ZP Material

[btvr 0]

Does Aerodyne still make their canopies out of the same ZP material it always has? My Triathlon was new when I got it and packing it wasn't as bad. I felt PD's fabric and it was like oil on ice!

[justinb138 0]

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Does Aerodyne still make their canopies out of the same ZP material it always has? My Triathlon was new when I got it and packing it wasn't as bad. I felt PD's fabric and it was like oil on ice!

No, their new stuff is pretty similar to PD's fabric.

[btvr 0]

Ok, it must have changed when they merged with PISA.

[za_skydiver 0]

From what ive heard, Aerodyne was started by PISA to gain entry to the american market, BUT i could be wrong! Its second hand information talk around beers on a dz after jumping started around the fact that the material on canopies from both comanies come from same source.

Some dream of flying, i live the dream...

[btvr 0]

Not too sure about how they came to be. I know that aerodyne canopies before the merger were made in South Africa. So there might have been some relation prior to the merger. I'm just wondering why they don't use the same fabric they did for the older triathlons. PISA's Hornet was also made of that same type of fabric. Nice to pack. Harder than F111 but a hell of a lot easier than PD's fabric.

[riggerrob 643]

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From what I've heard, Aerodyne was started by PISA to gain entry to the American market, BUT i could be wrong! Its second hand information talk around beers on a dz after jumping started around the fact that the material on canopies from both companies come from same source.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Your rumor was close ... but no cigar!

Long before the recent corporate shuffles, PISA was selling lots of canopies (Tempo reserves, Skymaster, Hornet, Heatwave, etc.) on the American market, but few containers (mainly NARO).

Actually, an investor bought (Florida based) Aerodyne Research and (Parachute Industries of Southern Africa, hired the best designers from Parachute de France and hired the best American marketeers to form a new company (Aerodyne International).
After the investor drowned in a kayaking accident), his widow sold off assests - including the (old PISA) factory in South Africa.
Since the sale, Edward Anderson (aka Bushman) has been scrambling to find investors (from Norway) and build factories. They recently completed a new factory in Durban, South Africa.
Aerodyne's next step is to build a factory (for Icons) in the USA.

The old PISA factory was bought by the Zodiac Group (including Parachutes de France) and is busy sewing parachutes for the military market. Through all this corporate shuffles, Ned Luker (sp?) continued to manage the (Pisa - Aerodyne - PISA) factory.

[za_skydiver 0]

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Long before the recent corporate shuffles, PISA was selling lots of canopies (Tempo reserves, Skymaster, Hornet, Heatwave, etc.) on the American market, but few containers (mainly NARO).

My first harness was a Naro, actually Tonto's old crew harness .

Thanks for filling in the gaps in the story Rob

I was wondering if the ZP material of old Triathlons, etc. that where not as slippery as the PD material where "as Zero P" as the PD material, and if it lasted as long as the PD stuff...

Any opinions?

Some dream of flying, i live the dream...

[kelpdiver 2]

FWIW, I've heard that variant of ZP wouldn't last as long, 'maybe a couple thousand jumps.'

[za_skydiver 0]

i havent heard of any canopy that has more than 2000 jumps on it...

Guess if it gets sold after 1000 jumps, it wont get sold again.

Anybody got a canopy with more than 2000 jumps on it? I wonder how many are still around...

but then again i havent been around long enough to know.

Some dream of flying, i live the dream...