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cpoxon

Icarus World - press release

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Received this from Bill Legard,

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Announcing the formation of a new parachute company, ICARUS World, LLC.

Fernando de Caralt and Bill Legard have joined forces to create this new company to market, sell, and distribute the newest line of sport canopies in the industry.

The ICARUS brand has been a known force in the parachute industry for many years. The brand name has been used on products designed and manufactured both in New Zealand by NZ Aerosports since the late 1980s and in Spain for Icarus Canopies, Incorporated since the late 1990s. The companies had differences regarding their working relationship and their agreement was terminated in 2016.

ICARUS Canopies has since, independently, designed a new line of products for the sports market. Drawing upon its 20 years of manufacturing expertise in sport parachuting and its 70 plus years of global leadership in the military and aerospace industry, they put substantial R & D resources into designing a new breed of canopies and brought them to market in 2017. All canopies were designed using fluid dynamics and are built in a state-of- the-art ISO certified facility.

The new lineup now includes the S FIRE, a semi elliptical 9 cell canopy that serves a broad market from those just off student status to highly experienced jumpers who want a canopy that offers outstanding openings and a powerful flare. The TX2 is an innovative tandem canopy, incorporating some key designs from the military and aerospace teams. An exclusive Drogue Attachment By-Pass system significantly improves the durability of the tandem canopies, lowering the maintenance expenses and extending the life of the product. The X FIRE is a high performance, fully elliptical, non-cross- braced canopy that almost defines a new canopy class. X FIRE is a beautifully shaped wing with breathtaking performance. These canopies incorporate a number of cutting edge design elements such as parabolic reinforcement tapes, ram air stabilizers and other innovations developed to meet the demands of the aerospace market.

These new canopies join a solid lineup that includes the OMNI 7 cell, the EQUINOX student canopy, the very popular ICARUS Reserve and the NANO low pack volume reserve.

Bill Legard will be President and CEO of the new company which will be headquartered in DeLand, FL. Bill is an active skydiver approaching 10,000 jumps. He has a BA in Economics and an MBA, both from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He has over 30 years of management experience in senior positions with International Paper and Chesapeake Corporation and was President and CEO of the skydiving company Aerodyne Research from 2008 through 2016.

“I am very excited to join Fernando in the creation of ICARUS World and to bring the most contemporary fleet of canopies to our sport. We are structuring our business to offer best in class service for distributors and jumpers from our new headquarters in DeLand, Florida. Our growing inventory of stock canopies and expansion of production capacity are calculated to bring optimal market responsiveness. We are committed to having a knowledgeable staff of skydivers and growing our business with them. The global skydiving industry has really grown up around the world class facilities of Skydive DeLand, and it’s great to be a part of this community. Our R&D team is hard at work, so expect the innovations to continue. And call your local distributor to arrange a demo soon, you will be impressed!”

www.icarusworld.net


Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

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Fernando de Caralt and Bill Legard have joined forces to create this new company to market, sell, and distribute the newest line of sport canopies in the industry.




Yes, but who is BUILDING them. And where?
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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sammielu

Well this helps straighten the list out in my head.
NZ Aerosports:
Safire 3
Crossfire 3
JVX
JFX
Leia
Petra
Icarus Tandem 365

ICARUS WORLD:
TX2
Omni
Nano
Icarus Reserve
S Fire
X Fire
Neos
(Maybe still FX and VX)

The names are confusing.

i think it is less confusing now than say 2 years ago.
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

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sammielu

Well this helps straighten the list out in my head.
NZ Aerosports:
Safire
Crossfire
JVX
JFX
Leia
Petra
Icarus Tandem 365

ICARUS WORLD:
TX2
Omni
Nano
S Fire
X Fire


The names are confusing.



What about Icarus Spain - does it not exist anymore?
Or are there now 3 Icarusses (/Icari?)?

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Icarus (Spain) is still there, at icaruscanopies.aero as usual.

(Not icaruscanopies.com that has long redirected to NZ Aerosports.)

I'm guessing Icarus World is somehow the US marketing arm, possibly collaborating on future projects, but the relationship wasn't clear in the press release.

Icarusworld.net appears to be essentially a copy or mirror of icaruscanopies.aero. Both say they are copyright Icarus Canopies S.L., which would be the Spanish company.

You can't have enough Icaruses!

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pchapman

You can't have enough Icaruses!


As a new jumper who'll be in the market soon for a main & reserve, all this is making me want to run far away from anything w/ the name Icarus.

Probably not too smart given that I'm sure I'd be ruling out some great canopies. But seriously, what a cluster.

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bibliwho

As a new jumper who'll be in the market soon for a main & reserve, all this is making me want to run far away from anything w/ the name Icarus.



Yeah, it is all a little confusing and annoying, due to historical reasons... but that shouldn't dissuade anyone from buying any of the companies' equipment.

And having a US-based IcarusWorld, will make the large US market more comfortable with buying something from a foreign company. Good dealers & distributors & company offshoots in one's own country always make sales & service easier.

(So who does NZ Aerosports sales & service these days in N. America?)

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bibliwho

***You can't have enough Icaruses!


As a new jumper who'll be in the market soon for a main & reserve, all this is making me want to run far away from anything w/ the name Icarus.

Probably not too smart given that I'm sure I'd be ruling out some great canopies. But seriously, what a cluster.

I agree. Why put up with the confusion. PD must be laughing up their sleeves. Aerodyne and Parachute Systems as well. Two stubborn companies both refusing to give up a name. Thereby destroying it's value to both of them. Idiots.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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bibliwho

And it's not as if Icarus has positive associations for anyone w/ half a brain.

The name is pretty much synonymous w/ hubris and an untimely death. Lots of both in the skydiving world, but not exactly something to celebrate.



uhhh ok.:S
I must be extremely lucky then, having survived nearly 1000 jumps on a Spanish Crossfire :ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:

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bibliwho

And it's not as if Icarus has positive associations for anyone w/ half a brain.

The name is pretty much synonymous w/ hubris and an untimely death. Lots of both in the skydiving world, but not exactly something to celebrate.



That's pretty funny because I asked one of their reps a similar question, he looked at me like I had 10 heads.

But on the same note it's also synonymous with pushing the boundaries and human flight.

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That's pretty funny because I asked one of their reps a similar question, he looked at me like I had 10 heads.

But on the same note it's also synonymous with pushing the boundaries and human flight.



I guess not everyone knows or remembers the origin of the name.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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evh

***And it's not as if Icarus has positive associations for anyone w/ half a brain.

The name is pretty much synonymous w/ hubris and an untimely death. Lots of both in the skydiving world, but not exactly something to celebrate.



uhhh ok.:S
I must be extremely lucky then, having survived nearly 1000 jumps on a Spanish Crossfire :ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:

No worries, you're only at risk if you're American.
"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

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bibliwho

And it's not as if Icarus has positive associations for anyone w/ half a brain.

The name is pretty much synonymous w/ hubris and an untimely death. Lots of both in the skydiving world, but not exactly something to celebrate.



Damn, I missed your reference to the mythological Icarus :$:$:$

I thought you were just bashing Icarus canopies.

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evh

***And it's not as if Icarus has positive associations for anyone w/ half a brain.

The name is pretty much synonymous w/ hubris and an untimely death. Lots of both in the skydiving world, but not exactly something to celebrate.



Damn, I missed your reference to the mythological Icarus :$:$:$

I thought you were just bashing Icarus canopies.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hah!
Hah!
Got me too!
I missed the reference to Greek mythology.
My alibi is reading it before my first cup of coffee sank in!
Hah!
Hah!

OTOH the "Daedalus" corporate name inspires confidence.
For the uninitiated: Daedalus ground-launching canopies are made by a spin-off from Icarus/NZ Aerosports.

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Icarus (Spain) is still there, at icaruscanopies.aero as usual.

(Not icaruscanopies.com that has long redirected to NZ Aerosports.)

I'm guessing Icarus World is somehow the US marketing arm, possibly collaborating on future projects, but the relationship wasn't clear in the press release.

Icarusworld.net appears to be essentially a copy or mirror of icaruscanopies.aero. Both say they are copyright Icarus Canopies S.L., which would be the Spanish company.

You can't have enough Icaruses!




Let me get you guys straight on this subject.

NZ Aerosports in NZ (read Jyro here) started Icarus Canopies as a world wide company that would lease his designs out to other well known and already established parachute manufacturers. One in the USA (Precision Aerodynamics) and the other one in Spain (CIMSA).

Precision Aerodynamics stopped producing Icarus Canopies in 2001.

CIMSA had their agreement pulled about two years ago by Jyro. This was after they started re-designing Jyro's canopies and making their own designs and changes, but still using the Icarus logo/name brand.

So CIMSA (Spain) has come up with the Icarus World thing with Bill Legard. Basically Bill is going to warehouse ready built stock here in the USA and offer service for their canopies.

Fernando (who owns CIMSA) also owns BRS emergency parachutes that is located in Pinehurst, NC IIRC.This location will be a service center of sorts as I was told.

So to clarify, NZ Aerosports is the mother company that owns both Icarus Canopies and Dadielus Project. They are both located in Auckland, NZ and have nothing to do with Icarus World.

CIMSA (Icarus World) used to build Icarus Canopies under a License agreement, but no more and has come up with the Icarus World company to sell their canopies.

Clear as mud..right?

Cheers,
MEL
Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC
www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com

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Thanks for the interest everyone, and sorry for the confusion. This is Bill Legard, just wanting to clarify.

The Icarus Spain organization, owned by Fernando, is integrated in the partnership with Bill in Icarus World. The canopies will continue to be built in the same ISO Certified facility in Spain that has built Icarus branded canopies since the late 1990’s. Icarus World, headquartered in DeLand will be the global point of contact and will have employees in Spain, North Carolina, and DeLand that will support the global dealer networks. [email protected] for any questions.

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So then. The source of the confusion is the refusal of Fernando to stop using the name Icarus then. Even though he no longer has any association with the originator of the name or the design. He just can't let go? I stand by my original assessment. Idiot.

Perhaps they are now hoping that with the demise of the originator the problem will go away.


Fine product nonetheless. Good luck overcoming marketing and branding difficulties. Especially in North America. A stronger competitor is welcome here in my eyes.
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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