Tuno wrote:

I would very like to know who you spoke to in March.

Unfortunately, I tossed my contact notes when I bought my parachute in
April, and my memory of who said what is poor. I can tell you I
definitely spoke to Strong, Paraphernalia, Tim Mara (who's offered
opinions here already), and I am pretty sure National, and I know I had
some contact with Allen Silver (but possibly not about ram-airs).

I also looked closely at this parachute:

http://www.parachuteshop.com/aviator..._parachute.htm

but this note (and also from reading the manual, as I remember), put me
off the idea:

"Because of the advanced characteristics of these canopy designs, the
Sport Aviator model may only be used by individuals who either have
ram-air jumping experience such as skydiving, or have received special
training in the use and performance of these canopies."

I also looked at Performance Design reserves, but they seemed to be for
even more experienced jumpers, and not people looking for "pilot
emergency parachutes".

Though I am not
surprised that a manufacturer would encourage you to stick with a
round chute -- they make money selling you either kind, and think that
they assume a liability risk if they do anything but tell an
"untrained jumper" to use a round parachute.

I can't assess that factor. They all seemed sincere, cautious, and
offered what seemed like sensible reasons for their recommendations.


The fact is, "square parachutes require training". But consider the
target audiences -- just about anybody can go make a parachute jump.
Licensed glider pilots have a FAR higher general compentency level
than your average yahoo. (At least in Arizona And I can assure you
that operating square *reserve* parachutes is an EASY thing for glider
pilots to do.

I believe you, but I'm not interested in learning, and I'm not sure I'd
remember it all a few years later, anyway. My final analysis that each
had some advantages for my situation, leading it to be a wash overall,
so I went with price and known comfort to pick the mini-Softie.

And, while all this is interesting discussion, my guess is getting
everyone to switch to ram-airs would not increase "emergency bail-out
safety" near as much as getting everyone to install a Roeger hook. But
that's another thread...

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

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* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org