MadQ

I probably have over 500 jumps (I really should log my jumps *sigh*) on Spectres, a 215 and a 170. In my experience there are only two things that will give a Spectre a funky opening: rolling the nose and rolling the tail. There is no need whatsoever to roll the nose. A lot of people tuck the three cells on either side next to the center cell, which is left open. Not even this is necessary. Messing around with the nose has absolutely node impact on heading. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that rolling the nose only causes outer cells to inflate rapidly towards the end of the opening sequence, causing the sudden forward surge. Rolling the tail too much is just about the only way to make a Spectre slam the crap out of you, a la old Sabres. I know this for a fact, because a packer (who had previously done good jobs) decided to pack contrary to my instructions, and rolled the bejezus out of the tail. He only told me about it afterwards. After a nasty opening, which left me with bruises all around my thighs, three riggers thoroughly inspected the canopy and found it to be in good order. After the end of the season I sent it to PD, and they ended up putting a small patch on it. Anyway, I recommend giving the tail about three half-folds, which should be plenty to keep the packjob together when it's lying on the floor. -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

"You cannot argue someone out of something he wasn't argued into the begin with." (Karl Sagan) -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

I try to pull every time a batch of fries is ready at McDonald's. -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

No, the brake lines are always the same length, no matter how long the risers. The only thing that changes with different size risers is the distance between the attachment point on the harness and the attachment point for the lines. I don't know what they're called, but the brake lines are routed through those little metal rings on the top ends of the rear risers. Since these rings are always the same distance from line attachment points(allowing for tolerances and difference in design, etc.), riser length does not affect brake line length. "But..." you say... Yes, I was just getting to that. Changing the length of the risers affects the effective control range for the individual jumper. Unfortunately, nature doesn't consult the officially accepted ratios for the lengths of various body parts. This makes it difficult to predict how different risers affect an individual. A person with longer arms might actually want shorter risers to avoid stalling before touching down. Ironically, it makes sense for shorter people to have longer risers, in order to increase the effective control range. And your assignment for today... figure out the proper riser length for the average female orangutan. BTW... now that I think about it, the canopy most liked had a tendency to rock on openening because I was probably pulling while still having forward momentum from the track. Also, for some reason or another I used to roll the snot out of the tail. Probably a bad habit from those Skymasters and Mantas. *shudder!* -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

If I may interject... I happen to know a little bit about Michele's Spectre 210, since I am its previous owner. When I got the canopy, along with all my other my gear (all assembled and ready to jump) the toggles had been attached at precisely the right spot. I could just barely make out the little red lines that mark the correct location for the toggles. The risers were 21". On this particular canopy, the lines beyond the cascade of the brake lines are not of equal length, meaning that the outer two (of the lines beyond the cascade on either one of the brake lines) will deform the tail while the middle one still has some slack in it. Even though it's a big canopy (Michele, be glad you never had to pack it when it was brand new!) it's very responsive, and the slightest amount of input will affect it. I know this because I spent a considerable amount of time figuring out every tiny little detail about it, including how it behaves under just about every imaginable mode of flight. Let me tell you... crosswind landings with brakes stowed and flaring with rear risers really sucks! Shortening the brake lines three inches would deform the tail enough to make a difference, although you probably can't see it while under canopy. This is just an assumption, but I believe it would also cause the canopy rock backwards as the slider comes down during opening. This would be very pronounced if the tail had been rolled more than three or four times while packing. This canopy has a tendency to rock a little on opening anyway, especially with light wing loading. Full flight would also be affected to a degree, mostly while leveling after a turn, but the recovery arc after a front-riser turn or dive would be greatly affected. With shorter brake lines, you'd actually deform the tail of the canopy while giving front riser input. Granted, I doubt Michele won't be doing carving turns for spectular swoop landings any time soon, but this should definetely be considered before shortening the brake lines. ... just my $0.02. -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

>I need to kick Q's rear for getting such weird colored canopy then selling it to you... 0 Hey, I had $5K to spend! I was in a hurry. It was in stock. Silly Cobalt pilot! -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

That's the funniest commercial I have seen in very long time. I think it loses something in the translation, though. -- MadQ -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

OK, so it's an old thread. Anyway... I've been swooping Spectres (with few exceptions) for the last 400 jumps or so. I probably have a little over 100 with a Spectre 210, the rest of them were under 170. The wingloading on the 210 was about 0.9 to 1.0; on the 170 it's a smidgen over 1.41. The Spectre is capable of awesome swoops, but it ain't easy. I started messing around with front risers on the 210, at first very high, so the canopy had recovered well before landing (100 - 50 ft above the ground). I gradually, and over many jumps went lower. In addition to front riser input, I learned all aspects of the Spectre, did some CRW (only involved in one wrap ;-), rear-risers flares, no-flare landings, accuracy... In short, by the time I downsized I was ready for it, although going down to a 190 would have been wiser. I can, and have outswooped high-performance, elliptical canopies at similar wingloading. I could swoop the 210 across the entire width of the runway. At SGC, the pea pit is a huge X, over which I have swooped the 210 numerous times. With the 170, I have outswooped a Stiletto 120 (granted, Rastas is light and skinny; also I'm not 100% sure it was a Stiletto) The secret to swooping the Spectre is precise riser- and toggle input. Hook turns are NOT necessay. In fact, swoops are best with gradual carving turns of about 30 - 40 degrees, stopping the turn slowly with the opposite front riser. Hitting the sweet spot (where the canopy dives straight to the ground) took many, many jump to figure out. If you hit the sweet spot just right, you now have to gradually let the front risers up; meaning gradually, and not slow. You then have to start giving toggle input, however I wouldn't call it flaring. At this point you absolutely have to know your canopy, and feel its every tiny movement and vibration. If you're not heading precisely into the wind, the canopy may become twitchy, for which you have to compensate. Now all you have to do is give exactly the right amount of toggle input to keep the canopy level, and get every last ounce of lift out of it. I can't explain how to do that - it's done by feel and intuition. The one thing I have yet to master is a perfect tippy-toe up-step landing after the swoop on no-wind days. I'm getting pretty darn close though. BTW by up-step I mean simply putting weight on my feet when the canopy has no more lift. It's kinda like stepping up at the end of people-mover or escalator. -- MadQ -- MadQ Eagles may fly, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.