cobaltdan

the system is modular and can be rigged for payloads from 75 pounds to 2200 pounds. the set up in the pictures is for 75-500 pounds. the drogue shown is 25" in diameter and collapsable. the vector velocity of the cobalt wing is about 80mph and the glide ratio just over 4. with the reserve (round) put out touch down is 22fps. we build main canopies for extremely high wingloadings. tests have been in the range of 4 - 22 pounds per foot ! the goal is to get from altitude to just above target as fast as possible, then transition to a secondary for a soft touchdown. using a single wing for guidance and landing gives you poor performance for both requirements. btw, there are actually no off the shelf components what so ever. every component from the actuators to the inertial sensors to the parachutes were designed and built for this project. there were a few stock components in early development but no longer. i will post more picks when available. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

air dropped from 12,000' & 2 miles away Atair's autonomous guided parachutes are becoming increasingly accurate. Recent drops hit 9 meters and 27 meters from the target !!! These systems fly fully autonomous and are not remote controlled. upcoming tests will feature a fleet of systems in the same airspace, communicating under an rf p2p network and performing collision avoidance using swarm algorithms.

got to love double hearsay.... ----- anyway, I have no data on a cobalt jumped with a wingloading lighter than .72 . The canopy is definitely not prone to collapse at this wingloading although end cell closure will commonly happen. i can see the point of 'recommended minimum' having a nebulous meaning and i can have that changed. our web site and literature are in the process of being updated. sincerely, daniel preston atair www.atairaerospace.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

phree: i honestly think your reaction is based on preconceived misconceptions. i.e. the predecessor to the cobalt was the alpha (also called an impulse in europe). we manufactured them under private labeling for another company. the exact canopy was produced in 2 versions: one labeled alpha and the other labeled space. the difference: the alpha was marketed for use at high wingloadings to swoopers and the space at light wingloadings to beginers and intermediates. there was absolutely no difference in the design of the canopies beside the name. the same canopy that jim slaton was wining swoop competitions on befor x braced canopies , also had a flawless record across 6 years as a beginner and intermediate canopy. the canopy design has a wide loading range. the same people who balk at the suggestion to let a novice go near a cobalt at light wingloadings, have no problem with the space. the space and cobalt are the exact same planform, airfoil and even trim. (differences are in construction improvements). i am very surprised that your assesment of a cobalt at 1.2 was as of that of a stilletto. All experiences from our instrumented test jumps, test pilots, customers and my own personal experience puts the canopy in the exact same class as a sabre 2 or safire. the cobalt from the way tension is spread on the topskin can load heavier than a sabre/safire with less distortion, thus it extends nicely into wingloadings suitable for high experience pilots. some people are predujiced aginst the possibility tha a single design canopy can be suitable for beginners to experts by varying the wingloading. the cobalt btw is a tapered canopy: it has 5 square center cells with a a slight linear taper of the 2 outer most cells, both nose and tail. (without getting into a discussion on terminology I refer to any canopy with more than 1 size rib as elliptical). i would appreciate if the personal attacks are kept of line. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

flies bigger: a few bits of information: not all canopies are measures the same way & not all canopies are accurately placarded for their actual size. next, assuming a 2 canopies are in fact exactly the same size, the one with a higher efficiency, i.e. the one that produces more lift, better glide ratio will be said to flies bigger. when testing the canopies are to be jumped at equal wing loadings and trimed for best glide with brakes or rears. this removes the effect of different trims. how do you make a canopy that is more efficient? well the most addresable variable has been to reduce the spanwise distortion on the topskin of the airfoil. cross braced canopies reduce this distortion with additional loaded top skin seams, 9 cells like the cobalt reduce this distortion by tensioning the top skin and tapes (the comp cobalt also adds spanwise cross bracing to the nose only). by reducing the distortion it has the same practical effect as increasing wing area. hence why one wing can feel bigger than another of the same size. below is a good paste from some icarus info which is to the point: Spanwise Distortion When a ram air canopy inflates the canopy surfaces bulge between the ribs with the air pressure. This both effects the airfoil shape and draws the ribs closer together reducing the span of the canopy (and therefore the surface area). The more ribs we have, the less distortion and shrinkage occurs but bulk and line drag increase. On a conventional canopy not only do the cells bulge they also zigzag up and down between load bearing and non-load bearing ribs, further distorting the canopy and reducing its span/area even more. To quantify this, bulge distortion alone reduces a 9-cell canopy area by 9% and zig zag distortion by a further 4%. Say you are jumping a PIA measured 100sf canopy, you are actually flying around with 87sf of wing area above your head. With the EXTreme-FX you still get the bulge distortion (reduced slightly through 21 chambers instead of 18) but zig zag distortion is eliminated completely. On a 100sf EXTreme-FX, bulge distortion will reduce your area by only 8% and that is all. So you still have 92sf of wing above your head (compared to 87sf), 5% more lifting area and no extra drag (less in fact). Now that you have this concept in mind, consider this. Dynamic Distortion When you look at a photo of a conventional canopy flying on full drive the zig zag appearance is obvious, but look at a landing canopy photo and you will see the zig zag appears much more pronounced - IT IS ! During your flare your canopy is both, slowing down and pulling more load, which is reducing the supporting pressure within your canopy and pulling it further out of shape. In fact, during your flare your zig zag distortion will increase a further 7-9%, to around 12%. Add to this our bulge distortion and our 100sf canopy is now giving us 79sf of lifting area when we land. as to atairs quality control. we keep the highest tollerances on construction in the industry we are 2mm on all match marks and tension our tapes, and we absolutely never end seams off a tape. I sincerely challenge anyone prove we are second best to anyone. The issue of a handfull of canopies with hard openings out of the thousands produced is not attributed to manufacturing tollerances. and btw we have less than 1 canopy in 1000 being returned with any perceived issue. sincerely, daniel preston atair aerospace www.extremefly.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

the line set proportions are the same as cobalts. perhaps they just look short from the angle ofthe picture. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

yes a limited amount of demos are available. in addition we will be running a special price on onyx canopies for a limited time in liew of a more extensive demo program. details to be released soon. sincerely, daniel preston atairaerospace.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

the pink is an 85 and the aqua a 95 the important thing to look at in the pictures is the nose. the canopy has lower spanwise distortion than any other canopy, and what i am most proud of is that the nose is fully tensioned and stays formed even in high speed flight. it does not dimple in from the pressure of the on coming wind as happens on all other formed nose canopies. this makes for a higher efficiency wing. i am excited to see what all you swoopa-stars will do with them in competition this year. sincerely, dan www.atairaerospace.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

freefall deploying a wing for powered use has little sport application. it is intended for airdrop deployment in military applications. yes designing a high aspect ratio wing (paraglider) for freefall deployment is much more difficult than designing a low aspect wing. as to this wings performance it would be considered a dhv2. sincerely, dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

700 sq' projected area. elliptical canopies are more efficient and our perfrom squares in almost every way. dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

new pics attached. sincerely, daniel preston atair www.extremefly.com www.atairaerospace.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

This is just a fun post to show off some of the new technology we are developing at Atair. We have built what we believe is the the worlds elliptical wing. 37 cell , 60 ' + wing span, designed for 130 kt freefall deployment or ground launched deployments on a powered vehicle up to 2200 pounds suspended weight ! The wing is in testing now, and currently just amazing with dead stable performance and climb rates of 1200 fpm +. ok, who wants to pack it? daniel preston www.atairaerospace.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

fluorescent dye colors fade quicker, however this has nothing to do with damage to the fiber and structural integrity. i.e. whites contain a brightener, a fluorescent dye usually made from a class of chemicals called courmarins. they absorb a small percentage of the light falling on them and re-radiate light in another spectrum. this action tapers off over time and is independent of any light degradation of the fibers. dark color dyes protect the fibers from uv damage better than light colors, however in the context of skydiving canopies. get what ever color ytou fancy, and have fun. effects of the color are minimal. sincerely, dan atair Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

its the other way around: darker colors block more uv than lighter colors. sincerely, daniel preston atair Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

1.8 dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

there are several different manufacturers of zp, with each one having slightly different coatings and properties. i have noticed that gelvenor zp takes a temporary set after being packed for very long periods, but i have not seen it stick to itself. such packs deploy slow but just fine. i do think its best to be on the safe side and repack any long standing pack job before use... sincerely, daniel preston atair aerospace Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

we use this system: http://www.helmetcamera.com/ very rugged ! sincerely, daniel preston atair www.extremefly.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

fandango, i would be interested if you could you post some pictures to support/illustrate your comment on reduced nose airfoil distortion of the rage vs. some x brace designs. thanks, sincerely, dan preston atair Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

"forrest green" LOL I am leaning towards: #1: white top/bottom, red diamonds & ribs, blue X-braces 2#-white top/bottom, blue diamonds/ribs/xbraces 3#-turq top/bottom, blackberry X & diamonds, white ribs (my favorite) 4#-blackberry top/bottom, green diamonds & x, white ribs ???? one of the nicest color schemes i have seen in the air was an onyx we made in fuscia top/bottom with navy diamonds and X braces...but unfortunately i think people have block against pinkish colors... sincerely, dan atair Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

Hi everyone, I am pleased to announce that our ONYX 36 cell canopy is fully tested and ready for production. Flight characteristics are unmatched imo and the openings are distinctly 2 stage and beautiful ! The ONYX is the most complex skydiving canopy ever produced. 36 separate panels alone on the top skin. To keep prices down and delivery times quick we are going to build stock in a few set color patterns. (customs will still be available but at a higher price and lead time). I would like to request opinions for ONYX color schemes for us to build as stock. This has been the source of much debate at Atair and I thought I would just let the swoopa stars settle it. available sizes will be 65, 75, 85, 95, 105, 115 our design will be on both top and bottom skins and larger than the cobalts (looks incredible !). http://extremefly.com/aerodynamics/ordering/onyx-order-form.pdf keep color suggestions simple, i.e. topskin/bottom skin one color, all ribs one color, all cross braces one color, diamonds a contrasting color....? Thanks. Sincerely, Dan Preston Atair Aerodynamics www.extremefly.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

its a fun drive. you can drive via bled into austria and then down through italy. or go the other way straight to trieste, italy and then across. I like the southern route. Have fun, it is a beautiful spot !!!! sincerely, daniel preston atair aerodynamics www.extremefly.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

Atair Aerodynamics has used gelvenor zp for almost 9 years now. In our experience it is superior in specifications, packs better, and lasts longer. sincerely, daniel preston atair www.extremefly.com Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

Joe Bennett Skydive Monroe 528 Towler Monroe, GA 30655 678-234-1849 is approved by howard and by atair. Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

why cant? no reason, in fact the equipment already exist. So why dont you see logged data in the sport parachutist world. simply because 1: most manufacturers can not justify $30k for the test equipment and 2: most manufacturers would not want to share the recorded data. they find such a trend threatening, and prefer advertising spin to logged data. sincerely, daniel preston atair aerospace Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)

you cant camera geek with aerobatic exits if your are goint to static line. :) swoopa stars... dan Daniel Preston atairaerodynamics.com (sport) atairaerospace.com (military)