Apco Aviation started manufacturing the Mayday in 1984, and since then put over 40,000 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.
Now we are proud to introduce the MAYDAY 28 UL, a new pioneering emergency parachute, specially designed for trikes – single and tandem.
Mayday 28 UL capable of safely handling loads of up to 400kg. Formally load tested by EN approved laboratory – Air Turquoise – confirming safe opening and descent with maximum load of 340 kg. Tests were carried out at opening speed of 40m./sec. as per standard EN requirements for emergency parachutes.
Each MayDay reserve parachute will be supplied in the new “Presentation gift bag” external package. This is a small aesthetic upgrade, a nice addition and gift for the pilot.
Material & Construction
Mayday 28 UL – Completely new emergency parachute but incorporating classical principles of APCO’s Mayday designs Equipped with special slider for reduced opening shock (unique in the world of paragliding)
The rest of the 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 of the Mayday parachutes are “Flat Circular Pulled Down Apex” in design.
The Mayday UL 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 2 x 2,400[kg] Webbing (UV Resistant) and is designed to fit quite a few trikes – e.g. Fly Products trike.
Bridle is a separate item – not supplied as standard with Mayday 28 UL and not included in the price. Needs to be ordered separately.
Custom made bridles can be ordered too.
Typical APCO construction incorporating standard parachute manufacturing and materials.
Mayday 28 UL
Apex lines
180kg nylon 6.6 line
Apex reinforcement tape
Mil T 5038-3 1" or similar
Gore reinforcement tap
Mil T 5038-3 5/8" or similar
Gore fabric
F111 or equal
Skirt reinforcement tape
Mil T 5038-3 1" or similar
V-Tabs
Mil W 4088-1 9/16" or similar
Suspension lines
180 kg. Nylon 6.6
Bridle webbing*
2 x 2,400 kg. UV Treated 1"
* Bridle is a separate item - not supplied as standard with Mayday 28 UL and not included in the price. Needs to be ordered separately.
* Bridle is a separate item – not supplied as standard with Mayday 28 UL and not included in the price. Needs to be ordered separately.
Packed Size vs. Volume:
The volume is measured by water displacement, and represents the smallest recommended packed volume, or the volume of the smallest recommended container to be used for the reserve. The specified volume is therefore far lower than the calculated volume that would be derived from the specified measurements.
The Packed Size measurement represents the measurements of the factory packed, but not compressed reserve, ie. the max dimension for each axis, and in its specified deployment bag, as shipped from apco.
Gallery
Comparison Tests
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?
