cobaltdan

excellent container & company ! sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

kirk, the cross brace seams are i beams not roll seams. the over all design induces a cumulative error less than a tri-cell design. and as explained the cross braces transfer more force the closer to vertical they are. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

woops, too funny, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

did not receive a pm. please resend. dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

eric and catfish have not jumped the 25 with the datalogger yet. it is still a little dicey and i do not want them to use the belly mount camera or any additional, potentially snaggable equipment yet. the canopy is extremely sensitive due to its 5' long lines. a 2" weight shift in your harness can turn it faster than you. i am working on a new line trim to make it more docile. for now the guys have just switched to a single point suspension. i will post more as develops. i had a great dream last night that we built a mini harness that placed a 25 to deploy off your butt and that you remained suspended low drag superman style with the wing above yor center of gravity....(that could be landable) sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

please note: the offending 170 demo has been removed for repairs. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

if you think 'jump master' is cool check out: http://www.extremefly.com/aerospace/products/flightcomputers/gps.html we added a infite screen for navigation to our datalogging gps/flight computer. 1 screen to navigate blind to your intended target, no buttons to press, etc... we will be demonstrating it with a 1/4 vga lcd screen and also one with a helmet mounted laser retinal scanning display at the pia. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

high aspect ratio: we have built prototype canopies up to 3.4. and are playing with a design at 5.0 (military not swooping). but we are finding that a higher aspect ratio canopy will give you higher efficiency at slower speeds but not at higher speeds. imo the ultimate swoop machine meaning longest swoop will probably have to remain a canopy below approximately 3.0 ar. and simply be very fast. increasing speed over ar will make more difference. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

as per a previous thread '# of cells' as pertains to a cross braced canopies is being defined as the number of divisions formed on the top skin between line attachment points. i.e. fx/velocity = 3*7= 21 , vx 3*9=28, onyx 4*9=36. aerodynamically reducing spanwise distortion on the bottom skin translates into no improvement of efficiency. so according to our design philosophy why then add the extra vertical ribs to create a quad cell or for that matter even a tri cell with reguards to the bottom skin. no reason except increasing pack volume.... additionally your logic with reguards to the cross braced angle is incorrect. this is a tension structure. maximum force is transfered through a rib to the line when it is vertical. as a rib is slanted it progressively carries less and less tension. result on the onyx is an aifoil which is significantly lower in distortion than the vx, but with a 1/3 lower pack volume. additionaly the nose remains fully rounded in high speed flight and does not blunt or dimple in as does every other canopy ever designed. this further adds to the wings efficiency. 'odd design' thank you i will take that as a compliment. 'couple of years behind state the art'. curious as to why you think that? while everyone else was creating cross bracing canopies based on the stilletto. we were busy perfecting the 9 cell before releasing a cross brace based in it. the cobalt is the only 9 cell canopy that is competitive against what i guess you are calling state of the art. a comp cobalt ranked 2nd out of a field of 160 cross braced canopies after a full year of pro competition in distance and speed. we have 13 patents pending, and have set more records in the last two years than i can count, and were competitively chosen over all other parachute companies to develop the next best ram airs for the us military. i think we are doing a good job of being 10 years ahead. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

no, a 25 is not landable. not with any reasonable degree of safety at least. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

"Still don't know what the bloody point is to built a canopy which you are not able to land..... " you will have to ask uncle sam... hint it is for 500# of...stuff...and not for personnel. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

eric's exit weight is currently 285. he is loading 3:1 and as chuck pointed out the canopy shuts down to a complete stop, straight in, 0 wind, no slides or steps. chuck is next on the list of propilots and will be putting the onyx through its paces next week. official introduction will be at the pia symposium. i am going to keep some data under raps until then. but so far it is proving to be the most efficient skydiving wing ever seen by a wide margin. aspect ratio is 2.85 pack volume is surprisingly small. the 36 quad cell design uses no more vertical ribs than a 9 cell. only additional pack volume is from the small crossbraces on a,b&c. as opposed to a tricell that uses 50% more vertical ribs than a 9 cell and uses crossbraces on a,b,c &d. the 95 onyx packs only a hair firmer in the same bag/container as a standard 9 cell 95 ! canopies will be available in set sizes next season. sincerely, dan www.extremefly.com ps. thanks to quade the original posted pictures are now clearer (deinterlaced)... Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

quade, thanks..on your suggestion i played around in photoshop and found the deinterlace filter...wow big difference. i just edited the original post and put up the corrected pics... video: in about a week it should be posted. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

36 cells of perfection.

catfish and eric have been jumping the cobalt 25. opens great at terminal, hyper responsive. flies straight in twists. wing loading from 8:1 to 11:1 the video is a trip.... no plans for landing it any time soon. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

btw the 29g was measured at the jumpers chest in line with pivot point of the harness. as far as what you feel: it is all about force vs time, there are instances where higher peak shocks can be percieved as lower by the jumper, but it is the higher peaks that inflict injuries. do not view a high peak force at a short duration as harmless. the sabre that broke my neck was since jumped twice with a datalogger both times brieflly pegging 50g accelerometers off the scale. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

http://www.extremefly.com/aerospace/press/index.html# click on "slow motion with video". it is a little hard to see the data trace in compressed form... force from line stretch droped almost back to base line before increasing again for opening shock.sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

it was a military tandem drop... as i said the most pronounced example. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

ditto what chuck said. alpha's were the predecessor to the cobalt. and were the canopy of choice of many pro-swoopers before x-braced canopies, i.e. jim slaton, joey jones, cavin warren, etc... all ex alpha competitors... sincerely, dan atair aerodynamics www.extremefly.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

i am saying that i have video and sensor data logged showing a 29g's at line stretch with canopy completely in the bag. the peak width is 4 miliseconds. then a completely new peak of 6.4 g's when the canopy exits the bag and catches air (6.4 stage 1, droping to 3.5g's stage 2, width 5 seconds). sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

hook, something to consider that most people do not realize is that the first shock you feel when deploying a canopy is at line stretch before your canopy is out of the bag. this shock is caused by the pilot chute, not the canopy. if this defination is acceptable as line dump i have quite alot of proof as to it happening both video and datalogged jumps. as the opening sequence is a series of fast shocks a jumper is usually incorect when recounting what happened in the analysis of a jump. i.e. 10 different pilots, 10 jumps, same single canopy, and you will get 10+ different accounts of how it opened. probably none of which match the recorded datalogged sensor data. the most dramatic recorded instance of the above was 29g's at line stretch and then 6.4g peak once the canopy came out of the bag. improperly sized pilots especially at higer speeds can definately rock you harder than you canopy. sincerely, dan www.extremefly.com sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

i have jumped f111 canopies up to 2:1 (aka my reserve). flies great because as new f111 is comparable to zp. it is after continued use that f111 starts to increase in porosity and loose performance. best recommendation is do not buy a f111 main canopy. there is absoulutely no reason too. it is older technology and has no place as a primary construction material for main canopies any more. sincerely, dan www.extremefly.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

"You could have a rigger modify the slider" i hate this common fudge suggestion. it only comes into play if the canopy manufacturer will not stand behind their product or if someone lacks the common sense to contact the manufacturer in the first place. if you have a problem with a canopy, do not take it upon yourself to try and fix it. please contact the manufacturer. used canopies rarely have the stated # of jumps on them. it is probably out of trim, simply contact us and we will be glad to sort you out. sincerely, dan atair aerodynamics www.extremefly.com 718-923-1709 ph Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

a couple remarks can sometimes get blown out of proportion. out of our entire production i can count the total amount of cobalts with complaints of brisk openings on one hand. and stock response is "send back the canopy and it will be repaired or replaced". the cobalt design is quantitatively proven to be the softest opening and highest speed deployable ram air canopy ever created with almost 500 datalogged jumps. it has also set records for the highest glide ratio, highest wingload to produce positive lift, smallest 9 cell, highest speed ram air deployment and a few speed records at the 4.5# wing loading. in fact we are now under contract to develop cobalts for the us army. when i first started jumping i flew a popular begineers canopy. it snaped me so hard every time i had constant bruises on my legs and shoulders and even fractured my neck. the canopy company would do nothing to resolve the issue even though i purchased the canopy new from them. atair is a different animal i can assure you. comp cobalt vs crossfire 2: the comp cobalt is more efficient it generates more lift and it will continue to fly at slower speeds than the crossfire. at equal wing loadings speed is about the same but the cc can be loaded much heavier than the crossfire without loosing efficiency. at the pro level the cc will out swoop the crossfire. a cc was ranked 2nd place in speed and distance after last years para-performance tour. in a snap turn the recovery arc is shorter on the cc, but as the wingtips are so low drag best swoop performance is obtained with a slow initiated carve. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

it is not possible to use a skyray for a haho jump with cargo due to aerodynamics. military applications for a skyray involve removing the pilot alltogether and use a cargo pod in place, with guidance being by computer. skyray is currently looking into the possibility of using our flight computers for this application for the german military. as far as haho canopies, we have already demonstrated wings that can fly haho missions at free fly foward speeds up 80mph with glide ratios up to 4.6 more than double the current capability. at slower speeds we have demonstrated a glide ratio of 6.1. deployment speeds up to 190mph. paragliders have been base deployed by a group of italian and french designers for years. i know many of them well. i think they are nuts but what you do not realize is that the canopies are not packed. not in the sense of skydiving canopies. neuvres is the only other company demonstrating a paragliding deisgn wing that can be 'packed' and they have not crossed the bridge of problems for high speed deployments yet. the neuvers canopy is available through paraflite. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)