aubsmell

Hey Sorry I haven't posted, I've been on vacation and away from my computer. This is going to be kind of a long rambling post, because there is a lot of history on the subject, and I just want you to understand where the project is and why. I'll try to dance around this as best as possible, in marketing you don't want to put things out, before you have a chance to really try to make an impact. That being said I'll give you the story up to this point but leave out the ending...I’ll give you the long version. The Amax will never exist! That was a canopy design that they intended to bring to the market when they originally launched Aerodyne two years ago, along with an assortment of products. When the management of this company changed, we evaluated each of the products, and went with what we thought were ready for the market. Because Aerodyne wasn't a completely new company, more the embodiment of Aerodyne, PISA, and some of the best engineering minds from PDF (paraglider engineers and Michel Auvray) we weren't exactly starting from scratch. But they were a bit aggressive, with what they expected to launch all at once. (for this canopy we are talking about, Dom Hayhurst, the man who designed the Pilot, is the chief designer on this project.) When the Bushman came over, things on the marketing end had been standing still for a good little while after Ian Bellis' death earlier in 2003, and that included where some of the products were in respect to when they could be launched. Bellis was a big part of the R&D side of things over here, as well as marketing. The Amax wasn’t really ready to be sold. Shortly after, I followed the Bushman, and I began trying to get a feel for where each product fit in to the market, and we tried to decide what we should aggressively try to sell. We sort of inherited all of these products. I jumped the Amax a ton, and the flight and landing of the performance of the canopy was great, but the openings left a lot to be desired. So we decided to pull the product and work out the openings. We tried a bunch of various line sets, placement of cross ports, all sorts of things, but we wanted to keep the steep long dive and a satisfactory roll rate, all the while we were still building more prototypes, different plan forms, completely different wings, with the same goals in mind. Good opening, steep diving, and a quick responsive roll rate. After a while we figured out that with a different wing shape we got the best of all of these characteristics, so we scrapped trying to fix the Amax, and decided to develop a new prototype further so that is where we are. We have a new canopy, it’s good to go, we are developing sizes (aerodynamic wings don’t scale perfectly so each size has to be built and tested to the nth degree), so it is hard to answer the question: when is this canopy going to come out? The most straightforward answer is: When it is safe, ready, meets our design goals and is thoroughly tested in all sizes. It is tough, the market wants the canopy, we want to sell the canopy, but the reality is that we are not going to settle for a mediocre product. In the size of this industry, and our position as the new kid on the block, there is no room to come in half stepping, when we introduce a product it has to be as good or better than our competitors in one aspect or another. As a company we want nothing short of the best quality products on the market. And testing is a big part of that, and it takes time to test. One thing is for sure, all the guys who work here at AR (AR is the Tampa based arm of Aerodyne) are skydivers, first and foremost, and businessmen second. Myself, Bushman, Jody, Paul, and Arnold WILL NOT push any product on to the market that we wouldn’t buy and be happy with ourselves. So keep your eyes on the magazines, when you start seeing advertisements, that will be a good indicator that the canopy is soon to follow…. Until then if you have any suggestions for a name, I would appreciate them… as we haven’t decided yet…. A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Perry, I'm heading to marco island tonight, but I'm going to try to make it across to Sebastian either first thing Saturday morning or Saturday night.... I'll see you out there. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Brian, I'm replying to you, but I'm quoting Dave. I'm pretty sure you're talking about the Criminol (I haven't seen you guys lately?) and I would agree with your assumption of his skill, he is impressive for his jump numbers, hell I have nearly 4 times as many jumps as him and would concede that he is a much better swooper than I am. In a heartbeat. But this in and of itself brings up an interesting question, and phenomanon that I have started to notice. There is a slightly new breed of skydiver out there, one who isn't limited by money or access to turbine aircraft. And what you get is a guy with a year or a year and a half in the sport +-1000 jumps, who performs EXCEEDINGLY well under canopy, but through lack of experience, and by experience I mean, bearing wittness to life as a skydiver. Who goes big, really big and takes a lot of chances, born of confidence in his skill. Which is a good thing, however in my first few years skydiving all those incident reports were just stories in magazines or that I heard over beers at night. only in these last few years, i have been the first on the scene to three major bone breaks, all on guys with around 1000 jumps, and just this year I had two friends die, one with over 6000 jumps and one with more than 1000, both very experienced and very currrent, both lost to misjudgements under canopies, one landing. It has only throgh time in sport and these rough lessons that I personally have become more cautious, I remember when I had 500 jumps and was invincible. The thing is that I believe that you can't substitute fast jump numbers and coaching for experience. However trying to empress this on jumpers, I feel like I'm on the reverse end of one of my dads lectures. I was talking about it with a friend of mine who runs a DZ in Australia last week, and she was suggesting that we make a video of all the compound fractures and deaths that we have video and force people to watch it at the 100 jump level, a la "blood on the highway" from drivers ed. I don't know if that is the best idea ever, but all of these people get busted up and die and very few lessons are ever learned from it. (and the funny thing is I sit here preaching,but I'm running off to the DZ to jump a 90 square foot prototype that is probibly going to kill me) When are you and the Crimminator coming back to Trampa? A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Arlo, I still feel like a little kid every time I fly my suit...and I spend most of the flight thinking to myself "I'm a rocket ship" so I just say, thanks guys for making me a rocket ship. A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Super cool, that is just the type of info I'm looking for....even if i end up the only bird in Uruguay, I'll try to really get to know how to fly from the Herc so that if I make it to the Herc boogie in '06 (or convince a bunch of flockers to go to the ESA boogie next year) I'll know how the relative wind lives and breaths out of a Herc. Deuce, That is a rad picture (yes you can still use the word rad as an adjective). I've had that sort of zero fall rate effect where I feel like I'm above and then equal with the plane for a long few seconds from two other fast moving aircraft, from a high speed pass from a Casa and from the Antanov at the sweedish freefly fest, I forget which number of antanov is was, but it is like the Russian version of the C130. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

That is crazy, just from the increased speeds? It sounds like from all the comments that, with the push toward the middle of the ramp, and the increase in speed, taking a multi person exit wouldn't be a good idea. And from the photos I looked at of exits from the herc, the horizontal seperation on exit is pretty dramatic this could pose some interesting issues when organizing flocks from this beast. (not that it seems like I will, considering that no one has chimed in saying they are going to Uruguay with their suits) If you stagger the exits, it would have to be a very quick exit seperation in order to maintain proximity. It looks like I may be the only person there flying a wing suit, so I'll have the Herc to myself, and the the Uruguay sky!!! Oh, well. A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

I hope I just get to come over, the thing is that time is the big factor...even if I come over I don't think it will be for the whole event. Do you think they'll have Sydney divers' skyvan? The thing about going over to Oz is that it is just such a haul, and I'm not usually to stricken by jet lagg, but it is a complete reversal of my internal clock. Most people, including myself woudl be hard pressed to deal with that easily. Back to the point, did you ever jump your S3 from those herc's in the middle east? "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

My boss was an organizer at the Herc boogie, I'm going to ask him tomorrow if he has a copy of the video. I hope Im not the only one down there with a suit... I would take a couple of suits down, but I don't think it would be the best aircraft for a first flight, but it sure would be fun for me to watch as a BMI, is that so wrong? it would be like larning to skydive at Byron (it is super windy there) learning to fly a wing suit out of a herc would set you up for success down the road for sure....(jk) A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Heya Fergs... I just saw Susie and Dave Mcevoy, they were here for PIA, they are super cool, I can't wait to go back over to Oz, I'd like to come for Skysisters...in April, are you going to be over then? A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Is it a lot different? I've done a few from an antonov, moving pretty fast. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Are there any other flockers going down to the Exotic Sky Adventures boogie in Uruguay later this month?.... I can't wait to fly my S3 from a Herc, I've been waiting forever, I'll have to buy beer, the whole point with going to Uruguay instead of Sweden first to fly from the Hurc is because of all the beer I'm going to have to buy, it will be much cheaper down there....more money for jumping. I hope I'm not the only one flying....it's not too late to join up.... A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

That is one outlook. Salesmen sell, that is our job, we are always looking for the next thing to talk about that seperates our product from the next. It is the beauty of capitalism. As for the plan form not changing, once again I'll say i'm not an engineer. Just a sale guy. But, I do know that the plan form of a canopy is one small part of the whole. If you gave the same plan form to two engineers and said "build a canopy using this plan form" you would absolutely, and I mean absolutely, end up with two very different flying wings. One might see this "plan form" or canopy shape in a computer model, and only see a tandem, the other might look at the same drawing and see a swooping machine. There are just so many factors that can be changed to improve, the flight of a canopy, or conversly deteriorate it. -Trim angle -cell number -line type -cross port placement, shape -break line attachment points (number, placement, length of each point, which one pulls first or last in the break stroke) -fabric type -nose shape and I'm sure I'm not listing even the top of the iceburg. If any of these things, or combo are changed, you can dramatically change the flight performace of a canopy, or the opening, or the dive, or the flare. The VX is a succesfull design, even if they just came out with one and said that through all their R&D, all they did is dramatically improved the openings, that in an of itself, without even claiming to increase flight performance might just be enough to make a good number of people decide to buy that design. even if the changes don't turn out to change the swooping world, at least they are pushing the envelope, and they have also stimulated a pretty good conversation between you and I for the past couple of hours. all in all I say good on 'em. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

I disagree with you there, I think every little innovation is a powerful step toward a revolution. It doesn't need to be the discovery of electricity, just the longer lasting light bulb. Maybe the culmination of all of these little ideas will spur the next great one. A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

This won't work on the Icon (I'm pretty sure, I'm not an engineer) but I've heard the topic discussed in relation to the freedom of movement of the 3 ring system (or in our case the miniforce system), just as a precaution, the system needs to be free and clear of any obstruction. I'm sure you could design one that went over it, yet was completely clear of the rings, when open, but that would be more along the lines of a complete redesign of the rig. Also, this being a personal statement, I think the release system is the most important piece of safety equipment on a container, and I always want it in plain sight, always. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

The Pilot is an excellent canopy for Birdman, I have heaps of jumps on one with my S3 with great openings all around. As for the Icon, our standard bridal length is 117 inches, wich is longer than most, so no issues there. Also the icon has fairly shallow corners, we kicked around the idea of engineering mods specific to wing suit flight, but because there are three of us working in my office that all jump suits, and none of us have had any sort of problems on deployment, we haven't persued it. I have jumped the I1, 2, and 3 with a variety of canopies, over about 150 jumps, with only clean deployments. The other two guys, don't have quite those numbers but have also been very positive about the deployments. We have a couple of BMI's jumping Icon's as well, with no negative comments. I hope this helps. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

I was wondering if it was in subtitles, or dubbed over in english... I can't find info on line.. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Thanks for the thanks, we are totally looking forward to coming... Me, Paul, and Jody will be there... along with some other friends from this side.... Can't wait... see you friday night.. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Have you seen the video from Jeffro, Omar and Jeremy (guys out at Skydvie AZ)...Jeffro uses his, it is the funniest actual use of a hook knive I have ever seen (actually on a flying main parachute) I use mine all the time... It is a beer opener... (the Aerodyne hook knife is a knife so rough and tough you could skin a bear with it...but it doubles as a beer opener, it is all metal) "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Word up!!! Bonnie your the bomb. This very subject reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, from a great man. in a speach given at the Sorbonne in 1910, entitled "citizenship in a republic" and I believe skydiving is our republic. This is just one paragraph: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt That about says it. Safety first, R&D, do the best you can and improve where improvement can be made.... "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

On the Icon, the narrow chest strap end is not folded over and sewn, instead the end of the strap is, impregnated with a small piece of type 17, so that it is just thick and reinforced enough not to slide right through if you are loosening your chest strap aggressively, but even if it is wet, it won't be hard at all to unthread through the hardware. I jump a narrow chest strap, because I think it is nominally easier to loosen under canopy, and we don't offer the wide strap with chest blings, I mean rings. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Erno, Thanks for notifying us... we have changed this in design a few months ago. I am out of the office but I'll post a picture of the way the risers are being manufactured now. (basically a full wrap around the end with a slit, and super tack) So even if the tack loosens the hard housing won't slip. We addressed this a couple of months ago. For your risers, I would suggest re-tacking them tightly following the threading of the cable housing at both the top and bottom. Happy new year.... "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

ha, I always get sentimental around the holidays....and I'm packing my house.... looking for ways to get distracted..... I guess it is past 8am, I could start drinking.... "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

I’m not really sure if I’m in the right forum, I guess I’ll leave that up to the moderators, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all the Dropzone.com’ers, and happy holidays. I just wanted to take a few minutes and let you all know that I’ve really enjoyed all the PM’s and replies to posts I’ve gotten from you all this year. In my job here at Aerodyne I have learned a tremendous amount, about sales, skydiving, customer service and just basically how to run a small/medium sized business. It has been a tremendous year for me in personal growth, with huge ups and downs. I still feel very lucky to be working with and for skydivers on a daily basis. I’ve made a lot of new friends, and lost a few precious ones as well. It is a strange industry, where our customer base is often made up primarily of our peers. This then demands a higher level of integrity, and accountability, not to mention the implied responsibility for the safety of your friends on equipment we sell them. That being said, I’m very happy with the direction our company is heading, and we can only navigate that way with the input of all of the skydivers out there, and all of you guys who have posted, pointed, applauded, condemned, cheered for, ripped on, questioned, and affirmed, our actions and our visions as a company. I personally appreciate it; it helps me improve at my job. I guess I could run on for hours, as I pack up my house to move (across the bay to Tampa) and as I pack my bags for the Dropzone.com Holiday Boogie in Eloy, but I’ll keep it short, and just go with another big THANK YOU. For 2004: Thanks for all the input, Thanks for all the advice. Thanks for all the questions Thanks for all the answers. Thanks for refusing to believe you cannot fly! (I stole that from a Birdman T-shirt) And once again Have a great Holiday Season... Aubrey Aerodyne Research "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

This is going to be a long post, because I have to tell a story. Long, long ago, (this summer) at a dropzone far, far from Florida (somewhere in the North East) I brought demo canopies to a dropzone. As is often a requirement of my job. And I had a particular scenario play out just as your saying. There was a woman, most likely late 30's early 40's that was jumping a modern nine cell canopy (a very popular intermediate design, released within the past few years, by a very popular manufacturer) This was a great canopy, and I'm sure there are tons of skydivers out there who own this canopy and will tell you that it's the best thing since sliced bread. And to them it is. However this woman, had a relatively low jump number +-200, and was having difficulty landing. She was creaming in, nearly every jump. So she came over for advice. So I watched her land, and then gave her some pointers, didn't help. I spoke to her some more and found out that she had already had a good amount of coaching from some folks out there that are far more experienced than myself. Nothing helped. So I asked her what she wanted out of a canopy, and she wasn't looking for anything "high performance", she was looking for a canopy that opened soft and landed her easily. So I put her on a Triathlon of the same size as her current canopy. One of the best qualities of the Tri is it is easy to land, it has a very forgiving flair range, one of main points when it was created was landing (Tri= meant for regular fun jumps, light CRW, and accuracy). She jumped it and immediately had a stand up landing. First jump. She said she loved the openings, she was happy with the performance. So I was happy to let her jump it for the rest of the day. And it wasn't a fluke; she landed on her feet every time. By the end of the day, she was picking her colors, The next day she was jumping her own canopy again, it really wasn't too busy, and I told her she could jump the Tri again. She said that she probably wasn't going to buy one because she said that she had spoken to her instructor (who jumped canopies made by the company who made her intermediate canopy), and he said that it was a bad idea to buy anything other than one from the manufacturer that she currently had. Yet she continued to pound in on her canopy. It absolutely blew my mind. Now, not saying that the Triathlon is the only canopy out there that would have answered this woman's needs, there may be a canopy in the line up of the companies products that she was jumping that would have better suited her flying/landing style. Or maybe she could have broken her bad habits, or overcome her lack of depth perception, and learned to land her canopy. Who knows? But the fact that, she would take the recommendation of a person, who more than likely had no experience with the Tri, and NO experience with Aerodyne International (the company I work for, and the company who bought the old Aerodyne, and redesigned the Tri and added all of our new products) is what bothered me the most. Of course I didn't try to tell her this, I don't feel it is my place to try to break the bond of trust jumpers have with instructors and more experienced people at their Dropzones, especially to make one sale. But what I will say is think for yourself. Read, test jump, check the websites, do what your doing and consult other jumpers, and look for people who actually have experience with the products that your interested in. The best thing for you is to buy the product that YOU are the happiest with. And that may not be an Aerodyne product, but you shouldn't limit yourself from any brand, if you do the research. Either way, I may have just babbled for a long time, but I hope you get my point. It is great to consult more experienced jumpers, but don't let that limit you from thinking for yourself. Regards, Aubrey "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Mike, if you guys are going to have a raffle let me know, I'd llke to donate something on behalf of Aerodyne.... a.easterlin@aerodyne-int.com Regards, "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"