How to Pick The Best Skydiving Canopy For Me

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In Summary
Choosing the right skydiving canopy depends on your experience, currency, goals, and exit weight. Size, wingloading, and canopy type all affect performance and safety, making it important to understand your options. Canopy courses are strongly recommended — especially when changing wings — and at Skydive Perris, you can demo or purchase canopies on-site.

There’s something so exciting about investing in your very own skydiving canopy. It’s more than a piece of gear – it’s your wing, your ride back to Earth, your partner in the sky! Choosing the best skydiving canopy is as intimidating as it is thrilling, so it’s totally normal to have questions. That’s why we’re here!

This guide will break down everything from the significance of parachute size and what to look for when buying a canopy, to answering the question, “How long does a skydiving canopy last?” The decision on what to buy and when to buy it is more personal and strategic than many may think! Let’s dive in.

Note: This article discusses main parachutes and is not referring to reserve parachutes.

Factors To Consider When Choosing A Canopy

There are a few major factors that can help to determine the best parachute for you:

How many jumps do you have?
How current are you (and how current do you plan on being throughout your time in the sport)?
What are your goals in the sport when it comes to canopy flight?
What is your exit weight?
How much training do you have?
What canopy/ies have you previously jumped?
How much time have you spent in the sport?

Each of these factors go into play when choosing a canopy.

Why does jump number matter?

Someone with 10 skydives isn’t going to be placed on a high-performance wing! Someone with hundreds, or thousands, of skydives may have this as an option. That being said, if someone has hundreds of skydives but often falls out of currency, the jump number is in some ways, trumped. Although jump number doesn’t necessarily directly correlate to skill level, it’s definitely a factor.

What is currency?

How current you are refers to how often you skydive! Are you skydiving once per month, or 10+ times per month? Choosing a more forgiving and docile wing is better for those who often become uncurrent. Although, to maintain a high standard of safety-mindedness for yourself and others, currency should be of top priority.

What goals are we talking about?

eEach canopy has different characteristics – some have a really great recovery arc, while others don’t, and some are incredibly responsive, while others are less twitchy. If there’s a specific canopy-focused discipline you’d like to go into, the class of canopy you buy may directly represent this.

What is your exit weight?

Exit weight refers to your body weight plus the weight of your skydiving gear – it’s how much you weigh when you exit the airplane (which is the same weight you’ll be under your parachute)!

How much training do you have?

Have you taken a canopy course or trained with a canopy coach? Understanding the flight dynamics of your current canopy can help you understand what you may be looking for in a new wing.

What have you previously jumped?

If you’ve only ever jumped semi-elliptical canopies, and you’re looking to downsize, it would be recommended that you transition to a smaller semi-elliptical canopy, rather than changing sizes and platforms. Consider what your experience level is on certain types of canopies!

How long have you been skydiving?

This one is a bit controversial, as everyone is different. Some people may do hundreds of jumps in their first year jumping, while others may do 50. That being said, time in the sport plays a part in understanding certain canopy flight foundations. Simply put, the longer you’re around something (in this case, the skydiving world), the more you know about it!

Does The Size of A Parachute Matter?

The size of a skydive canopy matters … a LOT. A higher wingloading (AKA, a smaller wing) is less forgiving, as the canopy is more responsive, whereas a lower wingloading is more docile and has a slower rate of descent.

The skydiving canopy size chart by the USPA (United States Parachute Association) provides skydivers with recommendations of canopy sizes based on jump number and exit weight. Like we mentioned above, there are other factors that go into play when determining the right canopy for you – such as currency – but this chart provides a great basis.

What is wingloading?

Wingloading is the ratio of a skydiver’s exit weight to the surface area of the parachute. In the US, we calculate wingloading by dividing the skydiver’s exit weight in pounds by the canopy’s surface area in square feet.

Does someone with more jumps have a small wingloading?

Downsizing – the act progressively using smaller parachutes as experience, jump numbers, and time in the sport increases – is not synonymous with higher jump numbers. What we mean is: Skydivers with more experience have the opportunity to downsize, but they don’t have to. Upsizing or maintaining your current wingloading is cool!

Does The Class of Parachute Matter?

Yes, the style (or class) of canopy matters! Parachutes are designed for different purposes, such as CRW work, accuracy, or high-performance landings (AKA, swoops). Each canopy has specificity to its design (that’s why there are so many on the market!) that affects the lift, pitch (or dive), yaw, openings, roll, and so much more.

What is considered a high-performance canopy?

Any canopy sized at 150 (square feet, that is) or smaller is considered high-performance across the industry and by the USPA. According to the USPA, any canopy can be considered high-performance based on the wingloading, regardless of parachute size.

What is the difference between a 9-cell and 7-cell canopy?

Two cells, hehe! Seven-cell canopies have fewer cells, ribs, and lines, and generally pack a bit smaller. Nine-cell canopies are known for having higher flare power and for gliding a bit further when coming in for landing, and canopies with 7 cells are great for flying in deep brakes and sinking in – woo-hoo skydiving canopy control and accuracy! Deciding between a 7-cell canopy and a 9-cell canopy is simply personal preference.

When Should You Take A Canopy Course?

Anytime that you have the opportunity to indulge in a canopy course, DO IT. At a bare minimum, experienced skydivers should be taking canopy courses for their USPA B License (as this achievement places a high concentration on canopy skills and knowledge) and every time they change wings. Even if you’re upsizing? Yep! Receiving instruction on how to effectively and safely fly your parachute is paramount. Whether you’re downsizing, upsizing, or changing platforms, a canopy course is a smart move.

At Skydive Perris, we have a gear store on-site where you can demo canopies and buy gently used ones!

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