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 Reserve Parachutes
Prices From...
(£349.00 - £479.00)
APCO started manufacturing the Mayday in 1984, and since then put over 20 000 pieces
into service in the Paragliding and Hang Gliding markets. The Mayday has
hundreds of life saving deployments to its name, from beginners to world
champions..
 
The Mayday is availabe in four sizes, all available with a
short or long bridle, for paragliding or hang gliding. Apco also manufactures a
wide range of accessories for the Mayday
range. This includes front and side mounted external containers for paragliding
as well as external containers for hang gliding, split bridles, long bridle
extensions, UV-sleeves and much more.
Over the years the basic design and
construction techniques have remained the same - there is not much to
improve on a winning design and best seller as Mayday, even though it is
continuously perfected and polished, insuring that it is updated on even the
smallest details. All four of the of Mayday parachutes are "Flat
Circular Pulled Down Apex" in design. In 1998 the Mayday Bi was
released in a Pulled down Apex version, and soon after the Mayday 20 hit the
market.
The Mayday boasts superior construction and materials.
The canopy cloth is F111 "zero porosity" ripstop nylon. The skirt and apex skirt
is reinforced with 1'mil spec nylon tape, neatly wrapped and stiched with a
precision four-needle machine. The line attachments have V-Tab reinforcements,
sewn in place with a computerized machine, ensuring consistantly high quality
and strength.
The Bridle is made from 6000 pound Nylon Webbing (UV
Resistant).
The attachment loop is covered with a Teflon sheath, to
protect it from dangerous friction which may occur during deployment. Finally
the bridle has a line sheath attached
| Apco Mayday Specifications |
| Mayday |
Area |
Gores |
Weight |
Sink Rate |
Max Load |
Certification |
| 16 |
23m2 |
16 |
1.863kg |
6.3m/s (@Max Load) |
106kg |
DHV |
| 18 |
30m2 |
18 |
2.220kg |
5.4m/s |
120kg |
SHV |
| 20 |
37m2 |
20 |
2.690kg |
5.4m/s |
160kg |
AFNOR/CEN |
| Bi |
47m2 |
18 |
3.250kg |
5.4m/s |
200kg |
AFNOR |
| The Mayday has been compared for a long
time with some other rescue systems, but according to the findings of the
Italian Free Flight Federation (FIVL), it still comes out on top. A series of
tests, made from a fixed balloon in November 1997, attended amoungst others by
Swiss Federation expert Alain Zoller. Over 20 modern reserve systems were
tested. Many vital properties of an emergency parachute were assessed, such as
opening speed at high and low velocity, sink rate and stability during descent.
The Mayday 16 was the second smallest parachute on test and yet it consistently
performed at the top even in sink rate and stability. The only systems with a
better sink rate were; 31.7m2, 34.1m2 and
43.4m2, all at least 10m2 larger than the Mayday's
22.1m2 and in the case of the Trekking F22 at 43.3m2 nearly twice as big. The Mayday is a pulled down apex reserve parachute, which
possesses the one thing that wasn't tested - reliability. But over the years the
reliability of the system has been well proven. Anatoly Cohn recalls that the
system has saved hundreds of pilots around the world. At a time when trends and
gimmicks regularly come and go the Mayday has been saving pilots since 1984.
What other system can boast a fact like that? |
| Results of the FIVL Parachute Test |
| Manufacturer |
Type |
Opening time |
Opening time
(After 20m
Delay) |
Stability |
Sink Rate |
Flat Area |
| Apco |
Mayday 16 |
1.99 sec |
2.88 sec |
stable |
5-6m/s |
22.1m2 |
| Metamorfosi |
P16 |
2.12 sec |
3.18 sec |
semi stable |
5-6m/s |
22.1m2 |
| Metamorfosi |
P18** |
2.14 sec |
3.11 sec |
unstable |
6-7m/s |
28.5m2 |
| Freestyle |
PRS 2 |
2.29 sec |
- |
very stable |
4-5m/s |
31.7m2 |
| Flight Design |
MD 24plus |
2.35 sec |
3.03 sec |
unstable |
6-7m/s |
20.6m2 |
| Metamorfosi |
P 20** |
2.47 sec |
- |
very stable |
5-6m/s |
34.3m2 |
| STV-Comet |
RS 34 |
2.47 sec |
3.10 sec |
very stable |
5-6m/s |
36.4m2 |
| Fly-Ten |
CD 35 |
2.52 sec |
3.82 sec |
semi-stable |
7-8m/s |
30.5m2 |
| Freestyle |
PRS 3 |
2.53 sec |
3.22 sec |
stable |
4-5m/s |
34.1m2 |
| Ailes de K |
Astair 38 |
2.55 sec |
3.56 sec |
unstable |
6-7m/s |
34.5m2 |
| Paradelta |
PD 37 |
2.63 sec |
3.44 sec |
very stable |
5-6m/s |
31.8m2 |
| Charly |
Pro 140 |
2.67 sec |
3.06 sec |
semi-stable |
5-6m/s |
35.6m2 |
| Paratech |
PS 1XL |
2.74 sec |
4.77 sec |
very stable |
5-6m/s |
35.6m2 |
| Vonblon |
Proto** |
2.76 sec |
- |
very stable |
- |
- |
| ITV |
38 |
2.93 sec |
3.46 sec |
semi-stable |
6-7m/s |
35.1m2 |
| Parawing |
SC 24** |
3.43 sec |
4.42 sec |
stable |
7-8m/s |
38.7m2 |
| Pro Design |
XS 400 |
3.00 sec |
4.35 sec |
very stable |
5-6m/s |
34.9m2 |
| Trekking |
F 22 |
3.05 sec |
3.70 sec |
unstable |
4-5m/s |
43.4m2 |
| ** Modified, not available on the market. |
http://www.flyschool.co.uk/Reserve parachutes.htm |
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