elias123 0 #51 August 29, 2007 QuoteIn essence, I believe I have found a canopy selection that delivers balance between fun and safety and I will probably stay there, maybe even upsize in the future but I do not anticipate ever downsizing further. Altough I have no/not much experience to fall back on yet, I feel exactly the same way. Right now, I have the feeling that I don't ever want to downsize any further and I am sure that my mindset will not change for a long time. But who knows, maby when I get 15 years in the sport and am very current I might start to think otherwise. Blues"In a mad world, only the mad are sane" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Myrka 0 #52 August 30, 2007 Hi guys: This doesn’t relate to this thread 100%, however, I’ve been down for almost a month now because of my poor piloting/flair skills, so I’ve been researching and reading and reading some more… Attached is a paper titled “The Aerodynamics and Piloting of High Peformance Ram-Air Parachutes” by Jerry Sobieski. It’s not what I call light reading, but it contains some very enlightening insights and helped me to truly comprehend many issues that go into piloting a canopy from “scientific” and practical view (I am embarrassed to admit many aspects of which were taught to me by my instructors, but just didn’t click 100%)… Anyway, maybe someone else could find it useful. It was published in ’94, however, many fundamental concepts are there. EDIT: sorry, pdf was too large to upload, but here's a link to it http://www.afn.org/skydive/sta/highperf.pdf Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brianfry713 0 #53 August 30, 2007 Here are the canopies I've jumped most of the time. I demoed and borrowed a lot of other canopies too. jumps 0-19: 265 student rigs (0.6 wingloading) 20-250: Falcon 215 (1.05) 251-499: Sabre 2 170 (1.45) 500-750: Crossfire 2 149 (1.65) 751-now: Katana 135 (1.9+) jump #327: PD Reserve 160 (1.5) 23 Tandems: 360s, 380s (wingloading ever changing, from about 1.05 to 1.25) Most of my 90 BASE jumps are on an Ace 280 (.85) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWPoul 1 #54 August 31, 2007 AFF 1-12 Navigator 220 1.1 12-50 Navigator 220 1.1 50-200 Spectre 170 1.3 200-450 Magellan 140 1.6 450- Odyssey 130 1.8Why drink and drive, if you can smoke and fly? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias123 0 #55 August 31, 2007 Interesting read, thanks for the link ;)"In a mad world, only the mad are sane" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thijs 0 #56 August 31, 2007 When I had around 60 jumps I bought a Spectre 170. My wingload was 1.2 then. Never had any problems landing. My wingload is lower now (lost 8 kg in the last months) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dharma1976 0 #57 September 1, 2007 QuoteFirst canopy at about 40 jumps: Pursuit 215, about .8 to 1 Canopy at 200 jumps: PD190, about 1:1 Canopy today: Crossfire-2 109 loaded about 1.9 to 1 canopy at 69 jumps saffire 1 164.5 (precision made offsizing wierdness) canopy at 261 jumps sabre 2 170 canopy at 450 jumps sabre2 150 canopy at 500 jumps crossfire2 129 canopy at 750 jumps crossfire2 119 canopy at 829 crossfire 2 109/FX 99 canopy at current Velocity 103 demo'd in between samurai 120 katana 120 katana 107 Neos 104 one jump wasnt into it then but am going to give it another shot eventually Dave Cheers Davehttp://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites