Canopy identification

[mcordell 2]

I sold one of my stock demo canopies and put an ad out looking for a hurricane 170 to put in my demo rig while Parachute Sustems makes me a new main. I picked up a hurricane 170 for a great price but when I got it today I have no idea what I have. It appears to be f-111 material. DOM shows August 1992. There's no data panel on the tail and the stamped data panel on the rib in the center doesn't have manufacturer info not says hurricane on the stabilizers and hurricane 170 on the stamp but as far as I know they were never made of F-111. It also says it was made in Canada and Parachute Systems (formerly chute shop) is in South Africa. What the hell is this canopy!?

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[BrianM 1]

Canadian Aerosports made canopies called Blizzard and Typhoon. I'm not sure if they ever made a Hurricane but it does fit the naming theme.

"It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

[mcordell 2]

I found them and thought the same thing but couldn't find any information anywhere that indicated they made a hurricane canopy. I have an email out to them since calling them would cost me a small fortune. Hopefully they can tell me something. It's disappointing because it's a really nice looking canopy and it's in great shape but I have no intention of jumping an old F-111 170 no matter how good of condition it's in.

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[BrianM 1]

I haven't been able to find any info on it either. I tried looking at old versions of their website (using https://archive.org/web) but it only goes back to 1999, several years after your canopy was manufactured.

If you don't get an email response, let me know, it'll be a free phone call for me.

"It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

[mcordell 2]

Well I figured out I can call for free from my google voice phone number but I have called twice and it just rings non-stop with no answer. I'm not having very good luck figuring this out at all so far...

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[pchapman 279]

I'm also wondering whatever happened to Chris Stephen and Canadian Aerosports. I know the web page is still up (although seemingly largely unchanged since 2012).

I thought I read somewhere (CSPA Canapara magazine?) a few years ago that he had stopped building parachutes, but am not sure. Out here in Ontario one never heard much about the company, although in the late 90s a few of his canopies and rigs were around.

Hopefully he's still contactable. Otherwise, one might have to find some BC jumper who has been around a long time.

In the end though, it seems very very likely that it is a nearly unknown Hurricane 170 from what must be Canadian Aerosports, like BrianM figured at the start. (Or from Parachutes Canada I think was the company name Chris Stephen used earlier.)

I can't think of any other Canadian company that would have produced a canopy with a name like that. Not Westway, not ParaFab. Nobody else in Canada built sport canopies around that time that I ever remember hearing about.

Last minute addition:

Doing a web search I found a paragliding site where someone mentioned just this March that Stephen was relocating from Mission BC to nearby Matsqui BC and gave this address:
[Edit: not 2008 as I first wrote after misreading the post]

5835 Riverside Street
Matsqui Village
604-820-8258

But Matsqui is an outlying part of Abbotsford BC if one is googling the location.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

This??

http://www.dropzone.com/gear/Detailed/432.html
or this... http://www.parachutesystems.co.za/hurricane

Is it a hybrid... f-111 and Z-p?

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[mcordell 2]

Quote

This??

http://www.dropzone.com/gear/Detailed/432.html
or this... http://www.parachutesystems.co.za/hurricane

Is it a hybrid... f-111 and Z-p?

It is not a Parachute Systems Hurricane. That's what I thought I was getting. The Parachute Systems Hurricane is ZP and is fully elliptical and wasn't built in 1992 and has always been built in South Africa but will soon also be built in South Carolina. I also contacted Chris Dales directly, since I'm a Parachute Systems dealer, and he confirmed it was not a canopy made by his company. The Parachute Systems Hurricane is also not hybrid. It's full ZP.

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[hackish 8]

I have a pilot chute built by canadian aerosports. I believe there is a phone number on it and it was purchased a few years ago. I can check it for you next time I "unpack" it. I also recently packed a reserve made by a company in Quebec. Took a lot of work to find a manual. I don't recall the company name off the top of my head.

-Michael

[riggerrob 643]

hackish

I have a pilot chute built by canadian aerosports. I believe there is a phone number on it and it was purchased a few years ago. I can check it for you next time I "unpack" it. I also recently packed a reserve made by a company in Quebec. Took a lot of work to find a manual. I don't recall the company name off the top of my head.

-Michael

.......................................................................................
Over the years, a wide variety of "one-man shops" have manufactured parachutes in Canada: Canadian AeroSports, Ron Dionne, Flying High, Robert " Luke" Lucas, MS Enterprises, Niagara Parachutes, Roger Sport, Sequential Flyer, West Way, etc.

Canadian Aerosports is located in Mission, B.C. He made a wide variety of square, tapered, even cross- braced canopies during the 1990s. He still does a bit of rigging.
OVN (Object Vol Nonidentifier = Unidentified Flying Object) reserves were made in Valcourt, Quebec back during the 1990s.