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From: mills@granite.ma30.bull.com (John Luke Mills)
Newsgroups: rec.skydiving
Subject: Re: Anyone jumped a Paradactyl?
Message-ID: <1991Jun28.211946.7864@granite.ma30.bull.com>
Date: 28 Jun 91 21:19:46 GMT
References: <1991Jun27.121456.16862@zia.aoc.nrao.edu> <3558@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU>
Organization: Bull HN Information Systems Inc.
Lines: 25

Beleive it or not, I own a Brand NEW, in the sense it has never been
jumped, Paradactyl.  I beleive it packs up smaller than my Fury.  I
will check on this and its weight this weekend.

It is tiny.  Almost half of the pack volume is the suspension lines.

My older freinds who were at Orange about the time the experimenting
was going on claim there were two problems.  Not opening at all was
one.  A bigger problem was opening to much to fast.

I am thinking of jumping mine when my reserve is due for a repack and
opening sub-terminal.

There was a jumper at Pepperell who use to jump one regulary.  He
didn't seem to have any problems.  The performance was like a very
slow square, but with a higher rate of decent.

My personal theory on why they got a bad reputation is they were one
of the first canopies that could kill you if you srewed up too close
the ground.  From what I can tell, if you stall a Paradactyl, it will
colapse or do other vilolent stuff, not unlike the hotter squares.
The Paradactyl was WAY ahead of its time, and it reputation was based
on experience with relatively docile round canopies.

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