EAerodyne

Hey Dave, glad you liked it my man, good to hear some good feedback thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed report on it. I think you might get a better bottom end flare from the 389 and that would be more comprable to the Sigma in size ... Regarding the collapsible slider.This is partially due to repeated requests from tandem masters around the world. Of course we'd be happy to accomodate your order or anyone's order for that matter to provide a slider without the collapsible draw strings. Kind regards Bushman

You are a good man Sparks :-), I don't care what they all say about you. Bushman

Hi Sparky, I will gladly devulge how we measure our canopies however would prefer to let other manufacturers answer the question related to their products. Just don't want to be seen as bashing other companies and so forth and with respect to other manufacturers they can get involved if they feel they'd like to. Aerodyne Research measures the bottom skin of the canopy. We find that this gives us the most acurate measurement when measuring elliptical canopies and so have chosen it as our standard for all our canopies. From the furtherest point aft to the furtherest point fore and from furtherest point left to right. Excluding the stabilizers. The other forms of measurement used by other manufacturers include top skin measurement, Inflated projection measurement, and 2 inches back from the leading edge top skin measurement. Some may even have other measuring techniques but these are the most common. For reference though, the TEMPO which was a PISA product (now Aerodyne Systems) was measured on the top skin. I hope that this helps Kind regards

I think one thing that would be great is if people actually went and did the gear reviews, this would save people posting as they can actually go and check out reviews themselves. I know it'd help me answering a lot of PM's and emails

Hi Terry, seems like i managed to rile you up. Wasn't intended honestly. I was employed by PD for 17 years and only recently moved to Aerdoyne last year. I would like to point out that although members of PD have either been members of the said technical committee and possibly even chaired a couple. There is still a very undecided manner in which to measure a canopy correctly. Aerodyne does have members on the committee already (the change from PISA to Aerodyne was done before I even joined Aerodyne) So yes you will see our technical representative at the committee meeting. The last thing I'd like to comment on is that the PIA is working on a new technique. This has been work in progress for almost (if I am not mistaken) 4 years. The reason it isn't further today than it was then is because of the differences between manufacturers (also present on the committee) to come to a common agreement. My comments were not so much directed at the PIA but more to those responsible for finalizing this task of adopting a new measuring technique. I believe such frustrations are the same frustrations that have had many a volunteer finally give up attending meetings where nothing is finalized. I have a huge respect for PIA and all the volunteer work done. I never meant to imply that PIA was solely responsible for the lack of a standard adopted by all manufacturers. kind regards and see you at the symposium

Ankie, what is even more confusing when you start looking at those kind of numbers is that the wingloading is so much different for each canopy as there are virtually no 2 manufacturers that measure their canopies the same. When the Max is for example 220lbs on a 99 equals a 2.2 wingloading. Imagine what that results in when that 99 square foot measurment is actually 89 square feet just due to different measuring techniques. I honestly wish that the PIA would standardize a measurement technique that can be applied, regardless of how it is measured it'd at least provide a constant from which to work from and all canopies would be measured equally. This would provide for a far safer skydiving environment where people can make an educated choice as to what wingloading they want to be loading a canopy at. kind regards

Hi Patrick, I am assuming from your post that your harness doesn't fit you properly. If this is the case please contact our European Sales Manager. Arnold Collenteur (he speaks French so no problems there) and he will be able to assist you further. We stand behind our product 100% and would be happy to take a look at your harness and get it sorted out. a point to consider: Are you wearing more clothes etc now in the cold winter months than when you measured yourself? Arnold's email address is a.collenteur@aerodyne-int.com Please feel free to contact him, the distributor you bought it from or our office directly. kind regards

Hi Hobbes, perhaps something to consider is the Mini-Force™ system provided by Aerodyne as a solution to what you are requesting. This gives the leverage effect of a large ring, yet is still comparable in size to the smaller rings. A thesis/study conducted by a German Rigger (Jürgen Sennert of Rainbow suits) definitly shows a huge reduction in pull forces and puts the mini-force™ at only a fraction above the large 3 ring set up. Kind regards

Hi Jacob, If Henry, Anki, Colon or any of the crew over at Wings don't know for sure. I'd be happy to send a Smart (or a bunch of them) over to their shop (only 40 miles away) to size it appropriately. I unfortunately cannot answer your question regarding which one will fit best in your Wings container, as I feel that question is best fielded by one of the helpful staff over at Wings. Kind regards and blue skies

Actually the ZP fabric is exactly the same from the exact same supplier. (Perseverance Mills, based in the UK). As for the F1-11 ribs yes you are correct. We believe this aids the Pilot in it's smooth, well distributed inflation. kind regards

Hi Steven, Yes Aerodyne has a demo program with demo reserves. it is possible to read more information on our website regarding the Smart reserve as well as send us an email personally and we'd be happy to assist you. (Please refer to the sticky at the top of this forum) If there is any questions or requests regarding any Aerodyne Product we'd be happy to assist you. kind regards & Blue Skies

I would like to take this opportunity to mention that Aerodyne will be running an advertisement which went to press at the beginning of the month, where we feature a quote from Adria promoting our Smart Reserve. I don't want people to be offended by this, nor would I want for the ad to continue should there be strong objections from friends and family. I also don't want people to think that we have been disrespectful in running this ad. It went to press at the beginning of the month and should be in your mailbox shortly. Curt seeing you are in touch with most people here perhaps you could communicate this to the family and I will respect their wishes in pulling the ad for the next issues, should they so wish. I would also like people to know that this was with Adria's absolute consent and her authorized permission to use it any advertising we might choose to. The quote can be viewed on our website under the Smart page where we have featured that quote from her for a couple months now. My personal opinions are that this is in a way a nice little way of remembering Adria and what she meant to our little company as well as her willingness to help us out wherever she could. Curt please email me at e.anderson@aerodyne-int.com should you have any feedback. respectfully Bushman

My sincerest sympathy and condolences to all of Adria's family and friends. Adria was a pleasure to work with from a sponsorship perspective, professional, polite and with an amazingly positive attitude, she will be surely missed by all that knew her and was touched by her amazing attitude towards life. Hamba Gashle Adria Bushman

Hi folks, Bushman from Aerodyne here....thought I'd interject here so as to clarify any issues being discussed. Aggie Dave is correct in saying that Aerodyne Research does take care of that now. However it is in the most basic form of support. We will take your order for a line set and submit it to Aerodyne Systems (formerly PISA) and we will take delivery and import it for you, as well as ship it out to you. Aerodyne also has a section on our website under support, dedicated to discontinued products, and there you will find the line trim charts for the hornet and the heatwave. Most capable riggers can build you a line set from these trim charts and have you up and running in no time at all. For those of you that cannot find a rigger to assist you we will do the leg work for you as described above. In response to KC jumper's post of waiting for a lineset for 14 weeks. KC I cannot find any documented order for a lineset in your name. Please contact my customer service dept and they will be pleased to assist you. (unless that order is in your room mates name) If his name is Kevin Nichols (only order in our system for a hornet 150 line set) Then that order was placed with us on the 6/3/2004. We have sent repeated emails down to South Africa to chase this order up, and we apologize profusely for the delay. Good news is, it should be shipped to us this week and we'll get it out to you as soon as possible. As a token of gratitude for your patience, please would you send me your t-shirt sizes and I will see to it that I send you a complimentary t-shirt for your patience with regards to this matter. Hoping that this post helps assist riggers and former PISA customers with the correct information in regards to support for their products. Kind regards and blue skies Bushman

Tonto, you might want to get your facts straight with regards to things you write or respond to in this forum. People respect you and what you say, as well as you have students that look up to you. The rig is not grounded in Sweden. They had a girl have a loose legstrap and put an enquiry into it, almost a month ago. Aerodyne released a service bulletin for those people who were suffering slippage. This happens to be a problem that is encountered and has been encountered by all manufacturer's using this type of hardware. It only needs for a little grime or grit to get between the 2 pieces before they slip. Once Aerodyne responded to the enquiry by the swedish federation the grounding was lifted. This is standard Swedish procedure, to make sure that if there is a problem, no one else is affected till it has been addressed with the manufacturer. This whole incident took about 2 days from the time the girl encountered the slippage till the time we had a close look at what happened. Please take a breath and think about the repercussions of someone such as yourself with a lot of experience posting things that don't necessarily reflect the facts or the truth. You other comments are mere opinion, and I will not attempt to address them with this post, however please feel free to contact me and I'd be pleased and happy to talk to you in regards to any concerns you may have. Remember, there are people that look up to you, weigh up what you are about to write and evaluate if people with out experience are perhaps going to read something other than what you are intending. kind regards Bushman

Hi Sparky, yes that is the same facility, although when brought under the Aerodyne Umbrella, it was significantly updated. Aerodyne Research, (our Tampa office) has a management role in the operations of that facility to make sure it meets with our quality & manufacturing standards as well as utilizing the fabrics and raw materials chosen by our Tampa office. Aerodyne Systems, formerly PISA (Parachute Industries of South Africa) Is a large facility situated North of Durban South Africa and has 30 years of experience in building parachute equipment, however the majority of that was and still is for military use. Hope this answers your questions regards Bushman

Hi Derek, having worked for PD for 15 years in their marketing dept and eventually being the marketing manager and having been part of the company when it did release the smaller reserves I perhaps have some knowledge that you may not. PD builds tough reserves no doubt about it, that doesn't mean that the older reserves would have passed the C23d requirements, it does however mean that they passed the strictest of TSO requirements available at the time. It wasn't a unfair jab at PD. It was an informative comment to a prospective buyer looking for good information. PD builds great canopies. Their reserves are the most tried and tested in the market place today and I have no qualms about saying that. Plastic slider stops do not necessarily mean they are poor in quality. Plastics have evolved dramatically over the last 20 years and there are products used on space craft today that are no longer metal as they are not as tough or as durable as plastic. Metal can also have a sharp edge which if not tumbled and inspected properly can result in the stop cutting into the fabric and reinforcing housing it. 6 stops do not make it more or less capable, the object of the slider stop remains the same. If a design, requires 6 stops then that is all good, however if it only requires 4 and still passes the TSO I see no reason to add pack volume and more cost to manufacturing which is then passed on to you the customer. I'd be happy to discuss this with you off line if you'd like. Please feel free to contact me if you want to chat more about it. Kind Regards Bushman

Hey Austin, The Smart Reserve is not an old reserve. It was designed mid 2002 and was TSO'd Dec 17 2002. The techno, was designed in 1994 by Parachutes de France It was first displayed at the PIA symposium in 1995. The Smart is one of the first and only reserves to hold a TSO C23d on all sizes. and comes in in sizes from 99 - 250 Sqare feet. The 250 happens to be one of the largest sport reserves in the market place with this TSO approval as well. Although built by our manufacturing facility in South Africa it is designed and the TSO is held by our US head office in Tampa FL. The Techno reserve is built on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and the PD reserve is built in Honduras, Central America. I notice from your profile, that you are in the UK, and I can see what I can do to organize a demo canopy for you to evaluate at your convenience. Please feel free to email me personally to take care of your request should you choose to take me up on that offer. The Smart reserve is a strong and reliable reserve, built tough enough for your skydiving needs. Based on that fact this response is to your questions posted I will not open the forum to discuss who is better or worse. PD is a great reserve too. They are strong, well known and reliable, depending on what size reserve you are looking at you may not be getting a PD reserve with the latest C23d as only a portion of their reserves are TSO'd under that category. Please feel free to contact me personally or any of our staff and we'd be happy to answer any further questions. kind regards and blue skies

Hi Nate, if these specks you are referring to are down each cell on the top skin & usually in between the double row of stitches. Then the chances are that they are what is known as match marks. Small marks made with a marker (which has no effect on the material) so that the seamstress can match up the marks to make sure your reserve is sewn together as designed. Some manufacturers use other methods, you might find holes as match marks, on some canopies, or some other method of marking the 2 parts so that they match when sewn. To clarify one other item in this thread. If you bought your reserve from a distributor/dealer as new then it should be new and not used or previously demo'd. You might want to confirm that with them. However I very much doubt that is the case. The fact that you say in your post you took it out of the bag, lends me to believe that it was new, and that what you are looking at, are the match marks. Hope this helps you, however if this isn't the case, then please return it to us for us to inspect it for you. Especially if you and your rigger feel unsure of what exactly these marks are after reviewing this reply.

I can't stand all this blue sky any more, we have had it for weeks on end now, a gentle breeze 92 degrees not a cloud in the sky and loving the reasons for living in FL :-) have an awesome weekend ...... hope the weather improves, I am sure it will. :-) Bushman

Well it is getting hot out there on the ice, seems we can't get through a play without a fight starting up. 4-0 not a bad come back after game 1. Where the Flames definitely outplayed us, and yes we had some unlucky shots but man those flames are fast, I used to think the lightning were fast, I guess being on the East coast we never saw them much, but I am impressed. My man Marty is kicking ass as usual, and this is going to be a tough series. Let's hope no one's house burns down to night! Bushman

Seeing we (team Aerodyne) live and work in Tampa, and I come from South Africa, which has even deeper roots with winter sports than FL :-) We are all about the Lightning, leaving those boyz from Calgary in flames. Go the Bolts! Bushman

I am trying to find the time to put together some information for the forum, with regards to measuring and sizing canopies. There is no standard, and it creates difficulty to size containers correctly and for people to make an educated guess as to if the canopy is suited for their ability, proficiency, suspended weight, field elevation etc. However with due respect to frequent forum visitors and having watched the flaming that takes place when a manufacturer does post something of this nature, it may take me sometime. What I can say is this. You can only fit a pint of water in a pint size bottle or larger. In other words, if it packs larger it probably is larger. (please note the word probably) and secondly not all parachutes are sized equal. As a skydiver and as an instructor I would have to say, make sure of what size the canopy you think of buying is, and measure the competitive product you are evaluating in the same manner, before making your final bid. You may be very surprised. blue ones Bushman Edward Anderson Chief Of Operations Aerodyne Research.

Seeing there seem to be so many SQL boff's on this thread, any of you looking for a job as a SQL programmer and test jumper? Got tons of SQL work over here, and am currently evaluating whether or not to farm it out, or get a multi talented individual, SQL/IT/Test Jumper type person, to fill a more permanent role. Any interested individuals, please email me personally at e.anderson@aerodyne-int.com blue ones Bushman

Hi Karl, Thank you for the compliments, greatly appreciated. Addie so you know, your rig shipped yesterday and you should be up in the air this weekend with it. Karl, have a great weekend and thank you once again Bushman Edward Anderson Chief Of Operations Aerodyne Research