The History of High Energy Sport's Quantum Series Parachutes

By Carol Yastrov

The way it was

In the early days of hang gliding, when getting a pilot to fly with a parachute was like pulling teeth, parachute manufacturers compromised by building the smallest, lightest weight, cheapest parachutes that would probably save a life.

They were called, in the parachute industry, "meat savers" because they were designed only to "save the meat" without worrying about the pilot breaking bones.

As emergency use of "meat savers" proved valuable and indeed saved lives, hang glider pilots began to accept the emergency parachute as part of his/her (but mostly his) flying gear.

In the late1970's, hang glider designs became more efficient and pilots "pushed the envelope" attempting "never-been-done" aerobatic maneuvers, flying in challenging weather conditions, and reducing drag any way they could. The attitude of "I have a parachute so I can do anything in my hang glider" was not uncommon.

During this time hang glider pilots experienced a series of problems with their parachute systems. Bridles were wrapping around tumbling gliders briefly inflating at the top of the rotation, then collapsing as the tumble continued. Tubular webbing bridles were cut by the wreckage leaving the pilots survival dependent on luck. Newly developed ballistic deployment systems had extraction force, handle, heat and entanglement issues.

Spinning hang gliders had a rate of descent the same as or slower than the falling parachute there by never loading the parachute so it could open. Spinning hang gliders under parachute were twisting up the parachute bridle and lines thus deflating the parachute as it approached the ground. Short bridles on parachutes used with larger span hang gliders were not opening because of entanglement or lack of clear air.

Side wire failures folded up gliders like butterfly wings hurdling the pilot towards the ground.

By the early 80's it was clear that hang glider pilots needed parachutes better suited to slow speed deployments (below 60mph) with very quick opening. Designer Jim Handbury had been working with a promising design called the PDA (Pulled Down Apex).

After Jim's death, several manufacturers continued work on PDA designs. The goal was to make the smallest, lightest parachute that could bring a pilot and wing down at rates of descent similar to the common flat circular designs. During this time some PDA's would oscillate all the way to the ground. Very heavy pilots flew with 16 gore (extremely small) parachutes. There were reports of small PDA's with heavy loads failing due to poor construction.

Hang Glider failure modes have shifted according to the particular designs of the era. By the late 1980's it was clear that Hang Glider Emergency Reserve parachutes would need to be strong to withstand opening at very high velocity, stable in turbulent conditions, open with minimal altitude loss for very low deployments and open reliably even with a slowly falling pilot and hang glider.

The design challenge
By the early 1990's High Energy Sports had worked with a number of new designs, none of which met rigid design requirements. Betty Pfeiffer, owner of High Energy Sports, contacted Bill Gargano to work on the design. He politely refused.

The day of reckoning came at a PIA (Parachute Industry Association) International Rigger's Symposium where Bill was giving a series of lectures on parachute design. With Betty in the front row publicly hammering him with questions, Bill had no choice but to succumb.

The Birth of a new generation
The following week Bill sent Betty a design to review. Betty wasted no time, immediately called Bill and insisted the parachute was "not good enough" for her beloved hang glider pilots. She knew he could "do better".

Working with very specific design requirements, Bill would have to accomplish performance never before realized. To do this he wanted to create a lifting force to bring down the pilot and hang glider as slowly as possible. He wanted the parachute to be aerodynamically efficient. Betty required he design the best parachute he could no matter how labor intensive it was to build.

Within a month the new parachute was ready for testing.

The first series of tests went off without a hitch. Test jumper Paul Thompson was fitted with an elaborate instrument pack that gave readings for temperature, pressure, humidity, and altitude 16 times per second. Camera woman Nancy Blank, shot videos of the reserve parachute from her ram air sport chute as she followed Paul out of the airplane.

There were videos and pictures taken from the ground and still pictures taken by Paul from the air.

It was clear that the new parachute was remarkable when it took Nancy several tries to time her exit from the airplane so she could get footage of the top of the new chute.

After the first day of testing Bill plugged the data recorder into the computer. His first comment was "Betty, don't get too excited this can't be right". The instrument package was sent out to be re calibrated and the tests were repeated. This time Bill was excited. The parachute had surpassed all expectations. It was serendipity and the Quantum Series Parachute was born.

More Testing
Several test days followed with more live jumps, and many high-speed tests using a torso dummy in a sky diving harness pushed out of an airplane travelling at various weights and speeds. Bill and Betty wanted to know everything they could about this chute before it went to market.

By the end of 1993 the tests were complete and the Quantum Series was introduced in two sizes. The QS330 was geared towards average weight pilots and the QS 550 for tandem flights. After seeing many pilots with parachutes meant for considerably smaller people, Betty decided that the QS330 would be the smallest parachute High Energy Sports would produce. Shortly thereafter she discontinued producing the old inferior style HES parachutes exclaiming "How could I, in good conscience, continue building life saving parachutes that were less than the best?"

By the following year the QS 440 was introduced for the heavier pilots.

Quantum Series Hang Gliding reserve and beyond

Shortly after the Quantum Series parachutes were developed the Smokejumpers out of Missoula Montana were looking for a new parachute. Bill Gargano did some small design modifications to allow steering capabilities and heavier loads. The FS-14 "smoked" the competition in opening reliability, stability, directional control and rate of decent. The smokejumpers were sold.

When the U.S. Army Special Forces 10th Mountain Divison got wind that the smokejumpers had this tremendous parachute, they wanted to take a better look. After several test series, including several Generals jumping the parachute, the Army was convinced this parachute was the way to go. With the onset of the war in Afganistan military orders increased. Currently there are 3000 units in use and more ordered for delivery to our Military and it all started with Hang Gliding.

Special thanks to Betty Pfeiffer of High Energy Sports, Inc, and Bill Gargano of Quantum Parachutes LLC for making hang gliding and paragliding safety a top priority....Carol Yastrov.