what was the worst canopy youve ever jumped?

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I noticed that too - I have quite a few jumps under a Sabre 190 and boy, did that b*tch like it rough...

Yeah...

I had one of those, with the extra brake line mod. I can only imagine that they fucked up the scaling on the 190 so badly that was the only thing they could think of to get a marginally acceptable opening without redesigning the whole damn thing. was still pretty slam happy though, had a tendency to try and spin up in a hard right turn as well, never to the left though...

Funny thing is, I then bought a Sabre1 150 which opened and flew beautifully. Put a few hundred jumps on that one and was a little sad to see it go - you just can't deploy a modern canopy down in the basement with with the same confidence as a Sabre

A totally worn out Stiletto135. All the bad habits of the breed, and no flare left in it either.

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... twill reserve,..

Your profile says you have only been jumping for 15 years. Please tell me that is not true.

Hi Bones,

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Then again, I jumped a 5-cell custom Strato-Flyer about 200 times.

I'll second that; the worst canopy I've ever been under. And I was not that heavy in those days.

UHHHH, THAT LANDING HURT!!!!!!

JerryBaumchen

I started in 1978, tapered off, basically no jumps in the '90's, got back into it around 2001. Given the hiatus, I didn't feel right saying I've been in the sport for 30 years, so instead I use the number of years I've been a USPA member.

I must admit, a wingsuit and a Spectre is a bit of an upgrade from the belly wart days.

Vengeance 107,
So bad they let me trade it for a new stilletto 97 after one season

the cork screw openings were sporty to say the least.....

That's reminds me of a good mismatch.

My old reliable Fury 220 (#251) needed some grommets replaced on the slider. So, I borrowed a slider that turned out to really slow down the openings.

On one jump, I pitch at around 4K to do some CRW with my girlfriend. The damn thing sniveled until about 2.5K. I looked up and saw my girlfriend in a hard spiral following me down. Damn, I was proud of her!

.... until she cut away about 100 feet in front of me and on level!

Having owned an original Unit 1 (not F-111) for about 100 jumps, I was used to riding a good squared off snivel.

By the way, I bought a Nimbus XL for $100 that had around 200 jumps on it years ago. It had a terrible reputation for Mals. 3~4 Mals in 20 jumps with various jumpers convinced me to sell it to another "victim" for a similar price. I swear that canopy had a Mal about every 15~20 jumps until I lost track of who owned it. It was usually the slider grabbing a cascade on the way down.

a rinsed out spring 120 was the worst i have jumped.

It would snivel for ges and then the inflation would still be hard.

I would gently try to flare it and it would fall and stall on its ass behind me.

i tried a near new one (less than 100 jumps on it)not long after, it opened better but the flare was very similar.

What crap canopies.

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Having owned an original Unit 1 (not F-111) for about 100 jumps,

Were they not made from F-111? I owned a couple of them, made probably 1200-1300 jumps on them. It was when F-111 was brand new, though.

I bought it used in early '84 with about 600 jumps on it and it was probably 3~4 years old. Definitely not F-111. I was envious of my buddy who had an F-111 unit.

I want to say 1:1 nylon but I think it was a material between 1:1 and F-111. It was pretty ragged out.

Anybody know more about it?

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Monarch 175. Left me hurting on every opening.

i went from a sabre to a monarch and i have to say your right that monarch opens hard but i like it over the pilot that thing takes to long

Really? I jumped a springo 120 for a season, it actually opened and flared pretty good, it just can't handle turbulence worth a damn so no filming CRW or even following a tandem or sport canopy around at a distance, nor is a rearriser flare an option if you prefer to not get hurt, and the slider had a habit of getting stuck, all of which is why I dont jump it anymore.

PdF main canopies have a short toggle range, if you flare them like say an Icarus canopy you're gonna stall it yeah, but you can lengthen the steering lines if you want or just not flare so deep (which I did, it wasn't my canopy). I never had any trouble landing the springo except for one jump in turbulent weather with the slider stuck halfway Didn't want to chop it for "something so minor" as it was a borrowed canopy, but should have in retrospect, got lucky there. But for all its faults, the openings and landings were actually quite good. This was a canopy with a few dozen jumps on it at most when I started jumping it, at WL 1.4-1.5 or so.

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my old heavy weight strato cloud. free packed with the lines figure 8ed into the bottom of the cont.and no d bag. was never fun and often painfull at terminal

Heavy cloud was my first canopy. Was videoing when you wore the recorder on your belly. You could hear me grunt on camera as that bitch opened.

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I bought it used in early '84 with about 600 jumps on it and it was probably 3~4 years old. Definitely not F-111. I was envious of my buddy who had an F-111 unit.

I want to say 1:1 nylon but I think it was a material between 1:1 and F-111. It was pretty ragged out.

Anybody know more about it?

According to the Poynter Manual, the Unit was introduced in 1978 and made of F-111. If you really have one made of something else, my best guess would be the 1.25oz fabric that pre-dated F-111.

Absolutely, the piglet was bad many times over. Hard opening, hard landing, and terrible control. It was a good thing I was young then.

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According to the Poynter Manual, the Unit was introduced in 1978 and made of F-111. If you really have one made of something else, my best guess would be the 1.25oz fabric that pre-dated F-111.

Thanks for the research. I thought it was the most bitching hi-tech canopy ever when I bought my first one.

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According to the Poynter Manual, the Unit was introduced in 1978 and made of F-111. If you really have one made of something else, my best guess would be the 1.25oz fabric that pre-dated F-111.

Thanks for the research. I thought it was the most bitching hi-tech canopy ever when I bought my first one.

I'll always have fond memories of the secondhand Unit I had because it was the first canopy with which I could get consistent standup landings. I don't know if it was easier to flare than the canopies I had been jumping, or if it just happened to be the canopy I was jumping when I finally figured out how to flare.

I like mine, preferred the 150 though!

Had a Triathlon 175 on a rotations line set, didn't flare worth a damn!

Yeah me too had a reserve ride in 1981 on front mounted 20 foot reserve with no steeering. Boy did it open hard (I pulled the wrong handle after a 20 second delay) It did what it was supposed to do so thanks Ted (the packer) I got down safe.

I put about 650 jumps on an original sabre and loved it. It was a 135 though.

For openings I'd have to say a stiletto 107 that really needed new lines. it would come out of the bag straight and then fly itself into all kinds of line twists as it inflated. The best bet was to just stay even and hope as the other half inflated it would fly back round the other way out of line twists.

For flight characteristics I'd have to say a Raven Dash-MZ reserve. I pop the brakes and let the lines up, slight bow in them behind the tail... so far so good. I did a practice flare and it stalled when my hands got to my shoulders. On landing I managed to bleed off my vertical speed just above the ground before stalling it on landing and tumbling through a field of tall grass.

This is still a great thread that deserves to continue...

Another crap canopy I jumped, when I was a novice, was a National Renegade. While it was F-111, it should have flown well, being a high aspect ratio (3:1) 9-cell of 232 square feet. But the flare felt mushy and it wouldn't shut down very well on landing. In low wind even a hard flare left me running and stumbling across the ground.

I later heard there was a brake line mod to make them land better.

Somehow I don't think National ever figured out square canopies. Their Cobra 10's blew up, the Renegade didn't flare well, and I almost never heard of anyone using their ram air reserves.

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A couple people in the thread mentioned cursed canopies.

I didn't jump it, but I know a Fury reserve that has mal'ed twice.

One time a line wrapped around one of the A-line slider stops on opening, distorting the canopy. The stops are relatively exposed on those designs due to lack of stabilizers on the reserve version, combined with the flare type line attachment. The jumper borrowing the gear got down OK with a bunch of opposite brake.

This was only the second time Flight Concepts has ever heard of something like that happening to one of their canopies. One might suspect the rigger, who despite being methodical was pretty new at cramming canopies into freebags, but it still seemed to be unusually bad luck.

Then a couple years later, a student hums it down in freefall while spinning, it's a no-pull, the FXC fires at a thousand feet, the canopy has a tension knot. She doesn't know enough to try to clear it, nor even really counter steers. Probably in a bit of a daze, she spirals down in a steep dive ... into a single line of trees separating two open fields.

She hangs up in a tree and has nothing more than a couple scratches, although is mentally a little messed up from it all. The rigger was experienced and precise, so there's no reason to suspect the pack job.

There was nothing about that reserve that was unusual or worn. And yet, nobody wanted to see it packed up again... so off in a corner it went...

Add me to the list that said T-10(whatever).

Tough call between my Nimbus (whacked so hard it had to be roll packed) and years later my first elliptical experience on my Batwing. Took 1500 feet to open, cut hole in slider and brought it down to 1000 feet. Cut bigger hole in slider.. Flew GREAT in the air, hard as snot to land well in no wind. But I got REALLY good at accuracy, put it in the peas almost every jump for years.

Normal protocol during Batwing opening was grabbing toggles and pumping to help the canopy open! So I never wore gloves, wanted to be able to grab them quickly. Found after downsizing it opened less bad.

Years later...I came back from 2nd pregnancy and off for 7-8 months, and at 165 body weight only with a 116 Batwing...landings were scary! So I borrowed a Spectre and wow, it opened all by itself!!!! Sold!!! Been jumping one ever since, lol.

Ya got the long answer, but I thought it might be a good story. :)

I am SO tired of the Manta I am STILL on. Two hundred eighty something square feet? I MIGHT weigh 185 fully suited up. Feels like flying a bus.