Aerodyne

[nexus12 0]

Heard a rumour that Aerodyne has been bought by two Norwegian skydivers. Apparently, Bushman wiil keep running the company. Anybody heard about this?

Aerodyne has great products and phenomenal customer service. Wish them all the best:-)

[Squeak 17]

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Heard a rumour that Aerodyne has been bought by two Norwegian skydivers. Apparently, Bushman wiil keep running the company. Anybody heard about this?

Aerodyne has great products and phenomenal customer service. Wish them all the best:-)

If they have, the 2 Norwegian skydivers are bloody rich, Aerodyne is not a small company. Maybe they only bought part of it?

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[tbrown 26]

Big article with lots of detail in the latest issue of Skydiving. Trying to remember the bigger details here, the South African guy who was running the show died in a kayaking accident and his widow decided to sell. Zodiac bought the military side of the house, but had no interest in the sport side. Bushman wanted to keep the sport side going, especially as they've been doing so well, but getting the dinero was a big problem. The Norwegian guys are the money. One of them owns his own startup transportation company in Europe AND is a skydiver. So there's been some legal hocus-pocus with the name, which is now Aerodyne Research something-or-other. They'd like to manufacture in the states, but the costs of doing that are really high and they haven't decided what to do yet, though the article mentioned contracting work out to existing manufacturers. I think those were the main points anyway, get a copy of Skydiving for the real deal, that newspaper KNOWS what's goin' on.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[riggerrob 643]

Yes,
Last week I traded e-mails with Ned Luker (Manager of PISA/Aerodyne's factory in South Africa.
Ned said that his factory was no longer owned by Aerodyne.
Ned said that his factory is busy with military production.
Ned said he would be at the Zodiac booth at the 2007 PIA Symposium.

Similarly, I spoke with - South African accent - Dennis (?) at Aerodyne's headquarters in Florida. He confirmed that Aerodyne no longer owns PISA and that they were planning to establish production facilities in Mauritious. He also hinted that they want to build Icon harness/containers in the USA.

[ChrisL 2]

Hopefully, speaking as a guy waiting for a new Pilot, this will not impact canopies that are already ordered and in their system

__

My mighty steed

[pjc 0]

Just got my new Pilot 150 this morning, it was ordered 3 months ago but that was the time quoted with the order so I wouldn't sweat it!!

[phoenixlpr 0]

Wow!

Enjoy packing your silicon slimy beast.

[pjc 0]

Can't wait, I'm gonna grease myself up for the first pack job to prolong the pleasure

[EAerodyne 0]

Official Statment From Bushman @ Aerodyne:

The company has been bought by two Norwegian Skydivers. One is Vidar Antonsen, who is a private business owner in Norway and recently sold his bus company to the Norwegian Railroad. Vidar is a relatively new skydiver, has been jumping for about 4 years and has approximately 500 jumps. He most recently was a participant in the Norwegian Basic camp held in DeLand together with 60 other skydivers.

Ole Petter Hjelle is the other owner and was spurred on by his enthusiasm after recently being sponsored by Aerodyne. Ole is captain of the Norwegian National Team with over 5000 Jumps in approximately 6 years. The Norwegian Team Arcteryx, recently posted a 21.3 in the Shamrock showdown. Ole has been so excited with his gear and the company since moving to Aerodyne sponsored equipment, he took the opportunity to buy a small but significant stake in the company.

Both owners will not be involved in management and I will continue to lead and steer the company and it's future. Although their roles are not management roles, having buyers that are skydivers, who understand skydiving, sponsorship and what they want out of their own personal gear, will I am sure make my job a lot easier.

The company is yet to publicly disclose the details of it's new manufacturing solution, as not all contracts with raw material vendors, company registrations and other legal documents are final yet. (Don't want to put the cart before the horse) What I can tell you is that the manufacturing facilities we are looking at will be dedicated 100% to sport parachutes and the further development in our products, quality and delivery times. I am 100% committed to us improving our manufacturing quality and seeing if we can knock a couple more weeks out of our delivery times and these will be the primary focus through the remainder of the year.

To those that did post re your delivery of your Pilot or other gear. You should have nothing to worry about. There maybe a small hiccup of about 2 weeks or so but we should be able to manage to keep current delivery times of 12 weeks for custom colours.

We have tried to beat the demand for custom orders by building a large stock inventory (due in shortly from our current facility in South Africa) Included in that shipment we have a large portion of stock rigs coming. Basically if chosen from stock, you will be able to get a custom fitted harness on a stock coloured container in about a week. The main lift web, diagonals and leg straps will be custom fitted to your measurements and as the ICON features a unique yoke design, this should be pretty close to as good a fit as you could get even if you ordered it custom. This will be a test or pilot program, and we'll see how it goes. Should it take off, we will continue to stock containers in the future.

Just a small note of thanks to all the people that have supported us through this very difficult period after losing our last investor. It has been a tough & trying time, and it wouldn't have been possible without your patronage and support. I can personally assure that I will give it my all to improve the company further and to continue giving you good products, at an affordable price with excellent customer service.

It is an amazing thing really..... we are now owned by skydivers, run by skydiver for skydivers. I am really excited about the future of our company and it's products and hope you will be to.

Blue skies

Bushman

[AggieDave 6]

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we are now owned by skydivers, run by skydiver for skydivers.

So you installed a beer fridge in the office?

A question, though.

What about support for old PISA canopies? Relines for Heatwaves, Hornets, etc.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[EAerodyne 0]

No beer fridge in the office yet. :-).... we want a reason to go to the DZ and drink beer, and skydive...

Aerodyne does not hold the rights to designs made by PISA, and all service of such items should be directed to them directly.

We still have some linesets in stock and we'd be happy to provide the service of relining them for people as well as depleting the stock of old PISA line sets should you need them.

regards

[ALI69 0]

are you saying that you go to the Dz, have a beer and then jump...shame on you

[proswooper 2]

Hey Bushman

Once again, myself and many I know are impressed with Aerodyne and its products. I look forward to the future of this very dynamic company and what it may bring.

Best of luck

Paul Rossouw