Zulu by Aerodyne - new canopy

[Hellis 0]

It does look quicker than some other canopies, but it doesn't look bad.
If the second video is the promotion video of zulu, I'm surprised they couldn't find a video where the slider 'works' as it should when colapsing it

Thanks for the videos!

[pattersd 0]

I did about 5 jumps with a demo zulu 150 flying my ghost. all the openings were on heading, even when I tried to see what would happen with bad body position. I purposely went for the pilot chute with just the one arm and did not do much to counter the roll and yaw, just enough to keep from going all the way over into a barrel roll, so my shoulders were very uneven at line stretch, I just squared up my hips and the opening was on heading. All the openings were quick and smooth. It really likes to harness steer with the brakes set. I was advised not to jump it with my venom, I would probably want to get another 50 jumps on one before jumping it with a big suit. I had no opportunity to see how it flew in line twists.

[mattjw916 2]

Hellis

Do you have video of the openings?
I like quick openings and that leaves me with pretty much only older canopies.
My current canopy is about to take it's last breath soon.

The PD Pulse opens quickly by modern standards. Not hard though. I put a bunch of jumps on it and it opened very consistently with little/no snivel and always on heading. I prefer snivel-ly canopies with tons of flare so it really wasn't my cup of tea.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[abean3 0]

Thanks for the info. I will be in the same boat with a Havok and Colugo. I love my pilot for the stability and ease of use with a wingsuit, but I have the itch for something a little more sporty. If it would still be a good choice with the larger suits then I will have to try one.

[ljwobker 2]

Opening video : https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8WOnozpsK7qV0ZDR2lpTEtpZFE/view?usp=sharing

shot with a rear-facing GoPro, the main thing here is that this is pretty typical - it opens pretty much on heading, with minimal snivel. It's 3-4 seconds from the pilot chute hitting the air until the slider comes down. My sabre2 is about 6-8 seconds and my Katana is closer to 9-10.

[abean3 0]

Any new opinions or videos out there for the Zulu? Any new input for wingsuiting?

[lyosha 48]

abean3

Any new opinions or videos out there for the Zulu? Any new input for wingsuiting?

an eliptical canopy for wingsuiting? I heard there's some guy in Russia that wingsuits with even a velo. But that doesn't make it a good idea.

[mattjw916 2]

more people jump x-brace and ellipticals with wingsuits than you realize

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[Deimian 43]

mattjw916

more people jump x-brace and ellipticals with wingsuits than you realize

You are probably right. But probably it is still a bad idea

[abean3 0]

Yeah I'm just curious about the wing suiting capability because Aerodyne mentioned it in the product description. It's hard to find a solid wing suiting canopy that also offers a lot of performance. I was hoping this was that unicorn.

[phoenixlpr 0]

Deimian

***more people jump x-brace and ellipticals with wingsuits than you realize

You are probably right. But probably it is still a bad idea

Based on what? Have you only heard that? Great advice!

[lyosha 48]

abean3

Yeah I'm just curious about the wing suiting capability because Aerodyne mentioned it in the product description. It's hard to find a solid wing suiting canopy that also offers a lot of performance. I was hoping this was that unicorn.

A "solid wingsuit canopy" should be (in my opinion) docile as hell to not spin up on you on opening. Which is the exact opposite of "a lot of performance". Most people recommend wingsuitting with a canopy with very mild "performance" at best. This is why the Sabre1 is such a popular wingsuitting canopy - opens up quick, docile, takes more to get it to start spinning sideways...

[lyosha 48]

mattjw916

more people jump x-brace and ellipticals with wingsuits than you realize

Well - 5% or less.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=4632068;poll=results

[mattjw916 2]

first, that poll is meaningless from a statistical perspective

second, that poll doesn't even ask who jumps what among wingsuiters, just what opens best...

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[lyosha 48]

mattjw916

first, that poll is meaningless from a statistical perspective

second, that poll doesn't even ask who jumps what among wingsuiters, just what opens best...

Yes, technically someone could recommend a Sabre1 but fly a 2.7 loaded Petra. But realistically, why? And how often?

Not to get into a flame war, but can you please provide some kind of evidence to the widespread use of high performance wings with wingsuits?

I have yet to meet anyone that would recommend anything other than recommend against that sort of thing, let alone anyone that flies one. If you think everyone I know is full of shit, please be more direct about it. Thanks.

[Deimian 43]

phoenixlpr

******more people jump x-brace and ellipticals with wingsuits than you realize

You are probably right. But probably it is still a bad idea

Based on what? Have you only heard that? Great advice!

Based on the fact that x-braced canopies tend to spin on you easily, combined with the fact that with a wingsuit is easier (not easy, that depends on skills, but easier) to have a bad body position. Combine these two things with an extra fact, that is that your movement is highly restricted until you open the zips or use the suit cutaways. Then you have a mix of facts that result in using x-braced canopies or highly elliptical ones with wingsuits being a bad idea.

That doesn't mean is not doable.

[mattjw916 2]

Quote

I have yet to meet anyone that would recommend anything other than recommend against that sort of thing, let alone anyone that flies one.

well, you should get out of the house more often then...

Quote

If you think everyone I know is full of shit, please be more direct about it. Thanks.

this is what's known as a straw man argument, you should look up common logical fallacies and try to avoid using them to make your case, kthxbai

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[drbartling 0]

I've been in the sport a bit over a year, averaging about 5-10 jumps a week during the season. I fly a Stiletto 135 and had the chance to demo the Zulu 132 during this last boogie at Eloy.

I only got 1 jump on the Zulu in less than ideal conditions (strong crosswind for final), but I opened high (pulled at 4-4.5k ft) and played around with it. I was surprised at how similar it was to the Stiletto in performance, from the opening time (quick, but not hard (I was expecting something more like the pilot)) to the feel of harness and toggle inputs. I'd like to get some more jumps on one (maybe go back and forth between the Stiletto and Zulu a few times) before giving any more detail.

I liked it.

[Melissa126 0]

Straight from Aerodyne:

Aerodyne Research, LLC The Zulu is a fully elliptical canopy which offers exceptional performance with harness input. This means you can execute beautiful 90 and even 180 degree turns using only harness input. It also means, if you are asymmetrically loading the harness because your wing suit is challenging you during opening, that you can spin the canopy up during a wing suit opening.

We had a lot of the test jumps on the Zulu done by one of our most experienced wing suit jumpers, but we cannot really recommend it to any but the most experienced and talented wing suit flyers. You need to be able to fly your wing suit throughout the opening sequence with near perfect harness symmetry, and today's ultra high performance wing suits make this quite a challenge indeed.

Aerodyne recommends the Pilot as a perfect canopy for wing suiting. It has great performance when highly loaded, but offers very forgiving openings. And for those who prefer a 7 cell, we've been testing a 7 cell Pilot which we hope to release in the third quarter of 2015.

[Joellercoaster 6]

Melissa126

we've been testing a 7 cell Pilot which we hope to release in the third quarter of 2015.

Wait, what?

That was unexpected.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[strife 0]

great snippet hopefully zpx available as well

[Kalrigan 6]

Melissa126

And for those who prefer a 7 cell, we've been testing a 7 cell Pilot which we hope to release in the third quarter of 2015.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? Really? That's awesome.

[jumpwally 0]

Damn,,you almost got taken out there,,,,that jumper was way to close during pull time,,,yikes

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[Sabrekakkonen 0]

Hello!
What are difrences between sabre 2 150 and zulu 152?
Sabre 2 has steeper glide and longer recovery-arc, am i right?
Which one has better flare power?

[shadeland 5]

I'll throw my observations in because, why not.

I did 2-3 jumps on a Zulu 122 at Zhills over Near Years. My daily driver is a Crossfire 2 129, and my other rig has a Pilot 150 in it.

Wing loading on the Zulu 122 was about 1.55, 1.45 on my Crossfire 2.

Without many jumps, I've only got a few quick impressions:

Openings: They're brisk compared to my Crossfire, but anything is brisk compared to Crossfire openings. It's very comparable to my Pilot 150. It's not hard, but not soft. About in between. Certainly not uncomfortable.

Despite being only slightly smaller than my 129, it seemed far more sensitive to hip inputs. It was "twitcher" which caught me by surprise. The risers on the loaner were longer than I'm used to, so I had to stretch to get the slider. That put me into a turn that doesn't happen on my Crossfire. I'm not saying it's bad, it just surprised me.

I didn't have to move the toggles nearly as much on the Zulu to get it to turn. To my shoulders would put me into a turn that was as steep as pulling to my belly button on my Crossfire it seemed.

So while the turns were more aggressive, it seemed to pull out of them quicker than my Crossfire.

The flare surprised me. It wasn't as strong as the Crossfire. It felt a lot like my Pilot (sweet spot is lower, and it's a mushier flare). The ground kept coming on my flare so wacked down and slide in on my first jump. Not my best landing. I was expecting it next time, but I really had to extend my arms to wrench every drop of flair.