hjelle

I have put around 1200 jumps on the Mamba, on sizes ranging from 90 sq.ft to 117 sq.ft. For comparison, I have over 1000 jumps on both the Katana and Crossfire 2 of similar sizes. Like all eliptical wings the Mamba is sensitive to harness input during the opening. Slight body movements in the harness will cause a heading change. This of course applies to similar wings like the Crossfire and the Katana. Having said that, the Mamba is more sensitive to harness input than both the Katana and Crossfire; this is especially noticeable with the brakes stowed. This takes a little bit of getting used too, but after around 20 jumps on the canopy, it was not an issue for me anymore. Now, I have no problems undoing booties, loosening cheststraps etc, while keeping the canopy flying straight without any riser input. I have very consistent on-heading openings, pretty much regardless of who packs the canopy. The sensitivity to harness input during the opening, which some may be unaccustomed to, definitely makes this a fun canopy to fly. Using only harness input you can generate a lot of speed for a swoop landing. As mentioned earlier, I am sponsored by Aerodyne and, incidentally, am now also a part-owner of the company, so this is not an unbiased view, of course. However, with over thousand jumps on the canopy, I know it well:-)

It is probably wise to put a little bit more than a couple of jumps on a new canopy before you can make a qualified judgement on how it performs compared to a canopy you are very familiar with. For those interested; here are my two cents on how the Mamba compares to the Katana. I have over 1000 jumps on the Mamba 96, and approx. 1500 on the Katana 97. Besides my teammates, I believe no one has more jumps on the Mamba. However, this is in no way an unbiased view, as I am currently sponsored by Aerodyne, and was prevously sponsored by PD. The Mamba has superior openings compared to the Katana. In over 1000 jumps I have not had a single hard opening on the Mamba. The canopy has a long snivel phase, much longer than the Katana`s, and a soft inflation. Mostly every opening is on heading or 90 degrees off at the most. The opening characteristics of the Mamba are very similar to the Crossfire 2. In my opinion, the openings are the biggest difference betwen the Katana and the Mamba. The Katana has a shorter snivel phase and a much quicker inflation, with a considerably higher percentage of off heading openings. I have had my share of hard Katana openings. The Katana and Mamba have similar flying characteristics and both are great fun to fly. However, there are some notable diferences; the Mamba has a slightly higher front riser- and toggle pressure and is definitely more sensitive to harness input than the Katana. The Mamba beats the Katana hands down when it comes to glide ratio; easy to see when you are flying a Mamba next to a Katana trying to get back to the DZ from a long spot. The recovery arch of the two canopies are very similar, but the Mamba has more flare power. In my humble but biased opinion; the Mamba is a superior canopy to the Katana. It is hard to go up against a company like PD, that has such a stellar, and well deserved, reputation for making great canopies, but I think the Mamba will be a more than worthy contender to the Katana.

In my experience the recovery arc on the Mamba is a little bit longer than what you see on a Crossfire 2 with the same wing loading. You are able to build more speed and get longer swoops than on the Crossfire(and Katana). Wicked or not, it is a great canopy to fly. It should be released in the very near future. Here is a short promo video that we made for Aerodyne. It shows a few clips of the Mamba in action. http://www.arcteryx.no/images/stories/Video/aerodynepromopal.asf

The canopy Jaap jumped was not a Vision. He jumped the Mamba 111 ("New main" 111). Aerodyne is working on a new and revised version of the Vision (called R&D 182 for the time beeing). The Mamba is a much quicker canopy than the Vision.

The canopy you tried, the Mamba 111, or "New main" as it was called then, is one of our team canopies (Norwegian 4-way team, Arcteryx). My teammate lengthened the steering lines only a few days before you tried it. This will probably explain why you felt the the flare range was a bit "low". I have several hundred jumps on the canopy and the flare power of this canopy is excellent.

We (Norwegian 4-way team, Arcteryx) have been jumping Aerodyne´s new main, Mamba, for the last few months, putting around 400 jumps on it. It is a highly eliptical 9-cell canopy; in the same family as Icarus Crossfire2 and PD´s Katana. The openings are very smooth and generally on heading. Nice and smooth snivel phase followed by a soft inflation. It opens a hair quicker than the Crossfire, but definitely slower (and smoother) than the Katana. We load the canopy between 1,8-2.0. It is very sensitive to harness input, snappy on toggles and has light-moderate front riser pressure. The recovery arch is similar to the Katana´s but we all get longer swoops on the Mamba than we got on the Katana, with similar wing loadings (we have around 1500 jumps each on the Katana). This canopy is fast! It has an amazing amount of flare, better than both the Katana and Crossfire. In fairness, I should point out that we are sponsored by Aerodyne, so take this info for what it is worth. Try it for yourself when you get a chance!