Rocketry Planet

LUCERNE DRY LAKE, California USA — This week at the National Association of Rocketry's National Sport Launch (NSL), hosted by the Rocketry Organization of California (ROC), Fruity Chutes will be unveiling its exciting new line of chutes, the Iris Ultra.

These chutes are based on a design called "pulled down apex" where the crown of the chute is pulled down inside the chute by a center tether which results in a toriod shape — a chute shaped like a doughnut cut in half.

"We think this represents the most exciting product announcement in some time for consumer recovery systems," Gene Engelgau, owner of Fruity Chutes, said. "The new design has an inherently much higher Cd (coefficient of drag) that is approximately 40% higher than our already efficient elliptical chutes."

SLIDESHOW: Fruity Chutes' 72 inch prototype on an initial flight test, verifying that the Cd was indeed a measured value of 2.15.

Engelgau says that pulling down the apex of the parachute unloads the shroud lines and allows the parachute to flare out further, increasing the projected area. The canopy profile is actually flatter and the overall amount of fabric needed for the parachute is about 10% less than elliptical designs. After you add back the additional shroud lines and tether, you have a parachute that has the same or slightly less packing volume of their elliptical custom parachutes, but with the efficiency of a much larger parachute.

"What this means is the 60 inch Iris Ultra chute has a higher load capacity than the 72 inch elliptical," Engelgau explained. "The 72 inch Iris Ultra has a higher load capacity than the 84 inch elliptical and so on. So you can buy a size smaller chute for a given descent weight capacity." This is especially important for projects at the bleeding edge where recovery space is at an absolute premium.

"When we first entered the market 4 years ago, Rocket Rage was still selling his line of Quantum chutes based on a similar design," Engelgau said. "I had several friends with these and they loved the chutes. Folks would quote crazy high values for these chutes' Cd and I just had to see for myself how good this design really was—I was a bit skeptical I have to admit. Since we thought about making this design for some time, in February it was finally time to act. Over a weekend we knocked out a 72 inch prototype (pictured) and did an initial flight test, verifying that the Cd was indeed very high—with a measured value of 2.15!"

Additional testing in May confirmed even higher values with one flight as high as 2.5. "I think the 2.5 value was as a result of some thermal activity," Engelgau added. "But to be safe for the initial roll-out of the product we are assuming a Cd of 2.2 which we feel is conservative and guarantees a given performance level."

This week at the NSL launch, Fruity Chutes will have several of the new Iris Ultra chutes to show and demonstrate. "I have several cool demo flights planned to show off this stunning new design," Engelgau said.

Besides selling their standard chutes and other recovery gear at the launch, Gene will be collecting the names and contact info for folks who want to be first in line to get the new chutes.

"We have a limited capacity to roll the new chute out," Engelgau added. "Without really marketing this, I have a fairly long list of folks who want these. We will be working one-on-one to get these into the hands of fliers with the greatest need. Fruity Chutes is looking for projects that are high performance, have limited space availability and can really benefit from this new design. We also want to help folks who want a premium chute for their L3 projects and these chutes would be ideal."

Like the Custom chutes, Iris Ultra chutes are made to order—buyers will have their choice of colors design and other options. The chutes are tailored with space-saving in mind to keep the packing volume as small as possible. On average, the new chutes should be about 5% smaller in packing volume than current elliptical chutes of the same diameter.

Below is a preliminary price list for the chutes*:

"I don't have Iris Ultra on the website yet as we are rolling the new chutes out carefully," Engelgau said. "We don't want an onslaught of orders and to then disappoint folks by being late with their delivery." Lead time is 4-6 weeks ARO to ship date depending on the size so plan accordingly. To order, contact Gene directly at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

About Fruity Chutes:

Fruity Chutes is a manufacture of consumer aerospace recovery products including high quality hand made parachutes that range in size from 12" to 16'. Fruity Chutes also supplies the rest of the gear needed for successful recovery including Nomex® protectors, Kevlar® harnesses, shock cords, altimeters, electronics and more.

Contact Information:

Gene Engelgau: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.fruitychutes.com/

KEVLAR® and NOMEX® are registered trademarks of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in the United States.

Reader comments:

#1 Re: Article: Fruity Chutes announces Iris Ultra Chutes at NSL 2011

Gene I am glad to see the progress on rolling out the new chutes. I know you are going to be very busy!
Heath

heathxz on 06-07-2011 10:14 AM

#2 Re: Article: Fruity Chutes announces Iris Ultra Chutes at NSL 2011

Figures - a new chute comes along that can be an improvement on the ones I already have... and I can't afford to buy one!

Len_Lekx on 06-10-2011 11:24 AM

#3 Re: Article: Fruity Chutes announces Iris Ultra Chutes at NSL 2011

Hi Gene,

once I get back to working on my L3 I might well be coming your way.

I do have a question though. With this design, and a second set of risers, how do you pack it? I can see you are using a deployment bag and pilot in the picture, but I am curious how it actually goes into the bag without tangling upon exit?

Also, I might have to contact you about this and your other chutes so I can enter them into the Rocksim database.

Mark Koelsch

markkoelsch on 06-10-2011 05:37 PM

#4 Re: Article: Fruity Chutes announces Iris Ultra Chutes at NSL 2011

Hi Mark, you can use a d-bag or not, no problem. In the photo I do use a d-bag since this is a tether dual deploy and I keep the chute in the bag while under drogue. But otherwise just pack pretty much as a normal chute. The gores are a little harder to organize since the crown is pulled down making the chute seem like a mushroom But once the canopy is organized nicely then you z-fold and wrap it up.

For details see How to pack a parachute: http://fruitychutes.com/how_to_pack_a_parachute.htm

To pack our d-bag see: http://fruitychutes.com/ho...ack_a_deployment_bag.htm

eengelgau on 06-13-2011 11:54 PM

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