what was the worst canopy youve ever jumped?

[swooperman 0]

Jedi 120. Slammed the hell out of me even on hop n' pops, and it had a pocket on it! It may well have been a one-off situation as far as Jedis go but I never jumped one again.

[stayhigh 2]

i see almost all manufacture's name and type of canopies here,,

so our conclusion is every canopy sux,, and we shouldn't skydive

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[bozo 0]

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i see almost all manufacture's name and type of canopies here,,

so our conclusion is every canopy sux,, and we shouldn't skydive

No.....just you .

bozo
Pain is fleeting. Glory lasts forever. Chicks dig scars.

[phoenixlpr 0]

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i see almost all manufacture's name and type of canopies here,,

so our conclusion is every canopy sux,, and we shouldn't skydive

Wrong! It tells that they were quality issues in the past. ISO9000 might have been introduced, so if they suck a whole bunch will be the same crap...

[JohnMitchell 16]

Worst canopy I ever jumped?

The tandem canopy that collapsed on one side at 100 feet.

[Genego 2]

Excaliber 190 brand new, had a built in left turn that never could be corrected and opened almost as hard as my Nimbus XL which was the other bad canopy I've flown. Had to put a taffetta domed slider on the XL to make it open a little softer. Had an annoying tendency to helicopter and twist the lines if you pulled down the toggles too hard.

I live with fear and terror, but sometimes I leave her and go skydiving.

[murrays 0]

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Had to be my Cobra 10. It was my first square, so I didn't really know the difference from what and besides I only weighed about 165 lbs in those days. But the thing was constructed so poorly that it started to tear out at the ribs after only 65 jumps. Sent the fucker back to Para Flite, where it was "repaired" and got maybe another 50 jumps on it before it tore out again. What a piece of shit. and made by Para Flite no less (in those days they had the stature that PD enjoys nowadays, the difference being that PD actually deserves their reputation, where para Flite just bullshitted their way until their market abandoned them).

The Cobra 10 is definitely atop the list for me. I put about 65 jumps on mine ... hard openings that made it difficult to get out of bed the next day ... and it exploded about 5 jumps after I sold it. (It was built by National, not Paraflite)

The next ones would be the Turbo Z by Paraflite...one jump was enough and the Swift 5cell main ..instant opening and very poor flare. Interestingly enough I had a Swift reserve that I jumped and loved the landing.

I have to laugh when I see people listing Fury canopies on here. I bought the Fury's predecessor, the Pegasus, to replace the Cobra 10 and thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I was jumping the Pegasus...it was so much better than anything I'd jumped previous to that point in time....7TU C-9, T-10, Paracommander, Papillon, Cloud (1 jump-first square jump), Cobra 10.

--
Murray

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

[kd5xb 1]

Other "dishonorable mentions" from years past were the Paradactyl and the Thunderbow...

I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.

[kimemerson 7]

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Never jumped one myself but I watched many an uhh, well they called them openings on the Pintail.

The South African 8 way team trining in DeLand in maybe 1992 jumped them. We used to be sure to run out to watch as jump run approached just to count the inevitable mals. Guaranteed a minimum of two per each 8 way jump.

[airtwardo 7]

Loved my Unit III.


...pull at 4 grand, turn a couple more points, in the saddle by 1500!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[BUBLHED 0]

Loved my Unit III.


...pull at 4 grand, turn a couple more points, in the saddle by 1500!


That was my first canopy! Mine was modified so it was open in only 1200'. A buddy of mine jumped it one day and almost cut away a perfectly good snivel, He never asked to borrow my gear again for some reason.

ATTACK LIFE ! IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU ANYWAY!!!!

[JohnMitchell 16]

I had an original Unit, the 200. Put up with the snivel for several hundred jumps, then got a knife and started chopping holes in the slider. By the time the slit went from front to rear on the slider, it opened just right.

I made 1200-1300 jumps on a couple of Units. Not a single chop. Definitely not my worst canopy, but it certainly taught me patience.

[TaylorC 0]

canadian aerosports typhoon

[ryoder 1,590]

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Loved my Unit III.

...pull at 4 grand, turn a couple more points, in the saddle by 1500!

I bought a 2nd hand Unit 200 from a guy, who has vented the slider to speed up the openings. When I say "vented", I mean there were only about 4" of material left around the perimeter. Had I not watched many openings when he was jumping it that way, I would have refused to jump it. No need to stow the slider, since there wasn't enough material left to cause any drag.

The slowest openings I've experienced are on my Diablo; Throw out the pilot chute, get pulled upright, then look around to see where everyone else is, watch them throw, watch them open, then look up and watch my own opening finally complete.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[airtwardo 7]

Throw out the pilot chute, get pulled upright, then look around to see where everyone else is, watch them throw, watch them open, then look up and watch my own opening finally complete.

I had a deja vu moment on the sunset load yesterday when the same thing happened...1500 foot opening, watching everyone else collapsing sliders and popping brakes...

I was thinking 'this is taking a really long time'

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Marisan 0]

Back in the Seventies.
28 Foot C9.
9 TU!
With Derry Slots!!!
Came down slightly slower than a pilot chute in tow

[riggerrob 643]

Bored under a Manta and you want sympathy?
Hah!
I would much rather be bored under canopy than bored in a hospital bed.

You young pups don't know the meaning of bad canopies!
Hah!

[JohnMitchell 16]

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I would much rather be bored under canopy than bored in a hospital bed.

Better bored than buried.

[tombuch 0]

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I had an original Unit, the 200. Put up with the snivel for several hundred jumps, then got a knife and started chopping holes in the slider. By the time the slit went from front to rear on the slider, it opened just right.

I'll ditto the Unit comments.

I bought my original GQ Security Unit second hand from a women who had about 17 jumps on it, and two cut-a-ways. I was just off student status and didn't know any better, plus the price was right. I learned about malfunctions pretty quickly after that.

Once I cut up the slider, took the cascades off the steering lines, and moved the steering lines as directed by GQ Security, it became a terrific parachute with fine openings. So much so that I used it for quite a few early BASE jumps, but without the slider. It's a shame the reputation of that canopy did so much harm to GQ Security.

My least favorite canopy was probably a Para Plane Cloud. It was used by my drop zone as a first student square with a belly mounted reserve back in the day. The thing opened so hard no experienced jumper would even consider jumping it. The ratty old yellow container had a skull and crossbones stitched onto it to warn unsuspecting fools like me what they were in store for. Crap that parachute sucked.

Somebody else had great things to say about a Pegasus. I'll echo that. Great canopy.

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[JohnMitchell 16]

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Somebody else had great things to say about a Pegasus. I'll echo that. Great canopy.

I had forgotten about moving the steering lines around. We used to do a lot of CRW with those too. No cascades made for fast planes.
Most of the Pegasus's that I knew of were great in their day. One jumper had an XL custom Pegasus, though, that was getting chopped literally 50% of the time. He was a rigger, so didn't seem to mind repacking his reserve all the time, but we were starting to consider his gear as an "intentional cutaway rig."


Another thing about the Unit? With those consistent soft openings, Vskydiver was jumping up to 7 months pregnant borrowing one of my old Units. She said any other canopy would not have let her do that.

[topdocker 0]

[shropshire 0]

Yeap, the softest openings that I ever had were on Units.

Funkiest were on my Wildfire ... not hard but I don't think that it ever opened on heading (unless it had a full twist ).

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[stevebabin 0]

Sabre
The openings were occasionally so hard that they killed people.

"Science, logic and reason will fly you to the moon. Religion will fly you into buildings."
"Because figuring things out is always better than making shit up."

[bfilarsky 0]

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Sabre
The openings were occasionally so hard that they killed people.

Ditto for me. Granted I've been in the sport less than a year - but I jumped a Sabre 1 170 twice, and each time it just slammed the shit out of me. The second one felt like someone had nailed me in the back of the head - and I got the worst line twists of my life to top it (almost had to chop it). This was after the best pack job of my life, to boot.

[LaRusic 0]

i second the 28ft round.

Ive only flown a handful of canopies but military rounds and out at 900ft and slamming in to the ground isnt fun. broken hand, sprained ankle and a nice headache after slamming into the ground and shattering my ruck on my second jump and got on the bus to go back and get geared right back up for number 3.....was terrified of not the next jump but the next landing...

The Altitude above you, the runway behind you, and the fuel not in the plane are totally worthless
Dudeist Skydiver # 10