Apco Aviation started manufacturing the Mayday in 1984, and since then put over 20 000 pieces into service in the Paragliding and Hang Gliding markets. The Mayday has hundreds of life saving deployments to its name, from beginners to world champions.

The Mayday is availabe in four sizes, all available with a short or long bridle, for paragliding, powered paragliding or hang gliding. Apco also manufactures a wide range of accessories for the Mayday range. This includes front and side mounted external containers for paragliding as well as external containers for powered paragliding and hang gliding, split bridles, long bridle extensions, UV-sleeves and much more.

Over the years the basic design and construction tecniques have remained the same - there is nothing to improve on a winning design and best seller. All four of the Mayday parachutes are "Flat Circular Pulled Down Apex" in design. In 1998 the Mayday Bi was released in a Pulled down Apex version, and soon after the Mayday 20 hit the market.

The Mayday has superior construction and materials. The canopy cloth is F111 "zero porosity" ripstop nylon. The skirt and apex skirt is reinforced with 1'mil spec nylon tape, neatly wrapped and stiched with a precision four-needle machine. The line attachments have V-Tab reinforcements, sewn in place with a computerized machine, ensuring consistantly high quality and strength.

The new APCO external bag is specially designed for paramotors, to be installed on the top of the frame vertically or horizontally. It will fit any brand of reserve parachute on the market that is manufactured in standard weight cloth. Note that light weight reserves require that manufacturer's specifically designed container and bridal.

The Apco container is made of neoprene and includes a double handle. Diaper (inner bag) not included. The Apco External Container comes in two configurations, vertical and horizontal. See photo to the left.

The APCO Y Bridal is webbing that attaches the reserve to the harness with dual attachment points. Many paraglider harnesses have built in bridals, but very few paramotor harnesses include them. If your harness does not have a bridal, you will need one.

The Bridle is made from 6000 pound Nylon Webbing (UV Resistant). The attachment loop is covered with a Teflon sheath to protect it from dangerous friction which may occur during deployment. Finally, the bridle has a line sheath attached to protect the lines where they link to it.