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TrickyDicky

Oldest sport canopy still in production

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I had a look through a 1993 sport parachutist over the weekend, and saw and advert for the stilleto. It made me wonder a couple of things:

1. Is the stilletto the oldest canopy still in production, excluding resrves? (at least 15 years now) How much has the design of the stilletto changed over the years?

2. With the stilletto being so old, are people ignoring it as a path on the route to HP landings, and going too quickly to katanas, or to put it another way, are people treating the katana too much like the "new" stilletto?

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No idea about the answer to your question, but as regards the Stilletto's place on the path to swooping... I think most would agree it is not on that path. The Sabre2 would probably be a better choice.

:)

***************

Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

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No idea about the answer to your question, but as regards the Stilletto's place on the path to swooping... I think most would agree it is not on that path. The Sabre2 would probably be a better choice.

:)



Not sure how you came up with that.:S
Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

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While under a different company (Flight Concepts), the Glide Path canopies, both main and reserve (cricket, maverick, fury, maverone, manta, etc), are still in production and came out sometime in the 80's.

Parafoil may be older but haven't paid much attention if it has changed.
I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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No idea about the answer to your question, but as regards the Stilletto's place on the path to swooping... I think most would agree it is not on that path. The Sabre2 would probably be a better choice.

:)



Not sure how you came up with that.:S


Not sure how you wouldnt come up with that :DB|

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The oldest sport main still in production today is the PARACOMANDER, first marketed 1964 and still in production today. http://www.pioneeraero.com/2-5_fre_fal.htm

And all you square pilots today that need a aerial photo and instruction sheet just to understand how to land in the LZ, couldn't handle this HP canopy..........For one thing, your spot'n with the green fucking light won't cut it.:)

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

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No idea about the answer to your question, but as regards the Stilletto's place on the path to swooping... I think most would agree it is not on that path. The Sabre2 would probably be a better choice.

:)



Not sure how you came up with that.:S


Not sure how you wouldnt come up with that :DB|



Spoken like someone who believes the sport started 10 minutes before their first jump.:D


Seriously, the Stiletto was jumped by many of the "Pioneers" of swooping, and they made that canopy look good!.
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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Spoken like someone who believes the sport started 10 minutes before their first jump. Laugh

Seriously, the Stiletto was jumped by many of the "Pioneers" of swooping, and they made that canopy look good!.



LOL :D

Sure it has been jumped by many of the pioneers. Im sure those same pioneers have jumped much worse canopies in their days..

But hey. Skydiving gear evolves. The fact that some piece of gear was hot in the old days doesnt mean it is so in the present

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>Is the stilletto the oldest canopy still in production, excluding resrves?

I am pretty sure there are some accuracy canopies that have been in production a lot longer.

>With the stilletto being so old, are people ignoring it as a path on
>the route to HP landings . . .

Many people do. It's still a decent canopy, but there are better ones out there nowadays for people learning to swoop.

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The sport canopy I jumped in the 70s was a 28 ft. C-9 with 4-Line Release. That was in production long before then and is still being made.

But, that's probably not what you meant. ;)

Kevin K.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

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The sport canopy I jumped in the 70s was a 28 ft. C-9 with 4-Line Release. That was in production long before then and is still being made.

But, that's probably not what you meant. ;)

Kevin K.



Yea, but that was when ships were made of wood men were made of iron and the earth was flat.;)

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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No idea about the answer to your question, but as regards the Stilletto's place on the path to swooping... I think most would agree it is not on that path. The Sabre2 would probably be a better choice.

:)



Not sure how you came up with that.:S


Not sure how you wouldnt come up with that :DB|



Spoken like someone who believes the sport started 10 minutes before their first jump.:D


Seriously, the Stiletto was jumped by many of the "Pioneers" of swooping, and they made that canopy look good!.


Never thought of myself as a pioneer of swooping, but I have 1,000+ jumps on a Stiletto in the early years of production and it served its' purpose well. At the time (hand me my cane, sonny) it was the hottest thing around.

There may be newer designs that have advantages over the Stiletto, but its' still an all-around solid elliptical that is quite capable on the swoop pond - if ya know what yer doin', that is.;)
Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

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The oldest sport main still in production today is the PARACOMANDER



Hmm...

Not sure if I'd count that... it WAS a sport main, and may still be in production, but it's no longer a sport main. At least, not that people jump for purposes other than novelty and nostalgia (yes, I have a PC jump!)

I was thinking the PARAFOIL might get the award, assuming they still make them (I think they do... since the accuracy freaks still use 'em).

There's some other seriously old stuff you can still get made. Sharpshuters and Mantas and the like.

But in terms of "modern" sport canopies that are still in production, the Stiletto may be the winner. I can only name a few ZP canopies that came before it, and none of them have been in production for a long time... I think the Sabre1 was the last holdout.
"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission."

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I was thinking the PARAFOIL might get the award, assuming they still make them (I think they do... since the accuracy freaks still use 'em).



Yes they still do make `em. And a lot of people i know still jump `em.
dudeist skydiver #42

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Yea, but that was when ships were made of wood men were made of iron and the earth was flat.



and the harness was made from tyrannosaurus hides, and the hardware was made from stone because they hadn't learned to work with metal h=yet.
"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."

"Your statement answered your question."

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The triathalon and the lightning were around before ZP was used on canopys.



________________________________________________

Triathlon was probably the third canopy developed by Aerodyne ... after 1991 .. not sure of the exact date??? Tri's are basically early 1980s CF canopies updated with modern materials. The first Triathlon's were made of ZP fabric woven by Gelvenor Textiles in South Africa and Spectra suspension lines.

Performance Designs introduced the Lightning after Poynter published Volume two in 1991.

So Triathlons and Lightnings are definitely not the oldest sport canopies still in production.

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But is a C9 really a SPORT main ?



I didn't use it with an ejection seat, if that's what you mean. ;)

Yeah, you're probably right. It's not. But when everyone was using them, they sure SEEMED like sport mains. I mean, most of us were not intending to kill anyone after we landed.

Kevin K.
_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

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