IPT Axon

I have been demoing canopies for a little while. Pulse 230, Sabre 230, 1:1 wing loadings. I liked all of them, but I did not love any of them. The Sabre opening made me never want to jump one again.

Enter the Axon. They had a tent setup at the Thanksgivings boogie. After getting the demo hooked up, I went for a jump. Soft but quick opening. Great toggle turns. Harness turns started slow, but pretty picked up. Dipping a toggle deep in the pattern chewed off altitude. Tip toe landing on the first try.

Second jump... well, that spot looked better from the door. Under canopy I realized I had a serious problem. I was 4 fields, maybe 5 from the DZ. All clear, but way out. Hanging on the rears... I managed to get back to the wind tunnel. The glide was amazing.

I took a third jump, but I was sold. Their rigger was awesome answering my questions, and the staff responsive. It really took the best aspects of all the canopies I flew and combines them, with none of the bad stuff.

Oh also... get their risers. That third tab is genius. Those breaks are not firing until you want them to. Just remember to pull back then down.

Quick background: My wingload on a 170 is 1:1.41, I've been jumping since 1998, military/FAA rigger.

I was in the market for a new main canopy. My current one was a Sabre(1) 170 with more then a 1,000 jumps on it. Its life span was about over. Some of my friends knew I was in the market for a new main and one of them had an Axon 170 and another a Sabre II 170. I jumped the Sabre II for a weekend and it was what I had expected for an upgraded version of the original. I then borrowed the Axon for the next weekend of jumping. It was for what was supposed to be a weekend that ended up being over a month and 30 some jumps later. I found that packing the Axon is simple. No rolling the nose like I had to on my old Sabre. Just pro pack it like any other main. The openings are smooth, on heading, and best of all predictable. It nice knowing when I throw out my pilot chute I know I am not going to get slammed or have a 180 off heading.

While in flight with the brakes still stowed it takes very little pressure to pull down a rear riser for a quick turn to avoid fellow jumpers or get on heading to get back to the DZ. While the are brakes stowed I also discovered it is very easy to do harness turns too. A little weight shift to either side and it does a nice turn. The glide with the brakes stowed and rear risers pulled down is great. I have had some REALLY long spots and have been the only one out of my group to make it back to the DZ a couple of times.

Once the brakes are released the fun begins. This canopy is more aggressive while in flight I feel then the Sabre II. It is super stable in flight even in the very turbulent air we have in the summer desert in AZ. The canopy will do what you want it to do. If you want to cut through the sky using the dive loops it really makes this canopy just come alive. Light dive loop pressure and the canopy just goes. At the same time if there are a lot of fellow jumpers just using the toggles it becomes a very docile and forgiving parachute. This is great since it almost acts like two parachutes depending on what you want to do after your open up.

With the aggressive flight of the Axon I was a little worried about the flare on landing. Nothing to worry about here. It has all the flare you will ever need. My days of swooping the landing area and sprinting out a landing are about over. If you want to land and only have to take a couple steps you can do that, if you want to come in fast and swoop it out for a nice little surf it flattens out and flies that way too. All of this is done with a little use of the risers and toggles.

All and all this is a great canopy and after a month of jumping my buddies I ordered one. I have been jumping it like crazy and enjoy every flight under it. Innovative Parachute Designs was great when ordering it. They kept me updated on what was going on with my canopy and where at in the process it was. I would recommend this canopy to my fellow jumpers over and over again.

Having jumped the Axon for almost 300 dives I couldn't be more pleased. The openings have been so consistant I would not trade it for any other canopies I jump. Solid and stable in the air and lands real nice. Ready to buy another one. Downsize time.

I jumped the Axon 170 at the Eloy Holiday Boogie. It is the most highly loaded canopy I have jumped to date. I videoed each of the openings and all of them were very good and on heading. When the canopy was backed with the nose rolled as I normally like it the opening was soft and on heading... when it was packed with no roll on the nose and just a normal propack it opened briskly but not uncomfortably. My openings tend to be a bit faster due to my fall rate being a bit greater than the majority of jumpers.

The flight was good but I would have preferred a bit more time while under canopy but a boogie with a 3500 ft ceiling was not a good place for opening high and really wringing it out. I will add more details in the next couple weeks. I have one in my posession now and will be jumping it when we get a ceiling here over 2000 ft.( Darn Clouds)

The handling was excellent although the toggle pressure was a bit more than what I am used to but not uncomfortably so. Risers turns were crisp and it recovered nicely.
The landings were VERY nice.. with plenty of lift and a good surf in the low wind conditions I was jumping.I just had to fly the canopy till the speed was gone and then it shut down noicely.

The canopy is VERY well constructed and has similar performance to a Sabre2 or to a Pilot. I think ANYONE who tries one will be pleasantly surprised. The people at IPT will be getting more demo canopys ready with a demo program soon. If you see me at a Boogie or at a DZ in the NW I will be happy to let you demo my 170.