Ericakeeley

The only thing I could do with front risers on the navigator was a pull up.

***First off, you might fill in your profile some. A bit of info goes a long way when answering these sorts of questions. Now, some questions for you. You don't have to give me the answers, but you should know them. 1 - What is your wingloading on the 190? On the 170? Keep in mind that wingloading is your weight, when fully geared up, divided into the size of the canopy in square feet. 2 - You say you PLF a lot of your landings. Why? Bad flare timing, bad height judgement (similar, but not the same), bad flaring technique, inability to flare properly (again, similar but not the same), inability to run out the landing (lots of reasons for that), simple fear (when you PLF landings you could have stood up). The idea of getting video of your current landings and having an instructor critique them is a good one. Some canopy courses include this. 3 - How good is your canopy control other than the landing? How is your pattern, approach, all that? 4 - How was the 190 to fly and land? Was it 'scary fast'? Did it feel like you were almost out of control? When I got my first rig, I went from a Manta 288 to a 190 Triathlon. Nothing between. But the Tri was only loaded at 1:1. I had been making consistent landings under the Mantas, good patterns and good, on target, stand up landings. The Mantas ranged from almost new to almost totally ragged out. Some had a nice, strong flare, some you flared as hard as you could a bit higher than usual and hoped it slowed down before you hit the ground. Although it was a pretty big 'leap', the transition wasn't all that difficult. I picked a day with moderate, steady winds to land into. I did a high pull and practiced my flares a bunch. It worked out well for me. I never had any real problems with it. But, again, it was a conservative wing loading and a fairly big canopy, despite being a 'big jump.'] Quote 1) Wingloading on a 190 is 0.76, on a 170 it is 0.85 2) I think the main reason for my history of PLF's is mental. I psych myself out and PLF landings that afterwards I KNOW I could have just stood up (honestly I've been doing a lot of personal development since beginning this skydiving journey to get over a defeatist attitude) with a mix of bad flare timing. 3) Otherwise my approach and pattern have been pretty good. Learning to make adjustments by the conditions instead of relying on altitude cues only and making progress on accuracy. 4)the 190 didn't feel out of control, it was notably faster but not in a "omg I can't handle this" kind of way. I really wish I got more jumps in but the end of the season weather was not cooperative in the least.

it was a demo PD pulse

yeah I know, is there a way to delete one? clearly i'm new to this site lol

yes, I will be taking a canopy course ASAP. I want to do everything as safely and intelligently as possible so I can stay in the sport for years to come. Obviously the intelligent choice is to spend time on a 190 before going to a 170 but there's some barriers to doing so. Only a low pack volume 190 will fit in my container (barely) and there are no rental 190's at my DZ. Maybe I can find someone close to my size that has an entire rig with a 190 I can borrow. I'll keep searching. Thanks everyone for the advice. (and to those of you that don't treat people like morons for asking questions)

Ugh I never turned on the email alerts and didn't know this had responses! Thanks for the input everyone I appreciate it

I see how you immediately jump to that, but I was looking for actual honest advice not just for someone the back up a bad decision. I know my wing loading on a 170 is no where near extreme which is why I wasn't certain how big of a deal the transition would be. And I've been told that jumping a 170 would allow me to control the canopy more rather than "the canopy controlling me" for lack of better wording.

Hi all, I'm an A licensed newbie here. I am about 125lbs without gear, I did my student jumps on navigator 200 but purchased a 170 s-fire. Basically I'm looking for advice to safely downsize. I used a demo 190 (low pack volume so I could use my own container) but wasn't able to do many jumps. So I guess I'm asking would it be too risky to just jump my 170 when next season starts or should I be looking for a 190 to jump in between? My landings have not been consistently good, accuracy is OK but I've done my share of PLF landings.

Newly licensed with 29 jumps.. I started on student navigator 220 for a few jumps, then on to the 200 for the rest. I just ordered my first rig with the safire 169. Not sure how to go about this transition since my DZ doesn't have any smaller rental equipment, and the other DZ I could go to is about 2.5 hours away (and jumping somewhere new scares me at this level). Worth the drive to jump a 190 for a few weeks until my rig comes in? *I'm a small girl and find it's harder to get equipment that fits

***update*** Though I still need to work on keeping my leg position consistent, I'm on to my "coach" jumps and off AFF! enjoyed my first solo jump and am working on breathing and enjoying the journey. Thanks for all the advice everyone

Yes and yes :)

In a nutshell: Cat A- all went well for first jump. Practice pulls, arch, took hand signals made adjustments. Pulled at altitude, good C.C. Cat B- lost an instructor on exit. Exited backwards instead of to the side. Was caught up in that and delayed starting my COA and Practice touches. Did them and straightened legs but didn't have time for heading control. Pulled at altitude. Repeat. Cat B again- new exit setup, went great. Did COA and practice touches. Straightened legs but brought them to my butt. Was given legs out multiple times with no response. Reached to pull but instructor already pulled. (Was super slow brain processing. Like wtf erica?!?!) Cat b AGAIN- all good. Passed. Cat c- instructor released and bumped me starting a slow turn that I wasnt able to stop. Repeat Cat c again- funky exit. Pulled it out, but lost arch and legs were too far apart and flat. I swear it's all mental because I can do every aspect, just not all in the same jump.

Thanks for letting me know! (#5)

I think I need to make that my mantra and repeat it the entire drive to the DZ!

Solid is the key word there. I went before but was with a bunch of kids and no real instruction. Someone from my DZ offers lessons there but not for a couple weeks, and it's a long drive. (I really don't want long lapses in AFF jumps). Also, an instructor suggested I don't go because the air was set too low and a proper arch had me stuck on the floor, but a flat body had me flying and they don't want me learning bad habits. Quote