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I have been jumping terminal jumps for few years now (tracking, WS, slick), using Troll 305 with small mesh slider. Openings have been perfect, fast but not hard.

Last year I have bought Trango3 265 which has a slow slider (so a large mesh with 2 stripes across slider). During first few WS jumps openings have been super hard. After doing everything to slow the descent rate before pitching, now the opening are bearable, but still far from what I have with Troll with small mesh. I have also made some jumps without the ws and openings are also faster and harder than on the Troll.

So the question is, is it the canopy or does anybody else have the same experience, i.e. slow slider being "faster" than the small mesh?

Smaller canopies are known to open faster. 40 square feet is a pretty big difference. Did you lose a lot of weight or just downsize dramatically?

Well kind of. But with WL being much bigger, I'd expect it to start flying later, becasue of much higher stall speed on smaller wing (with the same suspended weight)??

I haven't lost any weight, I wanted something smaller and lighter for WS.

Was your troll standard F111 and is your trango lightweight? If so, that can make a difference as well in opening speeds, so I've heard.

If it opens faster, it should start flying faster.

Yep.


From what I talked with among others Atair guys, this is not necessary true. The fact that canopy physically opens doens't mean that it flies - it is still in stall, and is still falling down (because it needs more speed to actually start going forward)

I think it was Stane who told me that they have tested different sized canopies with the same jumper, and the bigger one was flying significantly earlier (i.e. higher) than the smaller one, even though the smaller opened earlier.

Stane who told me that they have tested different sized
canopies with the same jumper, and the bigger one was
flying significantly earlier (i.e. higher) than the smaller
one, even though the smaller opened earlier.

I heard the same thing from Andrej via email when
I was debating between 265 (280) and 285 (301).

But back to the point: is slow slider indeed slower than small mesh? has anybody tested both with the same canopy?

Ya know, I thought the slow sliders (since I don't own one) came with small mesh and the two strips not large mesh, so this is news to me.

An idea I have though:

You could sew a small patch of F111/ZP material into the center of your slider from tape to tape (of the center two tapes on the slow slider). Or get a rigger to do it if you're not sure you can. Sew it on the bottom side (or sew a piece on each side to sandwich it if you want), and see if that slows it down enough. Obviously pull a bit high the first time testing it, but I've seen sliders with a patch in the middle before so that's not a crazy idea and seems to work pretty well for people. It's probably what I'd try next.

And I'm definitely just guessing here but make that patch as wide as the two center tapes and as deep as about 6 inches maybe? I don't think it has to be huge... probably a range between 4-8 inches is good depending on canopy size and wingloading and those things.

yes, I was thinking about this. Squirrel sliders have those kind of square "patches" that you can install in the middle of the slider.

That's definitely true.

The canopy opens and initially acts as an aerodynamic decelerator, to stop you from falling. Then it transitions and begins to move forward and fly.

My experience has been that larger wings usually start flying later also, but it doesn't have to be that way, and the lag from expansion to flight varies dramatically between different canopy types.

I'm a bit puzzled. First you say 'definitely', then 'usually' and then that it 'varies dramatically'. Can you explain more?

Also in that case would you be comfortable jumping (let's go to extreme ) a sub 100 sqft canopy (e.g. Troll or a Flik) from a very low object?

Definitely: It's definitely true that "open" and "flying" are different things.

Usually: In my experience, smaller wings usually start flying sooner (for most canopy designs).

Dramatic variance: There are noticeable differences in the lag between "open" and "flying" on different canopy designs.