danielcroft

Where'd the dirty air come from? I've never ground launched a skydiving wing, I've launched a few different speed wings and paragliders. Kiting is one of the best ways to learn you wing which is why I kite my skydiving wings and PG when I can and it's safe to do so.

Sure, once you become experienced at one, it can help your progression in the other. Totally makes sense but, there are many different considerations from one sport to the next that don't overlap. Confidence in one should not create confidence in the other that's dangerous - as proven by many - or fatal - as proven by some.

Larry's all FT-30 HKT 73 packs fine in my smaller rig (Infinity I-12sn), probably a size bigger than my 75 Valkyrie Hybrid so maybe 2 sizes? Nowhere even close to as tight as my Peregrine 67. I didn't feel like it was super different to Larry's HKT 79 (Fluid's standard HKT hybrid is ZP with sail ribs if I remember correctly?). More to the point (IMO) is that FT-30 is nowhere near as difficult to pack as sail.

TBH, I've been struggling to get my thoughts together on the 3 different HKTs I've flown. Removing the outliers, it's probably a nice every day, super high performance wing for someone with the appropriate experience. Get a new one, make sure it's got the most current updates and you'll have a blast. I haven't flown a Petra yet (have some friends who'll loan me theirs) which I definitely want to try now that I have my PI67 to compare it to. I have a lot written up about the various HKTs I've flown but, I don't want to put it in this thread, I suppose I'll go make another comparison thread. :-)

Hey Marc, There are some nice responses here so, I won't carry on for too long. :-) I was pretty scared when I started jumping, all the way up to about 100 jumps I'd be at my desk at work freaking out but, it wasn't debilitating like your fear seems to be. I had to lie on the packing mats for extended periods before each jump and just concentrate on my breathing. I went on my first tandem because my wife at the time wanted it for her birthday and I just wanted to see if I could even do it. I am afraid of edges so, wasn't sure I'd be able to handle jumping. We did our tandems and then she decided to get her license the next year (at The Ranch in the northeast USA, winter is a thing), it was an extra year after that when I decided (after being prodded by her friends) to actually get my license. Maybe, you'll find your interest will come back once you've decided to stop and you're hanging around the DZ a bit. Being around the sport normalizes it a bit I think so, that could help. I'm sure your wife loves you for the effort you've already put in and would have loved you regardless, do what's right for you. Thank you for telling your story, being a skydiver doesn't make you a good/great person that comes from within. Dan

I've had a toggle fire on my VK79 (no longer mine) and no line twists. I was in line twists for 20 seconds on my VC84 in level flight. Kinda depends on how you handle things and experience is a pretty good deciding factor. :-) Mostly I just find the VK openings to be more staged and, with the control lines being so far outboard on the wing, there's little control authority mid opening. The staging (it's pretty cool to watch - hello slow mo!) helps the opening be more controlled IMO although, I'm not a wing designer so, maybe it's just my feelings? I don't know how you fly but, assuming you're not a silly human, you're probably fine. Just remember that you have to know what you're doing with a wing as responsive as a VK (Hybrid Leia, HKT, etc.) when you're close to the ground. It's my opinion that someone who can jump a VC/VE regularly for a few hundred jumps is fine on a VK as long as, again, they're not a silly human. Respect the wing, get coaching? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, I ended up being able to jump an AW75 I believe it was FT30 top and ribs but, I may be misremembering. Definitely some combination of FT-30. I enjoyed the openings, they were nice and low stress. The wing had a reasonably good feeling and seemed to carry across the ground well (aerodynamic efficiency). I have been told that FW detuned the harness input on the AW, the reason I'd been given was to make it a more approachable wing for the advanced CP competitor. Having said that, for me, the harness was detuned a lot and I didn't enjoy it as much as the other HP wings I've flown (VK, VKPS, Hybrid Leia, HKTx3). I think if you owned one, you probably really enjoy it, definitely a nice wing just flying my VK75PS back to back meant I was always going to notice the harness input. My buddy tells me I'm flying it like a wing that it isn't which is probably true but, Leias, VKs, HKTs and, PIs are fun in part because of their response, IMO. If you're looking for something a little more chill, with great openings and otherwise up there, maybe the AW is for you but, I can't say I was all that into it. https://vimeo.com/album/5496165 I've also jumped 3 different HKTs now, and a couple of Peregrines. I still need to get a Leia with the mini-ribs and try a Petra at some point. Edit: I should say thank you to Davi for loaning me the wing, much appreciated.

Openings and roll rate. The openings on the VK are worlds improved over the VC. The roll rate of the wing is a definite step or two above. Everything else is just straight better. I went from a VC84 to a VK79. If you have more specific questions, happy to answer if I can.

The material differences are absolutely a factor that should be considered. G2 was CF and had D3O which meant that the reduced flex from the CF could be absorbed by the padding. The G3 being plastic/polywhatever flexes a lot more and, will break long before CF, if this isn't factored into the design of the padding in either case, you then will have a higher risk of injury. A protective device is meant to attenuate impact forces, you can go either way - CF or something else - but, in either case, unless you're testing the combination of materials, you really can't say anything about whether it's better or not. The reality is, if you push on a G3 from the sides, there's a lot of flex in there that you won't find in G2 or a Skyhelmets Fujin. On what basis would Cookie be able to verify that it was doing its job in the absence of some agreed upon standard? IDK either. For me, the G3 is the wrong shape for my head whereas the G2 fit me super well so, I don't own any G3s. I'd also disagree with you comments on motorcycle helmets. There are standards so, some companies go for CF because it's lighter but, when you look at studies that have been done comparing ECE helmets to SNELL, you'll see that for most people the ability for a helmet to withstand multiple impacts at very high speeds (like you would in race) isn't as useful as sliding down a road with lower over all force spikes but potentially more impacts. I'm not sure these studies have been updated to reflect SNELL2015 though, so maybe SNELL updated their tests.

People say such things about Katanas because they're very definitely a wing for an active pilot. You have to fly openings. The Katana isn't going to help you if you're low. As you load them up, you have to fly every second. The KA demands respect. Some people aren't ready for that level of performance or that level of commitment. On the other point, if you have people telling you not to fly them, you should want to find out if they're talking about the Katana not being a good wing and if not why (I think they're really fun). If they're talking about you personally, I encourage you to find out why and figure out if you're putting yourself at unnecessary risk.

KML export just got added. :-)

I'm a Dekunu "ambassador" meaning I'm sponsored by them. In addition, I'm actively involved in the project. On gSwoop support, that's something I asked for a while ago and, we agree it's something we want to add. As EvilGenius mentioned it's not available right now and, not high up the list with the priorities of launching an altimeter. Currently, you can export your jump data a couple of different ways and then use some utility to convert to the format you're looking for. Luckily for us, gSwoop have their format documented and there are freely available tools to do that conversion. This process is a pain in the dick at the moment, though. For most people, the views provided by the portal will be sufficient. For people more interested in their swooping, the conversion process is required as of now. Happy to answer questions people have.

I really don't know what data to give you, I was looking through my jump videos from the event I was thinking it was on but the only one I came up with wasn't particularly convincing. After thinking about it for a while, I realized I'm only really objecting to the terminology "flattest". I think that describes the angle relative to the ground. That doesn't mean it's going to be the best angle to gain distance.

I'm one of the ambassadors for Dekunu and have been jumping a prototype for a while. Happy to answer questions if I can. I didn't realize that there Aon were out there, I'm happy to see there'll be competition in the market on the advanced altimeter front. They say it's a bad thing to be in a market with no competitors, can be indicative of being too far ahead.