aubsmell

Looks like you have already gotten a lot of responses here, and since I don't know where you live, I'll mention a few places where you can jump one, or at least see one. Square One Perris Ca, Square Two Eloy AZ Square Three, Cross Keys Sunshine Factory, Zhills Gravity Gear, Byron Ca The Ranch Pro Shop, Gardiner NY We will have Demos our at Lost Prairie, we'll be jumping them a t Summer Fest at Skydive Chicago (even sales reps have to go to a boogie for fun sometimes) and We'll have Demos at Rantoul. So come check us out. Email me personally if you have any specific questions about the rig. You typically get pretty good info from these forums, sometimes heavily based on opinion though, so wade carefully. a.easterlinATaerodyne-int.com for my opinion about rigs and engineering and originality, it is crazy, I tried to do a flow chart for all the people who work for container manufacturers who used to work at other container manufacturers, I'll try to make a short list. Derek Thomas (of Sunpath) Worked at both Thomas Sports (the Teardrop) and was head of R&D at the Relative Work Shop. Then bought Sunpath and made improvements on the Javelin, and designed the Odyssee. Mike Furry Designer of the first javelin, now designs and manufacturers the Dolphin. (word on the street is that when he made the first Jav he went around the DZ and picked all the good points off all the things being produced at the time and hijacked them and came up with a few little tricks of his own, and wa blam the first Jav. if you look at the harness from one of those first javs and one of the old mirages from that time, the harness looks exactly the same, exactly, and the mirage was around first (different owners than present Mirage) Henri Pohjolaninen owner and designer of the Wings, Aided in the Original Javelin Design. (to what degree I have no idea) Norman Girdwood (head of engineering for Sunpath) used to work for PISA and he was the chief designer of the Naro (pisa's rig) he also used to work here at Aerodyne. (helluva good guy) Kelly Farrington (designer of the Infinity/ President of Velocity Sports), Used to Work for RWS, not sure his capacity there, but word is that he came up with the upward facing main pin cover, however he doesn't use it on the Infinity, and I've never asked him if that is true, but you never know. Jeff Johnston (mirage designer) started working for SST (Racer), then worked for Thomas Sports (chaser and Xerox, and designed the teardrop), then he worked for the original mirage, then National Parachutes (Warp III), then he ran R&D for RWS, then he designed the new Mirage G3 and 4. Dave Singer, used to work for Infinity (VS) now is one of the designers for Sunpath. Michelle Auvery (Designer of the Atom), now works for Aerodyne and had a major hand in the design of the Icon. Dom Hayhurst, former PISA engineer (military container projects) now works for Aerodyne, one of the big daddy's of the Icon. Bill Booth seems to be one of the Grand daddy's of them all. However I firmly believer that no one has all the ideas, every one makes what they believe are improvements to existing products. It is overly apparent to me that this is a very incestuous business indeed, and you need a degree to figure out who stole whose ideas, or who was inspired by whose ideas, and I'm sure in my little family tree I left out 15 names of people in Design positions at companies today that worked somewhere else. Not to mention all the ideas that come from end user and are passed around. Every once in a while, I get some photos from a rigger and a little explaination of what the idea is, I'm sure those guys arn't just sending those photos and emails to us. They are just trying to add to the stew. I can tell you that there are some ideas I've seen on some rigs out there that I as a skydiver really think are great, and I'd love to see incorporated into our rig, and I think we have a few, that are unique to ours that should be industry standard. Again those are only opinions. I think more sharing will only make the sport safer, then it just comes down to ascetics, price, availability, customer support, inventory stock of spare parts (when you have a cut away), is it rigger friendly that sort of thing. anyway, I'll stop blabbering, but I think you can see my point, any modern container is a Frankenstein of past designs, but can still be unique and original at the same time. Ready for the pitch.....long story short.....buy an Icon A "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

He''ll have tons of demos, all the stuff for his late summer adventure...I'd like you to jump a Vision when he is there, you'll dig it....I'll tell you why later. Aubs. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

We'd be happy to do the reline for you here, or we can send you the lines with instructions... but you may get a sticker or a shirt or something if you send it to us :) "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Katie, I offer you my deepest sympathies, my heart is breaking for you.....and you are in my thoughts and prayers..... Aubrey- "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

hey lady, I feel like I have failed at my job..... we have changed a laundry list of things on the Tri since the old Aerodyne became part of the new Aerodyne. Keeping it in line with the quality of our newer products. * The fabric has changed from Gelvanor to the industry standard ZP. * The standard line type is 750 Dynema (although you can choose between a few types) * The 4.0 line modification that this thread speaks of. * It is still offered in RW, Hybrid, and Competition CRW When I first saw this modification I thought if was a bit weird with no brake line attachment point at the corner of the canopy, but when you fly it, and give it input with the control lines it really does turn quickly and smooth, and it has a tremendous amount of flair compared with the old Tri. It still lands well from full flight (shuts down well) and lands great in breaks (sort of accuracy style) The modification really allows a lot of air to be cupped with the canopy's tail. And the openings have been markedly improved. if you want specifics on the mod, you can email one of our riggers Jody or Cliff at j.conn or c.dobson @ Aerodyne-int.com So essentially although we are still using the name Triathlon, this is in many ways a reengineered superior canopy to the Tri of yesteryear. she is still a damn fine canopy...and a great choice for solid predictable seven-cell performance. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

This is such a loss for skydiving and our world and the world at large. Nate was a fantastic human being. He made the people around him better, through his example and his teaching. This may sound crazy but he made me proud of myself....it's goofy but I sell parachutes, and watching him fly his always made me say "Fuck, that is the way a parachute is meant to be flown" Though I didn't know Nate extremely well, every contact I ever had with the man was a positive experience, there aren't many people I can say that about..... This sport has lost an great ambassador..... My heart aches for Katie and all of his friends and family, I want to express to them my very deepest sympathies Aubrey- "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

if you are staged out of the UK check out Ryan air http://www.ryanair.com It is awesome, and flys out of london standtstead (really about an hour north of london) you can fly almost anywhere in Europe for next to nothing. You can fly to Girona Spain which is ver close to Empuria Brava, you can fly fo Fiorli Italy which is close to skydive pull out in Ravenna. And there are just a bunch of cool places you can fly to super cheap...just check their site. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

check out our calendar on our website http://www.aerodyne-int.com we have a calender of events we will be attending. We allways have demos at these events. At the event in Eloy, the only reason we were offering that deal is the launch of our Icon container, we havent done anything like it since. And all those sales were made through our distributor local to that event. We do have the option to sell demos, however we generally don't, some companies never do, some companies make it a regular practice. We leave it up to a sort of case by case basis. There are certain senarios where it is not a problem to sell demos, but we try to allways sell through one of our authorized distributors. take it easy... Aubrey "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

what is your address, I need to send you those miniforce risers...... Aubrey "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Adrian, The A2 you guys were jumping was a 389, just for your info. A few of the guys got at least one jump on it, and I know that isn't enough for a really good evaluation, but you may want to ask Marc, he got 7 or 8 on it on Saturday. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Brian, I totally understand your frustration, I've been assured by the powers that be, and the IT guys that emplement those powers that we are working on a low tech version for the rest of us out there. In fact I'm going to cut and past this post and email it to my boss man to drive home the point. Meanwhile, if you have any questions about getting a demo give me a call. office 813 891 6300 or cell 815 598 7854. I'm going to be traveling for the next week, so the cell is best, I'll try to get you lined up with a demo.... Aubrey "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Ahhhh, Amax interest, Sweet. It shouldn't be long until we bring the canopy to market. When the Bushman and I came across to Aerodyne the canopy was slated for sale, I put about 200 jumps on various sizes, and he jumped the canopy a good bit too. The canopy is fantastic, as you can see from some of the people who have jumped them. There were just a few things that we weren't happy with. And not all of the sizes were finshed. The Bush decided to hold off on marketing it untl it passed our muster. On a personal level, I'm not happy with selling anything that I would not buy myself. And I'm a bit picky. I can say, that it won't be long. Aubrey "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Kolla, I'll have you know I've gotten my whole body wet numerous times....AND I learned to tie my shoelaces in the 4th grade...... "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

I have to give a big shout out to my good friend, former roomate, skydiving buddy Justin Thornton from Mirage Systems, he won his first Swoop Comp at the Air Press Symposium at Azul Do Vento in Campinas Brazil this past weekend.... I was in fear that it would go unheralded in this hemisphere, so I have to tell him Congrats...and let you all know about it, I'm proud of him. Like a proud father whose slightly slow son finally learns to tie his shoes when the seventh grade rolls around. (no slightly slow children were hurt or insulted in the drafting of this message) -Aubrey de la Aerodyne "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Hey Bob, I was just trying to give a short flowery presentation of the canopy line up. and my understanding of crew is very limited. Thanks for the quick education. The one thing i'll say is that crew guys seem very passionate about their canopies and some of the most passionate I've seen have been guys with their compition Tri's. and let me back peddle a little bit, I honestly don't know how it lands as it is the one canopy we make that I've never jumped, that is just a consistant compliment I keep hearing from the guys who jump them. But it is still an opinion, and it is not in any way objective. Oh, and I just read over our line up above and realize I listed the competitive canopies to our student mains as other compaines tandems, sorry my mistake, the Solo's competitors are the Navigator, Manta....ect. Aubrey "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

The line up is, in order of highest performance on down, Amax =for high performance pilots who don't want the bulk/cost/negatives popularly associated of a cross braced (not selling at the moment, until we complete the design in all sizes){competitive products, Katana, Crossfire, Demon} Vision = 9 cell Advanced canopy pilots, high plan form factor (read about the plan form in the sport section of our website) Very snivilly soft opening canopy 600ft plus, good for camera men/women who are advanced pilots but need to depend on a soft opening. (competitive products, Stilleto, Sabre2, Crossfire) Pilot = 9 cell Intermediate canopy, pilots who want consistant openings, a conservative taper, quick toggle response without much over turn, positive recovery from front riser turns, basically the a good choice for 8 out of 10 skydivers. Solid, good gliding, easy landing. Also great for wingsuits and is still when flown by an agressive pilot, a lot of fun to fly (competitive products, Sabre 2, Sapphire2) Triathlon = 7 cell square, this is a canopy that is your general all purpose canopy, it is a square, opens great turns quick without loosing a lot of altitude. It doesn't seem to malfunction much, and when it does usually the malfunctions aren't that radical. A lot of Dropzones use the bigger ones as student canopys and the smaller ones in rental rigs. It is for people who just want again a predictable canopy that opens nice, flys nice, lands nice and is dependable. (competitors Spectre, Omni) Tri hybrid = same deal only with some modifications for dule use for crew. Tri compitition crew = A canopy built for crew, all the options those guys like, current world champion canopy for rotation. It always seems to do very well, and lands better than most crew canopys. (competition Lightning) Solo = 9 cell hybrid student canopy. you can read the marketing stuff on our site, designed to pack easy and take a beating. Very conservative, and clean flying. (competition set 400, ez 384, Sigma, Precision, Icarus, Hop) A2 = 389 square foot tandem main. tapered trailing edge, hybrid construction, spectra lines. Delivered on risers, works with all systems. Smart Reserve = 7 cell reserve Cordwise constructed, spanwise reinforcement, the only reserve canopy with Radial reinforcement in the tail. (Competition none a reserve in a class of it's own) yea, you can only list one, I work for a canopy company, I have one of each (fringe benefit), lately I've been jumping the Pilot a lot, I've kind of gotten to the point where I've had a cross braced for 800 jumps, and airlocked for 400 jumps and a little of this and that here and there, and have just as of late been a little more conservative. Plus I've been flying my wing suit a lot. Now you can jump whatever you want to with a wing suit, (i have 80 wing suit jumps with a velocity without any problems) however again why risk it. I recently followed a cut away down (against my better judgment) and landed in a horse pin a mile away from the dz, I was jumping a 117 Pilot and am glad I had a conservative wing that I could sink in and not hurt anything more than my pride. Just because a canopy is designed for a conservative market, doesn't mean you have to fly conservativly. And vise versa. Peace out yo. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Perry, I'm in, I think we are on the same flight over, me, you, Justin, Pina Kolla-da, and Igon. Justin sat on the phone for nearly 2 hours to get the tickets. So if you are going to go, or thinking about it, you need to buy your air tickets soon. I can't wait. Aubs "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Hey, thanks for posting this. Even though I don't post on the forums all the time, I actually really love getting questions from other skydivers. It is usually a welcome distraction, and it does a number of things: one, keeps me fresh on what is going on out there. Two, if someone asks me a question I don't know the answer to off hand, it gives me the opportunity to research it and learn something new. (I will be the first to say I don't know 80% of what people ask, but I usually know WHO to ask that does, this way I can get back to the person with the correct answer, or best answer possible if it is a subjective question) Three, it gives me a great excuse, if my boss walks in and I'm looking through Dropzone.com, I can say "No, no, no I'm not goofing off I'm working, look" It is true what he said about PM's though, I check those about once a week, but I have my business email up and running most everyday (for instance I'm sitting in a hotel room in south america as i type) all questions are welcome, but rember your third grade teacher was lying, there are stupid questions, so leave my '72 Pacer wagon out of this. a.easterlin@aerodyne-int.com "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

I know I'm the sales guy for Aerodyne, but I am 215 out the door and jump the Pilot 104, it doesn't naturally dive like a banshi (it's not designed too) but the front riser pressure is so light you can drive it to the ground at high wing loadings. I'm very happy with the swoop, with a little tail wind I can run the lenght of the pond in Zhills.... and it is trimed very flat so at those high wing loadings (over 2) it is very sensitive to harness input, so it is easy to carve, even without much tail distortion due to either toggle or riser input. All this and it is a damn fine canopy to fly with my wing suit. Very predictable openings. I will say I do miss my crossbraced canopy, but the Pilot is a fun substitute for now. the picture is in the hills last weekend... "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Hey, sorry I haven't responded sooner, I saw this post a few days ago, but I've been in computer hell. As for over loading a Smart, I don't suggest overloading any canopy....if you say "I'm overloading it" than you have already made the mental decision that you are in over your head. It's never a good feeling to wish you had a little more fabric over your head when everything is going wrong. Also, all these maximums are just that MAXIMUMS! Just because the Smart reserve is certified to take loads of 300lbs at 250 knots in all sizes and is certified to 10G's at 300lbs, doesn't mean we reccomend that you take that as a suggestion! We are more just saying, hey this reserve tough! and that we have done the testing to prove it, so if you get in a bad situation you have confidence that this mama is going to hold up to a beating. I am glad however that you are interested in trying the reserve you want to have in your pack tray. It is a great idea, it's good to know how it's going to fly. I have them set up as mains so that you can do just that. You are a step ahead, please encourage your friends to do the same. (I would suggest doing a hop and pop sub terminal, they are built to open fast) Send me an email a.easterlin@aerodyne-int.com and we'll get you squared away. Sorry for being so brief, but I gotta run, email me with any more questions. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

The best thing is to go to the Aerodyne website and check out the articles in support. They have all the math, but basically 37% less pressure on the cutaway cable. The colors look good on that rig...smoove "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

That's a good question, I can't give you a completely strait answer. I would have to go with a few facts. 1. We manufacturer all of out sport parachuting products in our state of the art ISO 9001 certified factory in South Africa. The primary cost involved in the production of parachutes and parachute containers, I assume, is the labor cost. There are other skydivig product manufacturers that are also American companies that manufacture in either Honduras or Korea that enjoy hire profit margins in those products. We save a few bucks in production which we pass on to you. In addition, this factory which is part of the Aerodyne group of companies primarily builds military parachutes, so it stays busy with high volume which, as you know when you build anything in high volume production becomes more efficent and therefore cheaper. Second our product line is fairly new, and we have to take multipal avenues of approach to entice customers to give our products a try. And it is no secret that this is an expensive sport, so if we can lure you in with lower prices and good customer service, we stand a good possibility of makeing you a customer for life. As for the components for canopies and containers, the vast majority of the stuff comes from the same suppliers, as there are only a few producers of parachute fabric (at least the kind that we use in sport parachuting) most companies buy line from the same place as well as tape, even thread, the same with the rigs. Just pick up two different containers and you'll see that most of the components are from the same manufacturers, so my best guess again would be that primarily, it comes down to the labor. Secondarily it comes down the marketing decision to take slightly lower profit margins in order to make the products more attractive, in order to garner a niche in a small market. Take it easy. Aubrey "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

I lifted this description/marketing copy from the Aerodyne website. I get a lot of questions in the field about the Smart, so I figured this would be a good place to post some of the info. I won't go down the vs. PD or vs. Raven of vs. Techno, that is for you guys to decide. However since Aerodyne Intl bought PISA I get the question alot "isn't it just a beefed up Tempo" To which the answer is no. It was designed and tested from scratch. Read below and if you want more tech infor vistit our website. [/url]http://www.aerodyne-int.com/sport/flash/sport.asp[url] I hope this helps. Aubrey ________________________________________________ Our team knows reserves. We have been involved with the design and production of more sport reserves than any other group in our industry. When we set about designing a new reserve from concept, we used this experience to the fullest. Reserves are about a few important things: safety, reliability, and performance. Our new reserve is tested far beyond the minimum requirements of the latest US TSO (c23d) as well as the European standards (JTSO). We manufacture the Smart under the strictest international quality management program (ISO 9001). Few, if any, other manufacturers currently hold this difficult certification. The Smart is constructed chordwise with additional spanwise reinforcement. After studying various failure modes of existing reserve designs, Aerodyne is the first manufacturer to incorporate radial reinforcement into the tail of the Smart reserve as well. All of this adds up to what we believe is the world’s strongest reserve. Again after studying existing reserve designs, we found the aerodynamics in use to be quite out of step with current technology. This was no surprise, as there has not been a new sport reserve design in some time. Since the Smart reserve was developed from initial concept, we were not constrained. We applied the most modern aerodynamic solutions to the problems of reserve canopy deployment, flight and landing. Of course pack volume was a concern as well. All of this technology is of little value, if the canopy will not fit into your reserve container. What does it all mean? Simple, the Smart is the state of the art in reserve canopies. Strength, reliability, and performance manufactured to the world’s highest standards. All of this technology and quality is available with a small pack volume, and is compatible with all modern harness/container systems. Is it time for a new reserve? If it is, we are confident you will make the Smart choice. The Smart reserve from Aerodyne. -One of the few reserves approved under the latest TSO-C23d as well as the European JTSO -Tested far beyond the requirements for deployment weight and speed - The Smart is manufactured under the strict ISO 9001 quality management system -The only reserve with additional radial reinforcement in the tail section -High lift wing and advanced aerodynamics provide maximum low-speed lift for comfortable landings - Peace of mind packed into the smallest possible container -Available in a large range of sizes -Small pack volume. "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

No Sir, after Aerodyne was consumed by Aerodyne International, the Devil called and wanted his name back, so we had to stop producing the Diablo. Please send me an email if you would like any information on our newly designed products. (mostely designed without the help of Satan) Aubs "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

Stoked.....we are really starting to get them in, more and more, week by week now. I wish I could personally deliver them all...we have had a couple of people drop buy to pick their's up here in Tampa. The look on their face is priceless. Everyone has to love getting a new rig (I just ordered my second one, just so I get to feel that same feeling agian) Man I really hope you are happy with it....and let me know otherise. Aubs "Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"