foos

I second the be good to yourself. Takes time, but blue skies are ahead peace foos

I jump a Voodoo V4 with Cobalt 150 luv it Next season I will be getting another Voodoo, I think a V2 this time. foos

I jump a voodoo with soft pillows. 2 weeks ago I had a cutaway, Spinning Canopy with mega line twists. When I mentally made the call to cutaway, I placed a hand on each pillow: pull cutaway, then pull reserve. Presto, a beautifully yellow canopy was above my head. The PD flew great and I even used a little front riser for a bit of a swoop. Anyhow, when I practice my procedures I always grab the pillows and simulate a twist/peal with the pull. It worked fine for me. You definitely do what you have practiced. Remember practice makes permanent, so it is important to practice good technique. foos

Yo, just returned from flying out to see my nephew’s graduation. While at my sisters we took off for a day and went to www.goldcoastskydivers.com. Robert and Pat made their first tandems jumps. Sweet! Super facilities, and fantastic people, with lift Tickets to 15K, it doesn’t get much better. Thanks again Mike for a great DZ! l8r Foos

I have about 80 jumps on a cobalt 170 Read the FAQ! it covers the important points http://www.extremefly.com/aerodynamics/FAQ.html ProPack, roll the tail tight, Do not I repeat do not grab the rear risers unless you want it to open now

I have recently starting using this technique. It has helped me quite abit. Not only am I able to swoop further it also helps with my accuracy. Everything is going a little slower and makes judging the setup easer. foos

3 Tandem ? 9 Fury 245 ? 20 Saber 210 17 Safire 209 4 Falcon 195 10 Hornet 190 1 Hornet 170 14 Lotus 170 79 Cobalt 170 @ 1.25 Current Canopy More or less in order foos

Cobalt 170 @ 1.25

great story William, good job on pulling the reserve foos

I like the voodoo. Great bridle, pin, and riser coverage and well as just plan comfy. Has a nice balance as well. The Mirage was on my list when I was checking out containers. I like the way the balance of the voodoo is higher on your back tho. foos

Cobalt works for me I have put about 80 jumps on a cobalt loaded at 1.25. Opens nice (don't grab the risers unless you want it to open now) Ok riser pressure, great flare, lot's of fun

Not sure about it fitting in the V3 It would be a tight fit at best You could call RI, but i don't think they would recommend it l8r foos

Yo, I have a V4 with a Cobalt 170 & a PD176R Looks Great, and fits even better foos

By control range being higher, I mean that you do not have to pull the toggles down as far to turn or flare. This also means like Merrick said that the flare and stall point happen without having to pull the toggles as far down. On the demo that I tried, by the time I pulled the toggles past my chest I was way into the flare. I am sure this can be adjusted by lengthening/shorting the control lines to suit your tastes. I thought the Lotus had plenty of flare power. Hope this helps. Bty, just jumped my new Cobalt today, Sweet! heh foos

I did 14 jumps on a Lotus 170 demo this summer with a 1.2 loading. It opens nice. The Airlocks make it feel different in turbulence. The control range is a little higher that I am use to. It has plenty of flare. Snap turns are not as fast or aggressive as I like, but then again it is an intermediate canopy and Brian said it is not supposed to turn very aggressive. I look forward to trying a Samurai but I want to downsize to the 150 class canopies first. Brian is nice to deal with and very helpful. Hope this helps. foos

Awesome, I like my V4 ver2 very much. heh Which reserve did you go with and how does it fit in the V4? I am waiting on my Cobalt 170 then I will be ready to go as well. Jump On!

Way to go! I ordered a Voodoo as well. The new Voodoos are version 2. The fit and comfort is excellent. I agree that Sandy Reid (RI) is very helpful as well. Now if only the Cobalt would arrive and the FAA would give the go for VFR. I am waiting patiently.

Not sure if Dan Preston owns part of Atair, but he is the tech dude for the Cobalt. You can call him at his office number 718 596-8641.

Staso, that’s funny. I don’t think cobaltdan would pretend to be a new jumper on the boards. BTW foos/tcfoster/me jumps out of Toledo WA. heh

TalonSky I agree being safe is very important, live to jump another day and all that. I got off Student Status July of this year 01. As of today I have 86 jumps. I hope to have 100 plus this weekend if the weather cooperates. It seems to me that all you have to do is say the word elliptical and everyone says no if you do not have many jumps. Will after flying a fully elliptical all I can say is I do not want to go back. Riser presser is much less, and the turns, well way fun. I have flown a Triathlon at a 1 to 1 and well, it had a nice opening. Other than that with the little flare power it had I would not try to wing load it at 1.6. I demoed a Safire as well. I suggest you demo a Cobalt with the same loading as your Safire. If you like surfing, you will not go back (heh). The Cobalt has way more flare power. tcfoster

Spectre230, yes you have a lot of experience and I can respect that. I have also read in some of your other post how you have had friends go in under canopy. I extend my condolences. I would agree that canopy flight is very important, and training is something that one has to aggressively pursue in this area. I love flying canopy and I think it shows in the way I fly. Today I jumped two different canopies: A Triathlon 220, the opening was nice (sniveled for a 1000 feet) but it was a barge in the air. You felt any turbulence, as far as the flare; well it had a little flare heh. Definitely not a canopy for me. The second canopy I jumped was a Hornet 190. Not bad, it opened and turned ok. Front riser turns were ok. Flare power was ok. I guess I would say this is an Ok canopy. I am still sold on the Cobalt for my main Canopy. If I were to find something else that I like better, I would jump it instead. I do have a demo request in for a Lotus 170. Not sure when it will show tho? One has to respect Canopy flight. I do. I am also on a quest to improve my canopy skills. Based on jumping various Canopies I think that the Cobalt gives me the best combination of performance and safety. It is not the right choice for everyone, but for a few I think it can be a valid choice.

I am not offended, and I appreciate your concern spectre230. From what little experience I have flying now (81 jumps) I can say that the Cobalt is very forgiving, you can fly it in a very mellow fashion as you like. Not only that but it has lot’s of flare power. You can sink it in or surf it out. I will go on to say that there were many people at the DZ that shared your concern. After they watched me fly the canopy over the 29 jumps they had changed there tune to one of approval. They liked the way the canopy flew for me and watched firsthand how it handled in many conditions over a 2-week period. Like most others I bring my prior experience to the table: Air Force Air Craft Load Planner (Weight and Balance of Aircraft and Cargo et) Model Helicopters Pilot (Not easy to do) EANx Overhead Environment Diver (Mistakes will cost you your life) Programmer (Computer Dude) There are many ways to go in under any canopy. No one is perfect, but as long as you don’t do really stupid things under canopy there is some room to maneuver. I found the Cobalt loaded at 1.25 to work out well for me. I am sure it would not be for everyone.

I needed to figure out what gear to purchase. It was suggested I demo canopies so I could know firsthand what I liked. After reading Cobalt Dan’s comments I requested a Cobalt 170 Demo. My Canopy Experience prior to Cobalt Demo: Fury 245 (evil slammer deep bruising heh, 9 jumps, .87 loading) Saber 210 (fun lot’s of flare power, 17 jumps, 1.02 loading) Safire 209 (Nice Fun, Flare power less than the Saber, 17 jumps, 1.02 loading) Silhouette 210 (Ok, Flare power less than the Saber, 6 Jumps, 1.02 loading) Cobalt Demo: It was my 53 jump. Downsizing and moving to a higher performance canopy provided plenty of excitement. I needed to be cautious, so I pulled at 7000 AGL to get plenty of time to check things out. I took it easy practicing flaring most of the way down. A straight in approach provided a good standup landing. Yea the first jump went well. In all I put 29 jumps at 1.26 loading on the Cobalt Demo, What follows are some of my thoughts: Openings: At first the openings were somewhat inconsistent in the 2nd stage. I called Cobalt Dan and he asked if I was reaching up and grabbing the risers upon opening. Dan said that would cause the canopy to go to the 2nd stage of the opening. Well sure enough, I made myself stop reaching for the risers and low and behold the 1st stage lasted quite a bit longer and I experienced the patented Cobalt 2-stage opening. Often because of my light loading? I would have end cell closure; no problem I just flared with the rear risers and all is well. Toggle Turns: The turns were way fun, very controllable and not too twitchy. I liked the way the canopy responded, very quick or a nice and slow carve depending on toggle input. Hammer turns were a blast. Rear Riser: Pressure was very manageable. I could turn, flare and clear any end cell closure with no problems. I feel I could flare/land with rear risers if need be. Front Riser: This is the first canopy I have been able to do much front risers with. The pressure is manageable. I was able to do 720s (up high of course) and some straight in front riser approaches (way fun). Flare: I practiced flying in deep brakes. I also took a wrap and tried to stall the canopy. I was impressed with the deep brake flying. The canopy did not bowtie just slowed and started to go backwards. Landing was a blast, plenty of flare power and I was able to get my best surfs yet! Conclusion: The cobalt is the most fun canopy I have flown to date. It provides an envelope that will allow me to develop a full range of canopy skills. I would agree with Dan that if you can fly a Saber at a 1.0 loading, you could handle a cobalt at a 1.2 loading. It worked for me. Your mileage may vary of course. To sum it up I ordered a Cobalt 170! Flying will not be the same until it arrives. heh

I have ordered a baggy jump suit with some wing to help slow me down. I tried a baggy suit with a lot of wing and it really helped, before I had been using a tight suit off the rack at the DZ and well, I fell like a rock. I am 67 inches 200 pounds and can relax and arch (heh). I can’t wait to finish putting my own gear together and get a little more experience so I can try some free flying. Blue Skies foos

Just finished my AFF program, and achieved my A-License. Good job on pulling the pilot chute, and kicking out the line twists. My understanding is that instead of levels the AFF program is now divided into Categories each having different tasks that must be completed. So you just end up jumping until you complete all the required task in each category. No big deal what level you want to call the jumps. I just thought about them as a jump number not a level. Range can be tough on an AFF instructor. I fall kind of fast, average speed 144mph per my AFF instructors Pro-Track, which made me hard to keep up with for some of the other JMs. Good Luck on the rest of your jumps. Its all FUN! Blue Skies foos