{"id":20460,"date":"2019-09-17T14:51:09","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T14:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=20460"},"modified":"2019-09-25T14:29:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T14:29:40","slug":"the-mutant%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/the-mutant%ef%bb%bf\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mutant\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What\nis the Mutant?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Mutant is a harness\/container designed for canopy\npiloting, based on paragliding harnesses. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the ‘Mutant’?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Because it behaves as a regular skydiving\nharness\/container in freefall but, when the owner is under canopy, he\/she can\nmake the harness \u2018mutate\u2019 into a different, open configuration, which assists\nthe jumper in flying the canopy to the max.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Vincent Reffet showing the system \u2013 pull this after deployment and the harness mutates to a more horizontal position<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Who\nis responsible for the Mutant?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Vincent Reffet, the famous Frenchman of the Soul Flyers and also a paragliding pilot, worked with \u2018Blikkies\u2019 (Daniel Blignaut) of UPT to design this revolutionary skydiving system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mutant is now being developed by UPT and brought to skydivers by a collaboration between UPT and Sun Path.  This is the first time direct competitors have worked together at this level in the sport parachuting market (although UPT and Sun Path already work together in CPS, creating parachute systems for the military). UPT has spearheaded the ongoing development of the system while Sun Path is supporting the PD Factory team and Flight-1 to fine-tune the product and develop a course curriculum to teach the correct use of the Mutant, so all of the training courses for qualified Mutant candidates will be run through Flight-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How\nsuccessful is the Mutant for a Canopy Pilot?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

All PD Factory Team members received their Mutant systems earlier this year and begun training on them for competition. They have set records already, with varying amounts of training\u2026
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records and Competition<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
  • Armando Fattoruso broke the Italian record for speed with 2.184 secs. He also won 1st place at Italian Nationals. <\/li>
  • Mario Fattoruso set a personal best in speed of 2.28 on the harness after only 30 training jumps during the Skydive Flygang Open.<\/li>
  • Justin Price won 1st place in Speed at ICPC Open 2019. This was his first time competing with the mutant harness.<\/li>
  • Travis Mills got 2.11 sec at FLCPA #4 for Speed after only 65 training jumps.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Mutant Video \u2013 Pablo Hernandez<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Pablo Hernandez put together this video about the Mutant: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pdfactoryteam\/videos\/327710791473859\/?v=327710791473859\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    What does JP think? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Skydive Mag caught up with Justin Price to discuss his experience so far on the Mutant harness\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Justin Price<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    How different is the configuration from a standard harness ?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    “When I first started taking my chest strap off and using a belly band on a standard harness I felt apprehensive. Thinking ‘OMG, I might fall out’. With time and training it is not that big of a deal to me and lots of people are using belly bands while being taught the dangers of it. The mutant is fundamentally the same thing; you should just clean your cables regularly. In fact I think the whole sport should clean their cutaway cables more often.|”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How does the opening feel? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Openings? How was my pack job? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How do you feel in the harness in canopy flight?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s funny, after the canopy is open you feel as if you are falling backwards. The main 3-ring release system is at your hips while a second set of 3-rings is by your shoulders. The top 3-rings have a small portion of webbing allowing a clean line to the lower set. This makes you sit behind the risers slightly. Now, going back to my Javelin Odyssey the tables are turned again and I feel like I\u2019m falling forward. Silly!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How do you\ntransition into flight mode? – supine?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    At the beginning it was like a trust fall.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n


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