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taz9420

Aerodyne

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Im never the first on the block with a new toy...

While I am sure they are good pieces of equipment, I don't buy gear till it has been around about two years.

All the issues come out in two years.



Does that mean you wouldn't have bought a Spectre or Sabre2 until it was on the market for two years? Just curious.

I usually am VERY conservative before I bring new products into my store. With the Aerodyne Line, I have made an exception for my normal "wait period". I believe in the company and the folks I know in the industry that are backing the line. Aerodyne has taken unpresidented steps in their manufacturing and corporate processes. After inspecting the craftsmanship up close and flying the gear my confidence in their products is quite high. So there you have it. My opinion. Worth what you paid for it! ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

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Umm...are you serious? I'm truly shocked that a manufacturer would have a demo canopy that is out of trim...seems they would monitor that kind of stuff. To me it's inexcusable to be allowing jumpers to demo out of trim gear.



It was brand new from the factory, and the brake lines were set WAAAY too long. It didn't even respond to input until my hands were below my shoulders. :S As you can imagine, the flare didn't go as well as originally planned. A well-timed PLF prevented any injury, although I did spend a good hour brushing the desert out of my rig. ;) In any case, I don't hold it against the design of the canopy.



I was considering demoing a Pilot until you came up and explained what had just happened to you. It scared me to hear that. B| However, Vicki (from London) LOVED her Pilot demo! (Of course, it helped that it wasn't out of trim!)

Edited: What I was REALLY interested in seeing was the Icon container. It had some VERY unique safety features that I found interesting. :)

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I've jumped demos from every company but one or two and I've seen something wrong on demos from every company. I've recieved a Sabre2 that opened so hard I guess PD tore it up later, I've seen a Cobalt with a line worn so bad it was ready to snap, I've seen the wrong size slider installed on ceritan demos and I've also seen a canopy with its breaks set too short to flare past my chest with out stalling it.

Inspect every demo canopy before jumping it and pull high to learn it. You are a test jumper on the canopy while you are demoing it so remember that. It won't fly or land like anything you've tried before so learn from the canopy while you can in the air. If you have to double wrap the lines to flare properly, learn it up top. If it stalls at chest level learn that at 10k instead of at 1500 feet.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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I've just ordered the new Aerodyne container along with a Pilot 150 and Smart Reserve. Good Choice or Bad Move? All opinions welcomed. ;)



Provided that:
1. you demo'd the main first, found it to suit your tastes more than others in the same performance class, and won't mind the decreased resale value.

2. you demo'd the reserve first, found it to fly acceptably, crawled inside, and found the construction comparable to a PD (After watching a reserve without spanwise reinforcing tapes apart from at the tail seam split into 2&5 cell pieces and spin in, I'm a little particular about this).

It was a fine decision. Otherwise...

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the brake lines were set WAAAY too long. It didn't even respond to input until my hands were below my shoulders. As you can imagine, the flare didn't go as well as originally planned


did you do a control check after deployment ??? Not flaming (i'm nobody to to that...). Some manufacturers have longer brakes... The PD I jumped always had short brakes, every cm on the toggles had an influence. Now on my icarus saphire I have longer brakes, which I prefer
----------
Fumer tue, péter pue
-------------
ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579

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Does that mean you wouldn't have bought a Spectre or Sabre2 until it was on the market for two years? Just curious.



Pretty much. However, I did test jumps on mains for two different companies. In those cases I knew I could get hurt/killed...But I also didn't buy the canopies, and I knew the risks.

PD has proven itself over and over in MY eyes, over many years...PD is one of the FEW exceptions to my rule.

But I would not buy gear from a new company...no matter what its past, or who is on it.

The Nova sounded like a good canopy when it came out.

Personal choice. But I plan on living till I am old.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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did you do a control check after deployment ??? Not flaming (i'm nobody to to that...). Some manufacturers have longer brakes... The PD I jumped always had short brakes, every cm on the toggles had an influence. Now on my icarus saphire I have longer brakes, which I prefer



Yes, I did a control check. The canopy I was demoing was a very light wingloading (about 0.97:1). Like I said, I noticed the brake lines were long, but i did a half-dozen practice flares, and it felt like I could get a decent flare out of it. It turned fine, after you puiled the 8 inches of slack out of the lines. As it turns out, I was almost right. ;) A good PLF made up the difference, and it was no big deal, except for the 20 minutes brushing dirt out of my rig.

Like I said, it was out of spec but not uncontrollable.
7CP#1 | BTR#2 | Payaso en fuego Rodriguez
"I want hot chicks in my boobies!"- McBeth

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The Pilot is way better then the Hornet. The big misconception right now is that the new Aerodyne canopies are copies of the old PISA canopies. THEY ARE NOT!
The Pilot blows the Hornet away IMHO. It is a GREAT canopy. I have put over 100 jumps on a 150 and never had a bad experince with it. It is a smart choice for anybody looking for a new canopy. Plus with the price you can't beat it anywhere.
I have also put a lot of jumps on ther 132 Vision. This is a great canopy as well. It is suppoesed to compete with the Stiletto. It falls short of that, but I would reccommend it to anyone just going to Elliptical canopies. It is very forgiving and lands really nice as well. It just needs to be flown harder then the Stiletto to get the same type of landing speed as the Stiletto. So far It has proven to be very reliable and easy to pack. I used it all through a big way camp and never had any issues with off heading openings. I would suggest it to anyone that is looking for more then a SABRE2 or Pilot but does not want to worry about the potential line twists that Stilettos seem to have. For the record I have jumped Stilettos and have not had a problem with line twists but that seems to be the biggest complaint about the Stiletto. Once again the price on the Vision blows the Stiletto away as well.
Dom


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Hey GravityGirl,
An anonymous individual sent me this yesterday:

Hi Taz,

Hope you don't mind me mailing you directly (Too lazy too get registered
on Dropzone.com).

I don't think you'll regret your choice. Unfortunately I can't speak
from my own experience, but this is some info I got.

Apparently the Icon is similar to the Atom Legend (not surprising as one
of the Aerodyne guys came from Parachute de France). A lot of people
over here are jumping Legends and are really pleased with them.

A friend of mine rented a Sabre2 for a few months and ordered one.
Because the Sabre had to go back he got a Pilot on loan and yesterday
did a lot of canopy control jumps on it. He likes it so much better he
is going to try to cancel his Sabre2 and get a Pilot instead. Not that
he thinks the Sabre is bad, but he likes the better glide ratio and
handling of the Pilot more.

The Pilot is trimmed flatter than the Sabre2 and the nose has a more
modern design which makes it fly faster (better airfoil). When the
canopy is flared the nose will deflect the air from inside the cells to
under the canopy, increasing lift (which makes for nice landings). As
told by a rigger who's a testjumper and canopy instructor.

Hope this puts your mind at ease a bit ;)

Kind regards,

(Who hopes he won't regret buying a Sabre2)

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The Smart is new. I suspect it's an evolution of the Tempo - which has performed well for me on several occasions over the years. If pressed to buy a reserve right now, I'd probably go for a PD-R over a Smart, for the same reasons I chose a more proven harness.



In fact, it is not an evolution of the Tempo (according to Aerodyne).

It is a new design, but a few of the designers came from PdF, makers of the Techno. I have heard that a lot of the design points of the Techno are similarly found in the SMART reserve.

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-How were the landings? Did you have to run them out or could you stop? I'm concerned that the landings may be too speedy for me...:| I jumped a Hornet and the landings were fun (lots o' glide) but a smidgey quick...but I only jumped the thing twice in zero wind and I'm fairly new to the sport.
~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

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-How were the landings? Did you have to run them out or could you stop? I'm concerned that the landings may be too speedy for me...:| I jumped a Hornet and the landings were fun (lots o' glide) but a smidgey quick...but I only jumped the thing twice in zero wind and I'm fairly new to the sport.



Not sure if you mean the Pilot or the Smart. I jumped both in a 120 size. I weight about 150+ with gear.

Both had great flare. Tip toe landings. The Pilot cannot be compared to any other main I have jumped. Certainly not the Hornet. After jumping the Hornet, I chose not to carry them in the shop. After watching them in the field, I continually reaffirmed my decision.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

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How were the landings? Did you have to run them out or could you stop? I'm concerned that the landings may be too speedy for me... :|



I jumped the Pilot 140 and 132. My usual canopy is a Spectre 135 (only 30ish jumps on that) and before that a Sabre (1) 135 (300ish jumps on that).

I found that the Pilot opening was softer and smoother than the Spectre (no, I didn’t believe it was possible either) but took less altitude to open if that makes sense.

The landings were really, really easy – much nicer feel to them than my Sabre or Spectre. I can’t remember which was round it was, but I jumped one of them in nil winds which at Eloy (bear in mind I am used to jumping at sea level) and that felt fast but the flare was beautiful and I didn’t have to run it out as much as I thought I would. I jumped the other in fairly strong winds and the landing was equally easy – lovely and smooth.

I liked the Pilot a lot and I will be very seriously considering one when I choose a new main! :)
Vicki

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You will really like it. The only down side is that it has less of a resale value if you are thinking of downsizing again. In that way the Sabre2 may be the way to go for you.
Although as you can see by the forum here that a lot of folks are learning about the Pilot and loving them once they get there hands on one. So my guess is you are going to start to see a lot of them out there real soon.
Dom


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I did speak to some people over in Florida at Aerodyne...they've re-structured the steering line group on the Triathlons to have easier toggle input for turns and add a bunch of flare...and I know I could jump and enjoy a Triathlon. I've changed my mind (again :S) and will be putting in my order for a Triathlon here today or tomorrow, depending on when I can get measured for the rig.

I might get a Pilot on the next go-around, but for this time, the Tri will work just great! And my hubby is ITCHIN' to start jumping again...and when he does get his license, I can give him the Tri and I can look at a different canopy then , perhaps. :)
~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

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This may be a day late and a dollar short, looks like these quotes are about a week old, but I don't get on here as much as I'd like too. I saw before that a guy jumped my Pilot 210 at Eloy and had some problems with it. I told him that it was a brand new canopy, and he was the first to jump it, and that was the case. I didn't let another person there jump it, I packed it up and sent it home. My first day back here, after a full inspection of the canopy by our rigger Cliff, I took a ride over to the drop zone with said canopy and another demo 210 to compair them. As he said it was a little funky and unresponsive. That had nothing to do with the trim, I checked the trim and the leading edge for shrink, everything was cool.
The second Pilot 210 was as crisp as fresh lettuce. All of my demos are brand new, but as most of you know, and Kolla you can back me up on this canopies are freaky, they can look exactly the same, smell the same, and have all the same measurements and still fly differently.
And as far as the field demos go, they don't get quite the care and maintenance as kollas in house, mail'em out one at a time demos. Because they go boogie to boogie get jumped by a bunch of people at each boogie, and only get relined and checked over fully a couple of times a year at best, or when a customer complains.
For instance one time when I worked for PD, I had a brand new Sabre2 and one guy jumped it and said "man I think this has a built in right turn" and then another guy jumped it and said "Aubrey I think this has a built in left turn" So of course I thought it was just loose leg straps or something, and it was a popular size and it got jumped a lot with no complaints, but over a couple of boogies I heard both complaints a couple more times, both left and right. So finally I took it to be test jumped back in Deland, then I read the testing data card, it said the inflation was okay, but with the breaks stoed it turned left X amount of degrees in so many seconds, and with the breaks unstoed it turned right so many degrees in so many seconds! So for like three boogies I was giving out a canopy with a built in Left AND Right turn. So there is no real way to be perfect.
Either way, as long as a company takes responsibility for any demo issues and good care of their demo products I think you are in good hands, and we certainly try to keep them in the best shape possible with routine maintenance, and timely inspections. However all the manufacturers do appriciate when someone telles them if they do have a problem, that way we can fix it, it does us no good to not keep our customers safe and see to their needs.
And back to Kollas demo lady Juanita, she is the bomb, but my rigger Cliff could actually probibly beat her in four rounds of Jello wrestleing. (actually I think they'd make a good couple)

http://www.aerodyne-int.com
"Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it"

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Bring on the Jello.... LOL :D

But Aubrey is right - we are working with canopies that are made by hand, out of fabric - and even when everything measures up perfectly things can still feel a bit odd.
Some of them have a bit of a character - and just like with people that can be a good or a bad thing.

The bottom line remains the same - whoever sold you the canopy wants you to be happy with it!
If you are not, or have any problems, let us know about it so that we can take care of you and square things away.
We are jumpers too.... we understand :)
And Aubrey.... - that little button that says "check spelling"... use it :P

Bloooos!
Kolla
Blue Skies Magazine

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But Aubrey is right - we are working with canopies that are made by hand, out of fabric - and even when everything measures up perfectly things can still feel a bit odd.
Some of them have a bit of a character - and just like with people that can be a good or a bad thing.


One of the things that I try to remind of when they complain about openings, is that you are basically taking a bunch of fabric and line and throwing it into turbulent ~120mph wind and expecting it to sort itself out exactly the same way every time. It's a miracle that they open as consistanly as they do!;)

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I just purchased an Icon, Triathlon 210, Smart 190 reserve with Cypres for $4822. Now the bad news. There is no way that the 210 fits in the container. You can get it in the bag with a mighty effort but then in order to close the container you must put a longer closing loop and even then the grommet is way below the flaps. Damn shame. I am going after the mfr for a correction.B|[email]
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