Parachute Design Fundamentals: How Ram-Air Wings Truly Fly

Ready to move past basic canopy knowledge?

This video provides a through breakdown of ram-air parachute flight principles, design variables, and anatomy. We strip away the marketing jargon and focus on the fundamental engineering that makes your wing fly, helping you make smarter choices about downsizing and performance.

In this video, you will learn:

-The Four Forces of Flight: A clear explanation of how gravity, thrust (from the forward tilt or trim angle), drag, and lift interact to keep you flying safely.

-The Ram-Air Principle: See how the canopy opens and why the design—where air rushes into the nose and is trapped by the sewn trailing edge—allows your wing to generate lift.

-Anatomy of a Wing: Learn the core terminology, including the differences between loaded and unloaded ribs, leading/trailing edges, stabilizers, and what cross-bracing means for performance and bulk.

-The Six Key Variables: We dive deep into John LeBlanc's six top variables that determine a canopy's characteristics: size, airfoil type, trim angle, aspect ratio, anhedral arc, and planform.

-Aspect Ratio Explained: Understand how the wingspan-to-chord relationship affects your canopy’s glide path, flare power, and opening characteristics (comparing low vs. high aspect ratios).

-Evaluating Performance: We give you the language to accurately discuss and evaluate canopies based on openings (snatch force, snivel, on-heading), in-air characteristics (glide path, control range), and landing capabilities (flare type, recovery arc).
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