BRING THE SKYDIVE EXPERIENCE TO YOUR VENUE
Turn unused, high-foot-traffic floor space into high-revenue, immersive parachuting experiences.
Trusted by the French Parachute Federation. Proven at the Paris Olympics.
Ronnie Hughan is a 44-year veteran parachutist and the founder of CanopyPilot.io. He brings real-world training, a world record, decades of experience in IT project management, and immersive experience design to clients across the military, entertainment, and civilian sectors.
From the Olympic Village in Paris to high-end resorts in India, Ronnie helps organizations elevate their visitor and customer satisfaction using VR parachute flight simulation.
Increase Your Average Revenue Per Square Foot With A Canopypilot Virtual Reality Station
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Monetize 48 sq ft of unused, high-traffic space |
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Weatherproof your outdoor-focused attractions |
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Deliver a high-revenue, memorable experience |
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Your enthused visitors will want to share on social media
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Fully integrates with non-complex, straightforward onsite hardware |
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Reduce reliance on ground-to-air radio |
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Improve student judgment and spatial awareness |
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Help your students gain experience before they jump |
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View Your Dropzone (DZ) in VR to maximize effectiveness
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Customize wind conditions |
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We have designed our training software around the “brief-jump-debrief” format. As an instructor, you have tools available to brief and debrief your students before they enter VR. |
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We can provide the ability so you, as an instructor, can produce a “record of learning”, akin to an electronic logbook entry. |
HOW IT WORKS
1. Discovery Call
We get to know your space, your audience, and operational goals.
2. VR Readiness Assessment
We evaluate logistics, hazards, and equipment needs.
3. Statement Of Work
We assist in developing a detailed SOW document that outlines required deliverables, costs, timelines, and measures for evaluating results. Upon signing, this document becomes a binding contract.
4. Change Management
Change is a fact of business life; it happens. After the signature, any proposed changes are assessed for impact on budget, scope, and schedule, and relevant stakeholders are asked to agree on the degree of this impact.
5. Implementation Support
We help with gear sourcing, team training, and complete setup. You can use your existing IT supplier or ours (Dell USA).
6. Ongoing Optimization
We offer support for future upgrades, training refreshers, or expanded use cases.
TESTIMONIALS
“100% of the students surveyed recommend the use of VR to all future student skydivers.”
“Navigation is the part of the skydive that so many new canopy pilots struggle with. This amazing simulator helps so magnificently with this very aspect of parachute flight, with realistic physics and great visuals.”
“As a skydiving center operator of 42 years, utilizing VR for canopy flight training has been game changing. The incredible realism of the VR allows the students to make the same mistakes they used to make on their beginning solo jumps but learn from those mistakes without getting injured!”
FAQS
What is Virtual Reality?
The definition of virtual reality comes, naturally, from the definitions for both ‘virtual’ and ‘reality’. The definition of ‘virtual’ is near and reality is what we experience as human beings. So the term ‘virtual reality’ basically means ‘near-reality’. This could, of course, mean anything but it usually refers to a specific type of reality emulation.
We know the world through our senses and perception systems. In school we all learned that we have five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. These are however only our most obvious sense organs. The truth is that humans have many more senses than this, such as a sense of balance for example. These other sensory inputs, plus some special processing of sensory information by our brains ensures that we have a rich flow of information from the environment to our minds.
Everything that we know about our reality comes by way of our senses. In other words, our entire experience of reality is simply a combination of sensory information and our brains sense-making mechanisms for that information. It stands to reason then, that if you can present your senses with made-up information, your perception of reality would also change in response to it. You would be presented with a version of reality that isn’t really there, but from your perspective it would be perceived as real. Something we would refer to as a virtual reality.
So, in summary, virtual reality entails presenting our senses with a computer generated virtual environment that we can explore in some fashion.
Can children under the age of 18 use Canopy Pilot?
Yes, but only if they have provided their parent or guardian’s written consent to the operator of the Canopy Pilot unit.
How do you reflect our dropzone and its local environment? We want something which can be genuinely used as a safety and training tool for our students rather than just a fun experience.
You provide us your Latitude and Longitude of the center of your landing area, you can use Google Maps to get the Latitude/Longitude. We will produce a geographic representation of your dropzone in virtual reality. If you have more than one landing area, the average/middle of all landing areas is ok. Please also provide your logo, and a photo that is fun-representative of your dropzone, such as the hangar, manifest, or packing area. We will use this as the splash page background whenever one of your users selects your dropzone. We will work with you further to change the images as needed so that your dropzone is best represented.
Are students just supposed to judge height and approach and landing flare visually or are you considering building in an altitude function?
Canopy Pilot currently works best as a canopy navigation tool not a canopy landing tool. From 3000 feet down to 100 feet Canopy Pilot helps the student to understand what information they need to understand and when to make wise decisions under canopy. Students can at all times have a fully functioning digital altimeter.
But of course we also want them to get realistic practice at landing!
On final approach we like to get our students to practice gauging their height and flare altitude using their peripheral vision (just like on a real jump).
The basic dropzone we provide is two-dimensional, and the buildings and trees do not appear to have any height when the user is close to the ground. We can add relevant buildings and trees to help a student on final practice comprehend their height below 100 feet. This extra work to make your drop zone 3D is an added option and we will need to work closer with you to make sure we have produced what you need.
We are working on some enhancements to provide what we call a “landing coach”…we will keep you updated.
Does this require Internet connection at all or is it completely stand alone once installed? We are located in a rural area with very limited speed connectivity.
Yes Canopy Pilot requires the Internet to work. It uses little bandwidth (by design). We offer a one month trial so you can confirm for yourself.
What model and size of canopy is the current platform working with?
The current canopy used in Canopy Pilot is our calculation of the performance of a standard 160 sq foot reserve parachute.
Is the Oculus headset hardwired in or Wifi?
The Oculus and Vive headsets we have developed have cables. We are aware wireless versions are available for an extra cost.
What are the parameters for editing wind speed and direction?
A user can choose any direction from which the wind will be blowing on the ground and at 3000 feet. They can also choose the strength of wind from between 0 and 25 knots.
If we were to purchase your product can we get locations other than our own DZ as choices for ‘flying’ in?
Most definitely yes! Currently we have several drop zones including Skydive Arizona, Skydive Deland, Skydive The Ranch, Pullout (Italy), Startskydiving, Over the Poconos and many more…
And for no charge we will make available other drop zones to you when they become available.
We also have what we call fantasy drop zones. Currently we have Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, Kjerag fiord in Norway and The Statue of Liberty. We will make available other fantasy drop zones to you as they become available.
If there are specific drop zones you do NOT want, we will also remove those.
How does the Canopy Pilot program work for a single user or multiple users?
You can jump solo or jump with friends (JWF – Multiplayer). A user starts Canopy Pilot like any other Windows application to configure/start a jump (solo or JWF). Select the dropzone, canopy type, wind conditions and starting altitude.
If doing a JWF jump, as jumpmaster they also have the ability to select opening/starting orientation (circle, line or side by side).
The Jumpmaster can then invite online friends with Canopy Pilot who then join the jump. Once they join the jump, before and during the jump everyone can talk to each other.
How does Canopy Pilot work for an Instructor / Student?
Canopy Pilot works best at a drop zone to compliment existing tools and techniques. After completing the first jump course, students then have the ability to use Canopy Pilot:
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In “study” mode which is while they are flying in VR, the Instructor can make suggestions
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In “test” mode where the student experiences canopy flight and comprehends the decisions needed without verbal advice. This replicates the possibility of their radio not working.
We have found a package of five pre-defined jumps works efficiently to consistently produce canopy confident students. From easiest to hardest these jumps portray the drop zones landmarks, wind conditions, common landing patterns and problems presented to students.
After the five jumps a student now has the experience of five parachutes flights over the drop zone into which they will jump.
If doing a JWF jump, as jumpmaster they also have the ability to select opening/starting orientation (circle, line or side by side).
The Jumpmaster can then invite online friends with Canopy Pilot who then join the jump. Once they join the jump, before and during the jump everyone can talk to each other.
I used the game controller console to initiate turns and flare etc – how does the camera work from arm movement / recognition instead? Is there any delay? Are the hardware elements connected traditionally via cables or by Wifi?
The X-box controller is the simplest way for a user using just their thumbs to steer their parachute. There are many other joystick like controllers available. It plugs into the PC via a cable, is reliable and low maintenance.
The option is available for a student to sit in or lean against a harness then grasp steering toggles. Canopy Pilot then determines if their hands are in the toggles. It interprets the users arm movements and reacts to give the user the impression they are steering their parachute. Contact us for details.
Can the user choose to fly different canopies?
Giving our users the ability to choose from different canopies is on our product roadmap. Currently we provide two choices: a “student” or a “pro” canopy. We can replicate the performance of an actual parachute jump recorded by Flysight (www.flysight.ca). Then you can watch the jump in VR.. So we will keep you fully informed, you can sign up to be one of our testers here.
How easy are the goggles to sterilize between customers?
The Oculus and Vive headsets allow for easy removal and cleaning of that foam rubber part which touches a users face.
There are also available simple sanitary towels made to fit the Oculus goggles. Lysol or Clorox wipes can also be used to wipe down the VR Headset before use.
Does the program always start the student flying at the same altitude?
The Instructor has the ability to select between 5000 and 3000 feet (1524 to 914 meters) as the starting altitude.
Can canopy skills such as braked turns be performed?
Yes. We have spent time to develop an algorithm which calculates parachute performance (patent pending). We feel it provides a realistic representation of a canopy in braked turns.
CASE STUDY
Paris Olympics Activation: How VR Skydiving Became a Top Attraction
READY TO ELEVATE YOUR VENUE?
Book a discovery call with Ronnie and find out how CanopyPilot can add to your bottom line within just a few weeks!