Jun 13, 2002, 1:09 PM
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new record
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atair test jumper john heady with 385# weight for a total exit weight of 535 lbs under a competition cobalt 120.
absolutely beautiful soft deployments at terminal. on one jump the canopy was deployed shoulder low inducing line twists before the bag was open, canopy flew straight.
the canopy out performed everybody's expectations. the glide ratio was incredible. free flight vertical speed -15 fps. with a max positive speed in a flare measured at 18fps.
Are you talking about a new record for Atair canopies? It's not the highest wingloading ever jumped and landed, and it's surely not the most weight ever suspended under a ram-air parachute. Was it the first terminal opening with that much weight? Which part is the new record?
i am in a bit of a rush but want to try to answer everyones questions:
-there was no extra space, the container was custom designed and manufactured for these test jumps by relative workshop. the rig holds 3 parachutes. a 120, 170 & 385. mounted to the cargo container is a 4th parachute and the cargo may be cut. rig and cargo were instrumented with 2 cypress and 3 dataloggers and multiple sensors.
-we collected 65 mb of data from the jumps. it will take another week to fully analyze all the jumps. glide ratio calculation from one jump shows 4.46 in full glide
-this is the record for the highest wingloaded canopy that can generate 0 to positive lift (landable). additionally it set the record again for the highest glide ratio and efficiency.
-no tandem drogue was used, just a 25" pilot chute.
we should be able to post video and data on our site by end of next week.
until then some quick pics to follow: line stretch , stage 1, stage 2, and full flight
the next drops have been financed by the military and are for 2000#.
In that first picture (canopy just coming out of the bag) it looks like he's still on the hill i.e. not at terminal. Did you try it sub-terminal first?
I must be mistaken, but I thought Luigi jumped the VX 46 with weights for wingloadings of up to 4.6. Did he not?
"-there was no extra space, the container was custom designed and manufactured for these test jumps by relative workshop. the rig holds 3 parachutes. a 120, 170 & 385. mounted to the cargo container is a 4th parachute and the cargo may be cut."
Cool, is the 170 is case there was a problem with the 120? Did he land with the extra weight?
"no tandem drogue was used, just a 25" pilot chute."
It looks like he tossed a rip cord in the line stretch pic, was it a spring loaded 25 in PC?
Also in the first picture, it looks like one of the canreamen are hanging onto something on the bottom left corner of the rig, what is that?
Sorry for all the questions, just very interested.
Now for the question: If you are jumping a 120 with an exit weight of #535 to give a wing loading of 4.5 to 1, ARE you testing for a canopy to be used at a "normal" jump weight.
Say that you have an exit weight of 180 pounds. In order to load the wing at 4.5:1 you would be jumping a 40 sqft canopy.
Please tell me you are not testing to develop a 40.
:::OK, Canopy is Open, No Traffic Around, .. Why are these "Extra" Lines Draping Down??, Damn!
I heard Icarus had a prototype for a 28 ft² ( It's very likely that they don't, that's hearsay your honor... I object...) Wouldn't like to be the one hanging under it...
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