The Story of Big Air Sportz

Founded by Brian Germain in 1998, Big Air Sportz is a company built upon a single principle: “Believe in what you do, and it will succeed”. From our parachutes to our clothing, every item that displays the Big Air logo has meaning and integrity. While many companies stand for nothing but the almighty dollar, we strive to be more.

We don’t just sell parachutes, we sell our ideals. Our canopies are designed, tested and constructed to the very highest standards conceivable. We do this not to dodge liability, but because we honestly care about the people who use them. We too, are pilots, and we want nothing but the best tools innovation can provide.

We believe in the Airlock, not because it is some gimmick that helps us sell our canopies, but because we believe airlock canopies to be safer. From the inception of our company, parachute stability has been the central focus of our work. Our pride as a company comes from our conviction that we are doing the right thing; we are improving the safety of the sport.

Brief Biography of Brian Germain
And the Birth of Big Air Sportz.
Brian made his first skydive in 1986 at the age of eighteen. He quickly attained all the available ratings, and after graduating from the University of Vermont, spent several years traveling the US working as an instructor. He eventually opened Vermont Skydiving Adventures in Swanton, Vermont at the age of twenty-five. Working out of a small office at this small airport on the Canadian border, Brian taught hundreds of students in his unusual, and caring manner.

Brian’s career as a drop-zone owner was cut short in 1993, however, by a tragic accident that occurred in the rolling hills of Milton, Vermont. While paragliding on a windy March day, Brian’s paraglider collapsed, sending him hurling to the earth from over a hundred feet in the air. Due to the extent of his injuries, Brian was confined to a wheelchair for months, and spent the balance 1993 on the ground.

Downtime can be fertile ground for new ideas and new directions. Brian went to work. Fumbling though old scribblings, Brian found his idea of the valve for ram-air canopies. Working in the dimly lit basement of his friend Dave Smith, Brian constructed the first prototypes. Despite his debilitated condition, Brian managed to get to the highest fire escape at the University of Vermont and drop the miniature canopies over and over again. The Airlock was born.

The Air Time Years
By the fall of 1993, Brian was healed enough to move to Zephyrhills, Florida for the winter, carrying with him the latest prototype design of an airlocked elliptical nine-cell canopy. During the Thanksgiving feast thrown by Air Time Designs, Brian took the company’s President Tony Uragallo outside and showed him the design. Tony loved the idea, and hired Brian on as the Head of Research and Development, and Brian quickly Patented his idea.

Task number one: Learn how to build a parachute. The next several weeks were filled with sewing and unpicking, slightly more sewing, but just barely. Eventually the first Jedei prototype was completed, all blackberry. It was named the “Grape Ape”. It flew beautifully, and the airlock age began... everybody wanted one.

No canopy has ever had such a following as the Jedei, before or since. In fact, after Air Time closed its doors, the Jedei became the first canopy to actually appreciate in value. People hoarded them in closets, some still do. The Jedei became a legend.

During the testing of the new designs, Brian and Tony began playing with sit flying. Wearing Tony’s latest invention, the sit-suit, they helped develop and refine a new dimension in freefall: Vertical Skydiving. Brian and Tony competed in several ESPN X-trials competitions, and won a number of medals together. Brian went on with Robert Mahaffey and Adrian Nicholas to win the coveted gold medal in Monterrey Bay, California. Brian traveled the country teaching this new art, and authored the instructional text: Vertical Journey, as well a video of the same title. The glory days were well under-way.

Small companies often suffer from growing pains and unfortunately, and Air Time Designs did not survive its adolescence. Fortunately, Performance Designs saw the value in the efforts made by Brian and Tony, and purchased the company and all its assets. So as to keep the dream alive, and continue the line of airlock canopies, PD attained a license to manufacture and market airlock canopies.

The airlock idea then safe in the hands of the designers at PD, Brian returned to school for a graduate degree. But the urge to create remained; the job wasn’t finished yet.

Brian purchased industrial sewing machines, an automated fabric cutting system, an old Cessna 172, and a house on a runway for private testing. The Colorado foothills proved to be a perfect testing ground for the stability of new designs. The strong, turbulent winds of the region allowed for regular kite tests of novel ideas, as well as high altitude opening and flight characteristics. Despite the location’s many advantages for research, Boulder, Colorado turned out to be a less then desirable spot for marketing purposes. Without new orders, a company cannot survive. So Big Air Sportz was loaded into a big truck and carted all the way back to Zephyrhills, home of the Jedei.

As word spread of the reformation of the Jedei Project, the orders began pouring in despite the complete lack of advertising. In spite of the tireless efforts of several former employees of Air Time Designs, Big Air got swamped. The delivery time escalated to 25 weeks, and the solution became apparent: We need help!

Despite the misconception of animosity between the companies, the relationship between “Luke” and “Darth Vader” has always been amenable. Both PD and Big Air were determined to make something work between the two companies. Legal and technical hurtles were cleared, and eventually the canopies started rolling off the line. A shortcoming was once again turned into a strength. The industry’s leader in quality and reputation now manufactures the revolutionary Big Air Sportz canopies: a perfect alliance.

This change in company structure has many advantages. The first and most obvious was the confidence of the consumer. PD’s reputation for manufacturing top quality products is unparalleled. Customers that were wary about a new company were soothed by the quality assured by the PD assembly line, with its multiple layers of checks and its long history. The second advantage was the liberation of time in Brian’s schedule for designing new canopies. Innovation is the heart of Big Air Sportz, and now we have more time to indulge in our art.

What’s Next?
This is the question asked at Big Air Sportz every day. This question embodies everything we are as a company. The beauty is, “What’s next?” has a new answer every day. The important thing is that we are thinking about it constantly. More importantly, we’re doing something to make these dreams happen.

Research continues on many products here at Big Air Sportz. From high performance kites to extreme canopies for the next generation of skydivers, we’re always working. Creation is a continual process that is, in fact, a way of life. We know you want more, and we are working feverishly to bring the future to you.

Current Research Projects:

• Sensei: cross-braced elliptical ultra-performance canopy
• Samurai X-18
• Civilian Space Program: "Project R.U.S.H." (go to www.rocketguy.com for more information)
• Psychology Research: Fear and Adventure Activities

Who are our customers?
Big Air Sportz is the company for people who want a little more, and won’t settle for anything less. They are searchers, looking for a better way, who believe in their hearts, as we do, that the future is wide open. They seek technology, yes, but more importantly they seek experience, incredible, exhilarating experience. They seek Big Air.

Within this in mind, however, airlocks aren’t just for hotshots anymore. The first three canopy designs to use the airlock system were high performance parachutes. This somehow gave the impression that airlock canopies fly faster, and dive harder. The release of the Lotus proved beyond any doubt that this is simply not true, and has opened the airlock advantage to new skydivers as well. In fact, we’re finding, that the objective mind of the new skydiver is often more likely to understand and appreciate the value of having one-way valves in their parachutes. Old habits die hard...

Our canopies are flying over every continent on earth. From “A” license holders to World Champions like Mike Swanson and Colon Berry, Big Air is bringing skydivers back to earth safely, and in style.

Our customers have a passion for ram-air wing design, and talk tirelessly about new ideas around campfires and in skydiver bars. They are thinkers. We’re thrilled to have attracted this kind of customer because this is exactly who we are. We love parachutes. We love talking about wings and airplanes and wind and anything that flies.

Is Big Air Sportz a “cult” company? Perhaps, but no more than skydiving is a cult sport. It is a loose organization of like-minded individuals that swear allegiance to a common goal. It’s a pretty amusing stigma to be saddled with, but if the shoe fits… Don’t forget, Mercedes is a cult company too.

At BIG AIR we have a very simple philosophy on the longevity of our product: "We get customers by building the best parachutes in the world, not by having the old ones wear out."

Precise Computer Cutting
All of BIG AIR's canopies are designed and cut out by an advanced computer system. This affords us the ability to design more complicated and exact panel shapes, and cut them out with perfect consistency. This makes every one of BIG AIR’s canopies the same as the last. You should expect nothing less from a company like BIG AIR...

Brian Germain's Famous Brother Andy

www.AndyGlockenspiel.com