CanopyPiloting

Well, I guess we will never know for sure but I can tell you Icarus NZ has been flying their "NZ" braced 45 cell "JSX" since last year. It is ironic that PD has not upgraded or introduced one new tri brace canopy since the Velocity came out in 1999 but as soon as Icarus NZ starts flying the JVX and JSX in public they start passing around a brochure about a new type of cell structure calling it the "Z-brace". Who at PD designed the Z-brace and why haven't we heard about it before? Will they fly a canopy with this new Z-brace this year? Anyway, the JSX with "NZ" bracing from Icarus "NZ" will be at several events this year for your viewing pleasure. Note: this new wing type with new NZ bracing is designed for a specific use. This is not your typical cross braced canopy. Look for it in 2005...

Looks like their so called Z-bracing is like our "NZ bracing"...

The VX has evolved! The JVX is a new improved VX specifically designed for serious swoopers that want a competition canopy like the factory pilots fly... The JVX is a 27-cell elliptical cross braced Tri-cell with upgrades like a new nose modification, improved trim, longer lines, no stabilizers, X-slider and an HMA line option. The JVX is slim, sleek and fast with less drag. First off, the JVX has no stabilizers. Stabilizers on small HP canopies don't due much except flap in the wind causing added parasite drag. The Icarus Project first dealt with the problem of reducing stabilizer drag by successfully developing ram-air stabilizers. Later in the project we realized no stabilizers was even better! However, stabilizers are useful for holding the position of the slider during packing and they also reduce the amount of air that escapes around the slider during the deployment sequence. To reap the benefits of having no stabilizers we needed to develop a slider that would fool the canopy into thinking it had stabilizers during the deployment...the "X-slider". Making the slider larger did not fix the issue because as the slider gets bigger the grommets get further apart. If the slider gets too big, the grommets too far apart causing additional problems on opening. The X-slider is actually a standard size Icarus slider with a skirt added to the four outside panels. This allows the grommets to stay in the same position for deployment while the skirt fills the space once occupied by the stabilizers. The skirt also covers more of the nose during deployment. The JVX opens much better than any other Extreme! Some of the early prototypes sniveled so long they had to increase the opening speed for lower altitude jumps! The X-slider is also designed so you can fold the skirt panels inward and roll it up behind your head for a normal stow. The JVX also incorporates a new trim which is a serious upgrade from the VX. The new trim increases the rear riser pressure and has no slack in the D lines. This not only reduces tail flutter but provides a better platform for rear riser flying! In addition, the overall line length on the JVX is longer creating more time for the pilot to catch up with the canopy during a turn resulting in a longer dive. The JVX packs slightly smaller than a VX because their are no stabilizers and very thin HMA lines. The JVX comes with two HMA line sets, custom colors, custom sizes and side logo panels that don't flake off after ten pack jobs. The thin HMA line sets can last a couple hundred jumps if taken care of. HMA's short life span is the main reason our JVX comes with two line sets on delivery. Pilots also have the option to get standard Vectran line with the JVX. The JVX is offered directly from Icarus NZ. Some pictures of the JVX are attached... http://www.icarusnz.com/jvx.mov (Video link) support@icarusnz.com

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The Icarus Project... In 1988 Bill Coe of performance designs designed the Crossbrace Tricell canopy called the "Excalibur". At that time Parachutes de France had released the Blue Trac, the first ZP Elliptical canopy available on the market. These were the most significant steps in parachute design in a long time and started a whole new addiction called, "swooping". Since then several other canopies came out lifting the bar a little each time. Notably the Sabre, the Jonathon, then in 1993 the Stiletto...the most popular sport main of all time. NZ Aerosports had been building canopies since 1985 starting with making a few Pegasus copies for friends then slowly trying to get more performance out of the designs of the day. NZ Aerosports had a passion for high performance canopies and after the Excalibur and Bluetrack came out an obvious move seemed to be towards development of a ZP XBTricell. NZ Aerosports built a couple and the performance was amazing, but the openings were totally unworkable. NZ Aerosports headed off in other directions for several years trying to get more performance out of conventional canopies they could make open good enough to sell on the market, PD eventually pulled the f-111 Excalibur off the market for similar reasons. The most significant performance gain was the Tricell canopy NZ Aerosports had built in 1989. Elliptical ZP canopies were the norm in HP now and NZ Aerosports had just installed one of the first computer cutting systems in the industry. They had their own software written to generate the shapes they needed and then built a ZP Elliptical Crossbraced Tricell canopy. The new design was hard to make and bulky but they knew it was miles ahead of everything else on the market. NZ Aerosports has only ever been a very small business. They had this awesome canopy but it still wasn't opening well enough. They believed they could get even more out of it. The next 2 years included many sleepless nights, every idea they could think of to manage the openings and optimize the performance from it was tried. They also did a run of wind tunnel tests and just about went crazy building more prototypes than they could afford knowing they had a winner if they could just figure it out. In 1995 NZ Aerosports released the Mk1 Icarus EXTreme, Since then this style of canopy has revolutionized our sport. Canopy flying competitions were just starting out and the extra performance from the Mk1 Extreme showed up clearly in these controlled and measured environments including the early Bladerunning events in 1996. Soon NZ Aerosports were licensing their designs to other parachute manufacturers like Precision Aerodynamics and CIMSA in Spain. In 1997 NZ Aerosports createed the "Icarus Project" and released an up graded version of the Mk1 called the "FX" which had a smaller pack volume and a closed nose universally seen today in almost all crossbraced canopies. The Icarus Project soon became Icarus Canopies and in 1999 the giant in the industry PD ,the original designers of the crossbrace, released the Velocity based on the same format Icarus had developed in the FX. This really made people take notice of NZ Aerosports/Icarus canopies, the well deserved industry leader Performance Designs was following lead with a 21 cell tri-braced canopy just like the 21 tri braced FX. The same day PD released the 21 cell Velocity Icarus released it's 27 cell "VX". NZ Aerosports/Icarus has learned a lot designing High Performance wings over the years. Much of what NZ Aerosports had learned was transferred into a complete range of canopies. The Tandem, Omega, Safire, Crossfire as well as the FX and VX. These canopies were to be manufactured and sold under license by Precision in the US and Cimsa in Spain, as well as, directly by NZ Aerosports (Icarus New Zealand). After some time Precision left the group and came out with their own versions of these designs. Icarus canopies became mostly manufactured in Spain for both the US and EU markets. NZ Aerosports is now known as "Icarus NZ" in America and have always been on the cutting edge. Icarus NZ canopy design software has come a long way since the start, the cutting systems are now used by most ram air canopy manufacturers. Now here's the exciting part... Icarus NZ hasn't been idle over the last 5 years, we have been in active R&D of some of the most advanced parachute designs thus far. The newest version of the VX called the "JVX" will be released next month. The JVX has already took first place at the 2004 US Nationals of Canopy Piloting and right behind the JVX comes the newest generation of HP wing called the "JSX". The JSX has been in testing for a long time and flown since last year. The JSX was displayed just prior to the 2004 U.S. Nationals and at the New Zealand Nationals. The JSX will also be displayed during several events in 2005 before its unscheduled release. The JSX is a 45 cell Ultra performance parachute utilizing a new cell structure designed by "Jyro" (Icarus NZ) called "NZ Bracing". The JSX also has a JVX type nose section, new trim, HMA lines and no stabilizers. Icarus NZ also has new models of HP canopies designed specifically for Bladerunning, canopy expeditions and ground launching. That's right...the GLX (Ground Launch Extreme) and the GLS (Ground Launch Sport) will also hit the market next month! The new line of high performance canopies will be available through Icarus NZ/NZ Aerosports in New Zealand. Icarus NZ might be on the other side of the world but nowadays they are only a Phone call or E-mail away. Icarus NZ has their own support and distribution office in the U.S. Contact Icarus NZ at supprt@icarusnz.com Coming soon! [/url]www.icarusnz.com[url]

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Icarus NZ will have a JVX and JSX (45 cell with NZ bracing) at the 2nd World Cup of Canopy Piloting in Febuary. Jim was jumping the 45 cell JSX prototype with new NZ bracing last year. The JVX and next generation JSX are two of the newest designs from Icarus NZ (Icarus High Performance Division). More info coming soon!

Wonder where PD got this idea for new so called "Z-brace"? Just wondering. Also, where is the new canopy with this Z-brace? Icarus NZ will have a JVX and JSX (45 cell with new NZ bracing) at the 2nd World Cup of Canopy Piloting if anyone wants to take a look...

The ticket price listed in the Ads and on the schedule is the jump ticket price for the competitors (sorry to ruin your day TREEJUMPS). The "Open" category in the PST is not a "New" category and can't believe Chuck didn't know that. There has been several Open competitons in the PST including ALL the Freestyle meets last year. Where have you guys been? Yes, we have made all the 2005 Pro Tour comps "Open" this year. This means our currently qualified "Advanced" guys will get to compete with the Pros in these "Open" comps but they will not recieve points for a rank. Only Pro pilots recieve points towards their overall rank. The Pro Tour still has a Pro qualifier for those guys who make it that far but no Advanced qualifier. This is where CPC regional meets come in. If any of these guys want to turn Pro they need to compete at the CPC regional level and go to the CPC Championships at the end of the year. Under the old system these Advanced guys had to earn 400pts or win the Advanced series overall to turn Pro. It would take a guy at least two seasons (years) to earn enough points. Now with the CPC guys can do it in one season! They need only finish in the top 5 in their district and then the top 10 at the CPC Championships. Hope this helps...Jim

All the events are listed at www.canopypiloting.com and here is info on the "Grand Prix" and "Triple Crown"... U.S. Canopy Piloting “Grand Prix” Site: www.canopypiloting.com/grandprix.htm Date: April 21-28, 2005 Location: Perris Valley Skydiving & Ground Launch Center Class: Open (Pro & Advanced) Events: Speed, carving accuracy, distance, team, freestyle & Bladerunning Awards: Tour points, cash purse & medals Registration: $25 per event/$50 for Bladerunning Tickets: $13 “Triple Crown” of Freestyle Canopy Piloting Site: www.canopypiloting.com/triplecrown.htm Date: June 2-5, 2005 Location: Skydive the Farm, Ga Class: Open (Pro & Advanced) Events: Freestyle draw, freestyle accuracy & freestyle X Awards: Tour points, cash purse & medals Registration: $150 Tickets: $9

You guys are just viewing the quick ads, you need to click on the associated link with the ad to get to the homepage for the event. www.canopypiloting.com has the schedule listed in the news on the homepage and each event has it's own webpage for your viewing pleasure. Take you time and look around and you'll find what your looking for. On that note, the CPC has both "Pro" and "Standard" class. The district organizers will be running "standard" events in their region and send their top guys to the CPC Championships at the end of the year. The CPC headquarters organizes the Pro events and they run side by side with the PST. In other words, when I say the "Pro Tour" I mean the PST & CPC together. If your Pro qualified with the PST then your Pro qualified with the CPC. There is no more "Advanced" series in the PST but we will allow the current qualified advanced pilots to compete on the Tour at "Open" events. Just like the PST's Freestyle Open last year. In 2005, all Pro Tour stops are Open, meaning Pro & Advanced will compete side by side. The only pilots that cannot compete on the Pro Tour will be the ones not qualified in either class. These guys need to start at the CPC regional level and work their way up. The top 5 pilots frm each district and the top Pro guys will get invited to the CPC championship at the very end of the year. The top 10 "Standard" class finishers at the CPC Championshiop get a chance to take the Pro qualifier and turn Pro. Each year 10 guys get a shot because of the structure of the CPC. Hope this help, I'm off to New Zealand for their 1st Canopy Piloting Nationals. Talk with you guys later...Jim

The day by day schedule for the U.S. Canopy Piloting Grand Prix is listed at the webpage www.canopypiloting.com/grandprix.htm

The Pro Tour (PST & CPC) sanction a series of events each year. Pro Tour sanctioned events award points to competitor for their overall rank. Sanction events also follow rules put fourth by the Pro Tour, type courses, prizes, ect...

Come join the Pro Swooping Tour, Canopy Piloting Circuit, Ground Launch Center and Perris Valley Skydiving for the 2005 US Canopy Piloting Grand Prix! The Grand Prix is a sanctioned competition with cash prizes, tour points and medals. The Grand Prix is open to all Pro and Advanced qualified pilots. The Grand Prix is an intense week of competitions that will challenge pilots in six different events. Pick your events! Unlike ordinary swoop competitions competitors at the Grand Prix choose the events they wish to enter and compete. Your choice between speed, carving accuracy, distance, team speed, Freestyle or Bladerunning...its up to you! Check it out at www.canopypiloting.com/grandprix.htm

Info about the U.S. Canopy Piloting Circuit is available online at www.canopypiloting.com/cpc.htm

The 2005 Pro Tour schedule is posted at www.canopypiloting.com

All the scores from the Fantasy of Flight swoop competition are posted on the homepage at www.canopypiloting.com

I think it's great we are all upsizing too but that's with the CURRENT canopies available to swoopers. I am not at liberty to discuss any new cell structure or wing technology but I will tell you that if a smaller wing can carry as much lift through rigidity as as a larger wing but have less drag.... there is an advantage, Again, there is no canopy for sale on the market like this yet but I image there will be in the next year or two. Hang gliders are much, much more rigid than semi-rigid ram air parachutes. Competition handgliders choose to fly wings much smaller than larger and have more manuverability and performance (less drag). With small modern high performance parachutes (flying mattress) the canopy losses shape to easily causing all shorts of problems like wing distortion, flow seperation, ect. Larger wings address this problem by creating a larger area to distort and more surface area to carry low pressure over the wing but also have more parasite drag. Image too if I told you that a new generation wing in the 80sqft range packed like a 135! The future is so bright I have to wear shades. Any additional comments on this topic should be sent over to our ongoing thread at www.canopypiloting.com ...Jim

EVOLUTION and TREND. High performance parachutes of the future are going to be built with a improved cell structure and better design parameters making the wing more efficent. As the wing becomes more efficent pilots will be able to fly slightly smaller canopies again, if they want...Jim www.icarusnz.com

There are many different types of flying when it comes to Ground Launching. We typically perform "Bladerunning" where we set up a course of airblades down a slope to fly through. At the GLC we set up bladerunning courses on everything from the training slope (350ft) to slopes over 1600ft high. We also do "Ridge soaring" where we launch from the highest point along a ridgeline and crab down to the bottom. We also do "SOAR" or hovering were more experienced pilots with specialized canopies made for Ground launching ( www.icarusnz.com) can launch froma hilltop in high winds and sustain flight. We have launch sites at the GLC that are over 2,000ft where a pilot can launch, fly straight out and perform a normal 270 for landing but we usually use canopies larger than 100sqft when doing it. If you want more info about ground launching or the GLC you should logon to www.canopypiloting.com ...Jim

If you want to learn more about ground launching online you should probably check out the "Ground Launching" forum at www.canopypiloting.com

News from www.canopypiloting.com The PST's 2004 final standings are now posted online at canopypiloting.com The PST would like to congratulate Jay Moledzki (Turbo) and all the top winners of the 2004 season. We can't wait until next year!

News from www.canopypiloting.com Congrats to Mike Holmes and photographer Gustava Cabana for winning the November photo of the month performing a Lazyboy Ghostrider over the Muga river in Empuriabrava, Spain. You go boy!