy

[baronn 111]

Inherited this Bad Boy. wWouldn't bother with it except it's red, white and blue and I need a demp canopy. Lines are ok (thick) and fabric is in good shape. The bridle attachment is not on the center cell. It's on both sides of the center and has a bridle going between the 2. Haven't jumped it yet but, I will. Anyone have any experience with these?

[RiggerLee 61]

I can almost guaranty that your not going to like it. There were several canopies in the cloud family. Very old school. If it's a "Cloud" cloud then it's like the first. It was a big deal when it came out because it flew better then a round. It had more forward speed. And the landings were not much worse. If it's a "Cloud". I hope it has a slider on it. Big lines? I think I know exactly what you've got. I've jumped it. Really don't want to go there. The only way you want to jump an original cloud is on a lark or a dare or if it's a bet there had better be enough money to cover the deductible on your insurance.

This was one of the first squares. Lot of evolution in it just from people tinkering with it. No slider. Ropes and rings. Pods. Two PC's. Super long lines. 1000 lb cored nylon line. Stretched on opening, never flew straight. Retrimmed the canopy between jumps. They cut the lines down to like 75% the original length in the field. I can land it. Shoot for the peas, better make it.

You can so do better.

Lee

Lee
lee@velocitysportswear.com
www.velocitysportswear.com

[chuteshack 4]

private message sent

[accumack 14]

It is most likely a Strato Cloud. There should be 2 rectangular windows on the bottom surface. I have many jumps on them remember it is a 50 year old design so it is not like modern canopies. They are fast opening, heavy, it was a good accuracy canopy it is 230 sq ft. I worked for Para-Flite from the early 1970's to mid 1990's.

[darkwing 5]

what others said... But you can reline it, take out some reinforcements, put on a slider, re-do the bridle attachment, and generally make it lower bulk. A long time ago, like late 1970s we did that with a canopy from ParaFlite known colloquially as a baby-plane. We renamed it the "Scare-a-plane" and put some jumps on it. The bottom line is that it isn't really worth it, unless you just like messing around with rigging stuff and jumping a canopy that doesn't open or fly as well as a modern canopy.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[tkhayes 348]

The cloud was a bad parachute even on a good day. In it's time it was acceptable and considered pretty good, but does not flare worth a shit, heavy toggle pressure and I bet I stood mine up less than 30% of the time.

old parachutes are meant to be looked at in photos, not jumped. Just like building Wright Fliers and trying to fly them is equally a bad idea.....

[accumack 14]

darkwing

what others said... But you can reline it, take out some reinforcements, put on a slider, re-do the bridle attachment, and generally make it lower bulk. A long time ago, like late 1970s we did that with a canopy from ParaFlite known colloquially as a baby-plane. We renamed it the "Scare-a-plane" and put some jumps on it. The bottom line is that it isn't really worth it, unless you just like messing around with rigging stuff and jumping a canopy that doesn't open or fly as well as a modern canopy.

I believe what he has is a Strato Cloud not a Para-Plane Cloud. The dual bridle was was used with slider canopies up until the light weight cloud. There really aren't any reinforcing tapes you can remove.

[mjosparky 4]

In the late 70’s I put a little over 500 jumps on a Strato Star. For it’s time it was a very versatile canopy. I started doing Crew with it and made my first 100 or so demos with it.

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[JerryBaumchen 1,364]

Hi Mike,

Quote

I put a little over 500 jumps on a Strato Star

The StratoStar is the canopy that brought the ram air to the masses. Until then, they were just 'special' parachutes.

Jerry Baumchen

[baronn 111]

Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I figured it is a POS. I'm gonna throw a big slider on it, pack into my student rig and go see how bad it really is. Video to come.....