++ 10.12.2007
Three new reserve parachutes, three manufacturers = cooperation!

Three new reserve parachutes, three manufacturers = cooperation!

ADVANCE, Thun AG (Thun/CH), Swing Flugsportgeräte GmbH (Landsberied) and U-Turn GmbH (Villingen-Schwenningen) have formed a strategic development partnership in the field of reserve parachutes. These three companies are combining their project resources, so as to be able to bring new and topical technology on to the market at attractive prices as a result of intensive research and development.

The development of new materials for reserve parachutes, which will be led by U-Turn GmbH, is at the forefront of this cooperation. As a result a new and original fabric, PARATEX RS TX40, is showing superior qualities for use as reserve parachute cloth after intensive development work. This fabric of only 40g/sq.m is specially formulated to meet the specific demands of a reserve parachute by combining just the right relationship between warp density and weft. Paratex RS uses both single and double polyamid threads, with the double threads cleverly worked into the weave.

“The financial load was simply too high for a single firm and the risk is not acceptable”, explained Günther Wörl, Swing’s manager. “Besides, there has already been cooperation in research and development in other areas for a long time as a normal course of events.” We are pooling our resources so that we can present our customers with the best solutions,” added ADVANCE director Rolf Zeltner.

Cooperation also makes it possible to produce innovations that can be developed mutually. “It’s a question of scale effect,” explained U-Turn head Thomas Vosseler. “PARATEX RS 40TX, for example, only comes at an attractive price if you order 200,000 metres of it.” This would represent too much of your own capital tied up or call for too much borrowing if a single company had to carry all the cost of development and testing on its own,” said Vosseler.

The new reserves called PROTECT Nano, PROTECT II RIS L and PROTECT II RIS XL will now be marketed by all three companies, under the same names. “New and innovative technology make our sport safer and more appealing, but, at the same time, we must try to keep it affordable,” agreed all three manufacturers.

From December 2007 the first reserves will be available through Advance, Swing und U-Turn.