GroundZero

Who knows, what is a "P9"? hint: parachute hardware... We really received some interesting trade-in canopies with our recent promo! Chris

Kelli, We have added them to our museum.... (now we have to move to a larger building, oy!) We received some pretty interesting trades... including very many modern canopies, (one was a competitors canopy with 15 jumps on it!) Keep guessing folks... "P9" What is it? Chris

Who knows, what is a "P9"? hint: parachute hardware... We really received some interesting trade-in canopies with our recent promo! Chris

Who knows, what is a "P9"? hint: parachute hardware... We really received some interesting trade-in canopies with our recent promo! Chris

Hey Keith... keep in mind that the sight-seers only reach a max cruise altitude of 50'... you would be going up to 5000' where winds could be high enuf to take you out to the pacific... but now that you describe the situation, I think you hit the nail on the head... Jumpers pay 50-75 dollars/head, go to 5000', require chase from hell, really open up the range (and risks)... vs> Sight-seers pay 175-200 dollars/head, same capacity = 2-3 times more money for less work... (shhhhh!!!! everybody, keep it quiet, we're really screwing these balloon people... hehehehe!) Someone once told me... "you can have your choice of two of the following... High quality, quick delivery or low price... Which TWO would you choose?" At least we still get cheap jumps outa balloons... Chris

Keith, If the balloon pilot says it's too windy... trust him/her. I've made 28 balloon jumps and on the first 15 or so, every landing I witnessed was best described as a crash. I thought the entire idea of aimlessly drifting in the wind was pretty foolish, (except for the skydiving part!). My last dozen balloon jumps were made with a good friend who only flew when the weather was nice (i.e. ZERO WIND). I was so impressed by the flights (and landings) that I decided to give it a try (flying and landing balloons...). To say to a balloon pilot, "Oh the wind's not that bad." is equivalent to a tandem student telling his instructor, "I don't care if it's raining and the ceiling is at 1500', I ain't scared." Sounds pretty whuffo-ish. Trust the balloon pilot/company who knows when to say no. On these nice days, you can get truely memorable flights... one day we launched from the Tullahoma airport climbed to 6000', jumped and landed about 6 miles from the airport. Then packed, climbed back into the balloon, flew treetop level back to the airport, continued about a mile further, climbed to about 3000' exited and landed on the airport. Absolutely awesome experience. Go with a professional, it's worth the wait! Chris p.s. I solo'd before we sent the balloon back south... next time I get it back, I'll finish my commercial requirements and get my license. Unlike powered flight, balloon flight requires a much greater awareness and respect for weather conditions.

3 minutes to the dz... 90 minutes to work, (or 20 minutes when I fly--- love that runway-12/30, 20' x 1200'- at work! a driveway next to the plant makes a perfect parking spot for the 182!) Guess my priorities! Chris

uh oh... Now let me put away my worm can-opener... I applaud all the hard working skydiving equipment salespeople. I fully understand the nature of the beast. Every day I have to explain to many different callers that a 78 square foot wiz-bang may not be the best choice for their "purchase". (I discovered a while back, never, never say "for your experience level", you'll only challenge the caller to prove his ability over the phone... which is impossible.) Over the years, it has become evident which dealers take the time to carefully qualify their customers. When a gear salesperson takes the time to inquire about experience, (specifically which canopies you've jumped, not how many times you've jumped...), they are helping you have more fun in this sport by selling you the right canopy. The delima faced by gear salespeople is that they know well that you can call "Fast/Cheap Parachute Sales Co." and if you're a cash buyer, it will be in the mail today. No questions asked. Take the time to select the best gear. Look sharp by your color selection, not size selection. (Lord, I've seen some pretty ugly custom color choices go out the door!) Do yourself a favor... select a dealer that you feel comfortable with, take the time to make the right choice. Allow sufficient time (and jumps) to master each step along the way. Now that I'm politically correct, please do not think "cross-brace" is a satanic symbol. It is a technology that has moved canopy performance another step forward. Commercially available only on the flagship models today, this technology is being evaluated for designs on Tandem and student canopies. Cheers to all the "canopy nazis" and the jumpers they serve! Chris

Lisa, (et al), Yes we recommend a minimum of 500 jumps for The Xaos-21. I have seen jumpers with less than 200 total jumps fly crossbraced canopies with very nice landings. I have seen jumpers with many thousands of jumps die under x-braced canopies (and high experience jumpers die under even docile canopies). We "recommend" 500 jumps as a benchmark. For years, progression to a higher performance canopy has been controversial. It was recommended that I complete at least 100 round jumps before I progress to a "square". My, how times have changed. Judgement can not be quantified. Skill is not a function of numbers. Last week, I jumped my old Paracommander and one of my younger jumpers at the dz asked if he could put a jump on it. My response was, "You should get a few more jumps on your current canopy, work on your accuracy, then maybe we can put you under it." It's amazing to see how far we've evolved. I know of a dropzone operator who was chastized for training first jump students on zero-p... (they were elliptical also!). Because he spent more time teaching the canopy portion, he had terrific results. He had transitioned some 40 jump wonders to Stillettos at fairly high wing loadings with virtually no injuries. Are we afraid to progress faster than our teachers. I had over 3000 jumps before I jumped a x-brace. All too often, we base our students performance on our personal failures. If I broke my leg landing my Pegasus, I certainly would not let my little brother jump a high performance machine like that. Do I think the "average" 2-300 jump skydiver should have a Xaos/EXTreme/Velocity... ? No. Do I think every 5000 jump skydiver should be jumping a x-brace..??? HELL NO!! It's all about training. It's all about judgement. Chris

Hi Lisa, Good ideas, in general, but..... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "If you aren't landing very aggressively - by this I do mean hooking it 180 or more with front risers - and planning to load the crossbraced canopy at 2.0 or higher, why waste your money on a canopy that was designed to be heavily loaded and hooked?? " >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> When the crossbraced canopies were given their "maximum recommended wingloading" numbers, this was based on landing the canopies without accelerating them (i.e. without hooking/diving, etc.). All these crossbraced canopies can be landed with straight-in approaches at their max wingloadings. By the way, I land my Xaos-21 78 that way on every landing, (straight-in, about 2.4 lb/ft. wingloading). Why? I'm conservative, not extremely skilled in "higher" performance landings. Quite honestly, I love the speed of the canopy but do not claim to be exceptionally skillful at hooking/diving/front risering, etc.... translate that into... I'm a big wuss and don't like to scare myself.. but I love the speed. Many crossbraced canopy jumpers land with very little turn or straight-in approaches just like myself... To get speed, go with less drag (i.e. smaller canopy size) I'd jump any other canopy that size if it had the lift to land me as well... problem is, no other canopy can be loaded that high and landed without accelerating it. Don't shy away from crossbraced because you don't normally perform a "180 or greater", take advantage of this performance even if all of your approaches are straight-in. Experience is needed to fly a faster canopy, but a 180 degree turn to final is not a requirement for flying (or buying/owning) a crossbraced canopy. My reccommendation for MINIMUM loading on any crossbraced canopy is about 1.7 -1.8 lbs./ft.... These canopies were designed to be heavily loaded. There is not a requirement to hook 'em. (But it is a lot 'o fun!!) Chris

All Ground Zero canopies, (Xaos-21, Nitron and Synergy) use three different sizes of HMA line. The suspension lines are 160 kg. except for the outboard lines (at the Stabilribs). The outboard lines are 200 kg. strength as are the upper control lines. The lower control lines are 430 kg. strength. Mike has a important comment to note... This line is considerably smaller than any other line used for sport canopies. Attention must be given to line stows (rubber bands). Trying to stow these lines with your same large bands that were used for any other line would be equivalent to losing 100 lbs and not buying a smaller belt to hold your pants up. Use compatible components (i.e. small bands for small lines). Personally, I prefer to double wrap the stows. Sorry Alan, I have not had time to respond to your request for more technical information. Perhaps it would be easier to answer any specific questions here. I'll check back often, if anyone has any questions about HMA, let me know. Chris Martin Precision Aerodynamics, Inc.

Precision uses Performance Textiles' Soar-Coat fabric in all zero perosity canopies. Long lasting (DuPont Solarmax), lower pack volume...(Nitron 120: 348 c.i vs. Nitro(Gelvanor)120: 394c.i) By the way, the Nitro (Profile Research) is sewn in Korea using Gelvanor fabric. Final rigging/inspection in Germany. Terrific craftsmanship! If you're in other parts of the world and the money exchange favors your currency, Profile Research has a great canopy... NITRO! (Ever wonder why we build the Nitron? The only canopy that was not "tweaked" by Precision.) The sweetest design, no changes needed. Yehaa! Chris

Let me clarify... line bulk/line surface area/line drag.... The HMA lines used on the Ground Zero canopies have a combined total of approximately 35% less surface area when compared to the next smallest line(set) available (Dynema- the smallest weave spectra available). During prototype testing and during a crucial time (competition), we found ourselves without enough HMA in house to outfit all of our team canopies with the HMA. For cosmetic reasons, after all, we want our guys to look good, we chose to use the next smallest line available (other than HMA). Because of the advantages of the continuous lines and the additional total length required, we had to minimize the diameter (surface area/drag). We chose the next smallest available line ...Dynema... great results, but we knew our final design was better. The total surface area of the HMA lineset, with continuous lines is roughly 35% less than a cascaded lineset built of Dynema. While Dynema is not prolific in sport canopies, it is the next smallest line available. To get an idea of the drag reduction through the use of HMA, grab any Ground Zero canopy with HMA lines, shove it in the d-bag and start stowing the lines... you'll notice that you'll need smaller rubber bands and need to double wrap to hold that tiny bite. 35% smaller than the NEXT smallest lineset. Even smaller than other linesets! Yehaa, it's fast! If you haven't seen HMA, you must search it out... Fast and FUN! Chris

Now Dan, Look at a Ground Zero canopy before you make an uninformed comment like you do so often... The HMA line on all Ground Zero canopies is about 35% smaller than spectra or vectran. Less drag = more speed. No malice intended! Chris

I used to sell high end audio... (yes i'm suffering from hearing loss.) Assuming that you are a male and concerned, that probably means you've hit the big three-o. Hearing loss is a gender specific problem (or a plus if you're married). At about age thirty, ALL males will begin to lose a fair amount of hearing (specifically higher frequencies). It is very important that you take any steps to preserve your hearing... (WEAR EARPLUGS ON AIRCRAFT!) The beeps of your ditter need to be at 120+dB to overcome the ambient noise of freefall. If it was "quieter-more comfortable" you would not hear it. At about age 35 I gave my new ditter (120dB+) to a newer jumper because i quit hearing it. Don't worry about the loud audible altimeter; start worrying if you quit hearing it. The short, loud sound is nothing compared to the continuous noise of the aircraft or freefall. What? Is someone talking to me? Is that music playing? Chris (soon to join Billy Vance and John Woo for the record attempts attempts...You guys rock!) p.s. former Beech Twinbo Pilot..... ouch!

I'd agree... my stats: 5000 jumps;4200 non-tandem, 800 tandem mals: 0 non-tandem, 3 tandem weird-shit: 2 packing induced: 1 (but she was a looker! i had to hurry!) I'm rated in Strong, Vector and Eclipse, none apears more function-prone than another. It's Tandem..."it ain't just another skydive!" Remember, you're jumping for 2... Be careful, be prepared,etc. Have fun and GIVE FUN! Chris