It is important to know the history of parachute design in order to move forward technologically. The old saying, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Is especially applicable to parachute design and manufacture, where a relatively small, esoteric group of individuals who are loosely controlled and turn on a dime, churn out designs that some eager young test jumper is willing to try. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The civilian led sport parachute market is responsible for just about all the newest innovations in the industry over the past 45 years. But it should be kept in mind that a new design generally takes about ten years’ wringing out in the field to discover it’s failure modes and make it safe and reliable.