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I need some feedback from owners of this canopy.

If any would give me some infos about his or her experiences under this canopy, please contact me via MP or e-mail : fitzlan28@hotmail.com

Thank you

The Badseed Mayhem is a copy of the Consolidated Rigging Ace/Blackjack airfoil.

The functional differences are:

1) The Mayhem has a shorter lineset in each size than the Ace/Blackjack. It appears to have the lineset from the next smaller size, so the Mayhem 280 has the lineset from the Ace 260, for example.

2) The Mayhem is available with a vents placed at your request on 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 cells. The Ace/Blackjack is available either unvented (Ace) or with 4 vents (Blackjack).

3) The Mayhem is available with a full ZP topskin, front 1/3 ZP topskin or all F-111 topskin. The Ace/Blackjack is available with front 1/3 ZP topskin or all F-111 topskin.

The Mayhem is also available with some additional cosmetic options (like custom colored line sets).

The Mayhem is slightly cheaper (about $50, depending on the size).

The Mayhem is made entirely in house at Bad Seed in Las Vegas.

The Ace/Blackjack is sewn under contract by Performance Designs in what is probably the most technically advanced parachute factory in the world.


In the interests of full disclosure, be aware that I am a dealer for both Bad Seed and Consolidated Rigging (as well as several of their other competitors).

I'm a little confused about this one. Is it the same overall line length as the next smaller CR canopy, or is it actually the lineset of the next smaller canopy?

I have a mayhem and like it... I am not super experienced, but I have flown a few different base canopies and I can attest (with three vents and zp foreskin) the 260 (loaded at .7) is consistent with openings (time/alti and heading) and easily landed in half breaks sinking in... it is a bit "sportier" than the troll, mojo and ace in my opinion. From what I understand it is not a copy of another airfoil (per Brandon it was built from the ground up). I have a review and a few posts on here about it... feel free to look m up for my .02.

Take your Mayhem and lay it out on top of the same size Ace/Blackjack. You will discover, as I did, that the canopy envelope is the same, down to the valve design.

Got a 240 on the way, I'll let you know what I think when I get a chance to jump it.

When I laid them on top of each other, I did not have an Ace 260 handy to compare.

The canopy fabric of the Mayhem 280 was identical to the Blackjack 280.

The line set of the Mayhem 280 was identical to the lineset of a Mojo 260 for the B, C and D lines. There was a slight variation in the control lines (the Mayhem had a 5th upper, where the Mojo had 4) and there was a variation in the A lines. This is basically the same as the difference I discovered when laying an Ace on top of a Mojo--the canopies were very similar in the B, C and D areas, with the Ace (and Mayhem) having longer A lines and less downturn to the nose and a 5th upper control line.


No one has to take my word for any of this. Just take an Ace/Blackjack and a Mayhem and lay them down on top of each other. I'm frequently surprised at how many people swear by a specific canopy without actually comparing it to other canopies. Laying a Troll on top of a Mojo gives similar results (the canopies are very, very similar).

But, as I said, don't take my word for it. Go lay the canopies down and compare them for yourself.

i believe you tom

I could be wrong, but looking at photos of the bottom skins of both the mayhem and the BJ, it looks like the vent/valve placement on the Mayhem is slightly forward maybe an inch or two compared to the BJ. If my eyes are not failling me, and this is true, would it make any difference being placed an inch or two closer to the nose?

The 280's that I laid out side by side had the vents in exactly the same location, with the exception that the Mayhem had a center cell vent (it had 5 total vents) and the Blackjack (with 4 total vents) did not.

I believe you Tom.

How does the shorter line length affect the flight? Also, does shorter line length not allow the canopy to twist up "as bad" as longer lines??

In my opinion, the shorter lines give slightly quicker bottom skin expansion (not pressurization), and yield slightly worse glide angle and full flight speed.

Functionally, that means the shorter lines tune the canopy more for low free fall with close landing areas.

It's a bit more complex than that, though, if you are comparing different canopies, rather than just the same airfoil with different line lengths like Blackjack/Mayhem or FOX/FOX XS.

I do not believe that the line length changes the mechanism of line twists on BASE jumps, or the frequency of twists. The shorter lines probably increase the severity of twists very slightly (because less rotational force is required to spin the lines up under the already pressurizing canopy).

Don't care either way, but as a general canopy design question couldn't you have two canopies that are both rectangles with the same aspect ratio, but the are both very different in terms of three dimensional airfoil?

Yes, of course. But those would be very different canopies. Saying that they are both rectangles with the same aspect ratio basically means that they are both BASE canopies. It's a very rough comparison that really tells us almost nothing.

You compare canopies airfoils by laying them on their sides. The ribs (including the outermost rib) are the third dimension shape you are comparing.

Ok, figured. You just said lay it on top and were talking about comparing vent locations, so I imagined that as laying them on top of each other like bed sheets - which just confused me because I couldn't imagine you making that kind of obvious simplification.

A canopy is a canopy is a canopy just go jump your shit

You sure about that Tom? I would have thought it to be the opposite. Longer lines puts the suspended load further away and therefore easier for the lines to twist up in between.

I've always thought that too....

Especially under a pressurizing canopy, on a slider OFF jump, if there were any twist that occurred on the way to line stretch, the suspended load would "unwind" as the canopy took shape....? I don't know, I'm just asking. That is what I picture happening....

I have zero formal education in aerodynamics
but based on 4,300+ parachute deployments
I would bet Tom A. breakfast that as the lines
get longer their chance of twisting increases.

No. That's why I qualified by saying "probably."

I haven't seen any real world evidence that line length differences on BASE canopies make any measurable change in twist occurrence.

My comment was related to the severity of twists in those situations in which twists are already occurring--not to the chance of getting twists to begin with.

In either case, I am not convinced that there is any measurable difference in the real world. Just a theoretical discussion about what's more or less likely to happen.

From what I've seen I have to agree with Tom, Seems to be body position rather than line length in reality. But in theory it makes sense that shorter lines would require more rotational torque to induce the twist than longer lines.

hahaha +1 I got a nice chuckle outta that!!!

If I understand you right you are saying that the shorter lines would require more inertia to create the initial twist and thus when it does occur they are therefore more likely to be more severe?
Even then I still feel that the longer lines are going to twist easier.
But like you I also feel that there would be fuck all difference between the two.

And we should not get into a small tight body position. Big X position I would think might not cause you to twist up as bad. Kinda like being at the playground on a swing that your friend has winded you up and it's spins easier and faster the tighter the body position. Of course who deploys in a tight ball? I have thought about getting big and stiff at opening........that sounds kinda sexy once I typed it.

+1