Mirage G4.2 Skydiving Container

Custom G4.2 Mirage container.

Mirage's G4.2 container is the company's latest design. This freefly-friendly container includes spacerfoam backpad/legpads, stainless steel hardware and cut-in stabilizers in the base price.

The most common selected options for pricing are listed above. Any other available options can be added after we receive your initial order. The Mirage online order form, at this link, needs to be submitted along with your online ChutingStar order for colors, measurements and all options.

Write in ChutingStar Enterprises Inc. as the dealer in the Mirage online order form system. We will receive your submitted order and will contact you to review the order.

Mirage has also introduced the RSL TRAP System, which you can find out more about at this video link.

Current turnaround time is 6 weeks. There is a longer timeframe for orders with TieDye. Shorter turnaround times are available for a range of additional rush fees. Mirage does keep several new stock rigs for immediate shipment. See the Mirage stock list current list of containers at this link and then contact ChutingStar for pricing.

Mirage G4.2 Features:

Mirage Systems uses only the highest quality 1000 denier Cordura. It comes in many brilliant colors. All Mirage Cordura is coated to resist staining. Liquid literally beads up and slides off, like mercury!

Mirage leg pads are lined with 1/4" medium density foam. This foam is nearly ten times more expensive than the industry standard, and is highly resistant to compression over time. With the exception of the backpad area, all Mirage containers carry identical padding. The harness padding is mostly over the shoulders, where the rig rests. On the Unisyn harness all ring locations are also padded, so no hardware contacts the wearer.

The BOC pouch uses a special nylon elastic blend made for Mirage Systems. This elastic weave lasts several times longer (often over 1000 jumps) than the less durable spandex used by other manufacturers.

Mirage lines all inside container surfaces with Parapak, rather than Cordura. Parapak has a smooth, shiny finish that makes the rig easier to pack and its contents quick to deploy.

The true secret of Mirage Systems' success lies in their experience. The production employees of Mirage Systems have been building harness/containers longer than most people have been skydiving. Their experience allows Mirage to set higher standards for quality than are found elsewhere in the skydiving industry. The staff takes pride in the fine detail of their work. Mirage Systems may not be the largest container manufacturer in the industry, but they are committed to being the best.

The new G4.2 yoke is a 2 piece "split" design with several advantages. It allows the reserve risers to flow more naturally over the shoulders and into the reserve container, resulting in a more supple, comfortable feel around the neck. It is more adaptable to variations in reserve pack jobs. It also allows a smaller reserve pin cover flap, which needs smaller tuck tabs, which in turn makes the reserve easier to pin check.

Much of the comfort of a rig comes from the way the harness conforms to the user's body. The Mirage Unisyn harness was specifically designed to flex at the natural junction points of the human body. This design has helped to eliminate harness buckling and twisting, as the harness takes straight paths between junction points. The Unisyn moves with you, on the ground and in the air, so well that some users have said it didn't feel like they had a rig on.

The G4.2 comes standard with an upgraded, padded backpad for greater comfort. It is softer and lighter than the G3 optional deluxe backpad. The side panels of the G4.2 backpad, which contain the most padding, lie on the major muscles of the user's back. They are always black, but the center area of the backpad can be any Parapak color.

For increased comfort and stability, Mirage Systems added an elastic lumbar support across the lower container to comfortably snug the G4.2 to your lower back without cutting into you. The Elastic Lumbar Support gently provides lower back support while stabilizing the container, making the jumper and container feel more as one. This feature is adjustable, replaceable, and permanently removable. Those who prefer a more fixed solution may select Inset Stabilizers for their G4 at no extra charge. Stabilizers are the portions of the container that extend from the lower corners of the main container forward to connect with the harness. Their function is to connect the lower portion of the container to the harness while "stabilizing" it from moving from side to side. The stabilizers work best if the jumper is slightly wider than the container. To more closely conform to the jumper's body, Mirage offers Inset Stabilizers as an option. These stabilizers attach to the backpad inboard of the outer edge of the container. This is especially useful for jumpers with a small waistline. On the Unisyn harness the stabilizers are padded for additional comfort.

Mirage containers are all built with modular construction, which makes the rig eligible for in-field repairs when flaps become damaged. Modular construction, as opposed to so-called unibody or wraparound construction, requires building the rig out of a number of small flaps that are sewn together, rather than a few flaps that are folded and turned like origami to cover multiple panels. The main container is a great example; the main side flaps are separate pieces which are easy to replace. Damage a main flap on a unibody rig and you are stuck with a huge repair job, or resorting to an unsightly patch. Modular construction is much more time consuming and expensive during the initial build, but pays great dividends down the road.

Components on any device tend to wear out with repeated use. Risers and pilot chutes are limited lifetime components. With repeated use materials break down, losing their structural integrity. Other parts such as breakaway handles, reserve ripcords, reserve pilot chutes, and reserve freebags sometimes are lost after an emergency procedure. Other components become damaged from poor landings or sharp objects in the airplane. Your container size and serial numbers are necessary to ensure that the proper replacement part is ordered.

In freefall loose flaps are sloppy, distracting and potentially downright dangerous. Mirage containers are well known for staying closed until you want them open. In fact, the main pin protection is so tight that the main pin cover doesn't even come open on deployment. Mirage rigs have zero bridle exposure, and the riser cover security sets the industry standard for reliability.

Freeflying pushes any rig to the limit by applying high aerodynamic forces at arbitrary angles. At these speeds and attitudes loose flaps and premature deployments are absolutely unacceptable. Mirage containers are designed with these principles in mind because vertical flying is the most challenging environment that a rig will be called to deal with. Bridle exposure, riser retention, pin covers and other critical components are all tested and proven to provide Mirage owners with confidence and peace of mind.

The G4.2 has a more aerodynamic profile than the G3, for better vertical flying. Where the G3 is basically wedge shaped, the G4.2 side profile is more like a teardrop. Because they are the same width and thickness, the G4.2 is slightly longer than the G3, to make up the extra volume of the rounded off main container.

Mirage Systems, working with leading canopy manufacturers, believes that the F-111 centerline collapsible pilot chute provides the most consistent openings and best canopy performance. A non-collapsible pilot chute will diminish the performance of the main canopy.

The popularity of micro-line has resulted in new malfunctions. 99.9% of these malfunctions can be avoided through proper maintenance. Mirage Systems took special notice of this problem and added a simple grommet guard on all leading edges of potentially problematic areas.

To create the Mirage G4's tapered shape, Mirage custom tailored its Main Bag to follow tapered lines. Its radical shape also enhances the teardrop aerodynamics for which the G4 is famous. The Mirage main bag line stowage system includes four main locking grommet stows and two inboard stow attachment anchors. This line stowage system is designed to reduce the amount of "bag rock" that takes place during line deployment. Mirage uses an uncoated Parapack nylon material in construction for durability.

Mirage Systems believes that tuck tab riser covers are the best possible way to armor an area of the container that would otherwise be extremely vulnerable to wind forces. Mirage tuck tabs are designed modularly, to facilitate in-field replacement. The attachment location is placed over the shoulder, near the front of the rig, to allow for variation in reserve pack jobs. The profile of the tuck tabs is squared, for positive retention and fixed release force. Mirage Systems guarantees that its tuck tab riser covers will work as they were designed for the life of the container.

Mirage also provides secondary riser covers. These small riser covers are located under the main riser covers, along the side of the reserve container, to contain the main toggles and steering lines. They prevent any sort of displacement or accidental deployment during multi-attitude (back or head to earth) jumps.

Pin protection on both main and reserve containers is critical to safety. Accidental pin releases caused by brushing against something when sitting down in the plane, the door on exit, other jumpers in freefall, or lines in a canopy collision can lead to unintended and/or out of sequence deployments. The design of the Mirage provides the most pin security currently available in the industry. The reserve pin cover flap uses a unique pocket to tuck away the flap ends. The tongue of the pin cover slips into a pocket in the center flap, and contains a built-in hinge to assist separation during reserve deployment. Furthermore, because the pocket opening is located directly over the outside edge of the reserve pilot chute cap, the deployment force of the reserve pilot chute spring serves to untuck (slide out) rather than unfold (bend out) the reserve pin cover and #6 flap. This helps preserve pilot chute energy for the main job - launching your reserve.

Another primary advantage Mirage has over its competitors is our reserve pilot chute design. The Mirage G4 reserve deployment system is a straightforward freebag-deployed square reserve. Mirage does not use an exposed pilot chute due to the limitations these designs impose on pilot chute design. The conical pilot chute springs used in external reserve pilot chute designs are often based on the original MA1 military pilot chute from World War II, which are inherently weaker than the Mirage spring, and this alone more than offsets the advantages of packing the pilot chute under fewer flaps. It is informative to compress a reserve pilot chute from an external design with your hands in front of you. It compresses quite easily. A Mirage reserve pilot chute is extremely difficult to compress between your hands, and it may injure you if you are not careful! The bottom-line in efficient reserve deployment, however, is not found in any single component of the system, but rather in the synergy of multiple components acting in concert to produce a speedy deployment.

The G4.2 uses a Parapak molar style freebag for durability and ease of packing. When packing, the molar bag makes it easier to maintain an opening into which the reserve pilot chute fits, resulting in flatter pack jobs. Parapak is very strong and resists tears and damage from packing, use, or retrieval.

Mirage Systems uses a custom reserve ripcord handle, rather than the traditional D handle, on all new Mirages. The Mirage handle is shorter than the D, and angled from top to bottom, reducing the risk of snagging while still providing adequate size for a single or double-handed grip. The handle assemblies are built to TSO C23-d specifications and are individually proof loaded to 600 pounds before we accept them for use. These handles can easily be fitted to older rigs in the field.

The design of the reserve container is significantly cleaner and more robust than similar designs currently available. The first improvement was to reinforce the lower corners of the container with external webbing, providing greatly increased strength in those areas. Experience has shown that when a jumper deploys inverted, if the bag goes to one side of the container, and the opposite riser group follows the bottom of the reserve container at line stretch, major structural damage to the reserve container may result. While Mirage still recommends against deploying in any attitude other than belly to earth, this reinforcement should help control and limit damage if an off-attitude deployment does occur.

Taking a similar approach used in the development of the Main Flap Grommet Guards, Mirage Systems took it upon itself to make the reserve flap grommets more secure. While there has never been an incident involving a reserve suspension line snagging a grommet, for safety we added a simple grommet guard on all leading edges of potentially problematic areas. You can depend on Mirage Systems to incorporate innovative safety features throughout all of our products using only the most reliable manufacturing techniques.

Mirage Systems uses a classic container flap system. The reserve pilot chute (the strongest in the industry) launches from a kicker flap with incredible energy (40+ lbs!). This pilot chute must be fully covered with flaps to control its position and harness its spring force, which is more than double that of exposed pilot chute designs. That force translates into launch energy when the pin is pulled; energy which is barely degraded by the covering flaps. The reserve container is labeled according to the closing sequence, not the flap order. For a more detailed description of the closing sequence, see the owners manual for your model Mirage rig.

All Mirage main risers are equipped with built-in steel hard housings to help prevent entrapment of the cutaway cable ends during severe line twists. The housings are fixed to the risers at the top end with a clamp and encased in a sleeve that floats at the bottom end to allow for cable movement.

Mirage Systems has upgraded the cable housing terminal-end to a single piece cast stainless steel part, a Mirage exclusive. These pieces are significantly more expensive than the aluminum and plastic terminal ends (which are actually electrical connectors) used by the rest of the industry, but Mirage believes they provide an extra degree of security in a critical safety area.

Mirage Systems' has never used anything but full-length hard housings to protect your cutaway and reserve ripcord cables from snagging or friction. By clamping the cable housing ends together, we ensure that your cables stay properly routed without losing flexibility. All Mirage hard housings are made from high-quality stainless steel, so your safety is never compromised by corrosion.

The Mirage cutaway handle is pocketed in the main lift web, not just Velcroed to the back. This provides protection from dislodging, especially when taking harness grips. In addition, the cutaway handle (and the soft reserve handle) has plastic anti-roll stiffeners to help prevent it from rolling under the lift web, out of sight.

To place an order for a custom Mirage, use the online order form at this link below:

Mirage G4.2 Order Form

Write in ChutingStar Enterprises Inc. as the dealer. Once the order is submitted, we immediately receive a copy of the order from Mirage's online ordering system. We will contact you to review the order, make any necessary changes and give you the final price with options/shipping. Payment can be made either through adding this Mirage to your online cart with payment, or via phone with a credit card or by wire transfer.

For more info on the G4.2 Mirage, see the latest Owner's Manual at this link.