CAHOMA is the sales organization of LITE FLITEs production of SLIMFIT emergency parachutes.

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As the founder of LITE FLITE, John Holstein, in 1966 began skydiving, it
was natural to develop this area into being a business concept. After
education, among others with the British parachute regiment in
Netheravon in the southern England, the repair shop was over time
grown into a production enterprise.

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1976 John designed the first emergency parachute under the name
SLIMFIT Mk-1, that was sold to a number of glider pilots in Denmark. As
the interest was huge, it was decided to refine this model into the
SLIMFIT Mk-2.

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In the end of the 70’ties and through the 80’ties the fleet of glider
aircraft in Denmark was refined too, and parallel to slimmer designs, glass fiber aircraft became common at
the airfields. The interior became more sophisticated as well and the seat demanded more slimline
parachutes to accommodate the size of different pilots.

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It was therefore natural to design the SLIMFIT Mk-3 and SLIMFIT Mk-4. These 2 models excel to be thin and
slim and wedge shaped. Mk-3 is very thin at the bottom and around 5 cm thick at the top, where the Mk-4
is opposite wedge shaped, approximately 5 cm thick at the bottom and ultra-thin at the top.

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These 2 models became so popular that the demand for the Mk-2 vanished and the production was seized.

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John met with the legendary Dan Poynter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Already

in the 70’ties Dan edited several books about parachute technics and theories.

Among these is “The Parachute Manual”, which became the Bible for parachute

riggers. Johns attention was brought to realize the importance of the
aerodynamical forces that are of paramount importance to the behavior of
parachutes.

 

By skydiving in Perris Valley in California in the late 70’ties John developed a
close friendship with Gary Douris who was a pioneer and entrepreneur and
co-founder of the Perris Valley Parachute Centre.

 

                                           Gary Douris founded Free Flight Enterprises in 1976,
                                           in which company he designed and manufactured
                                           parachutes in zero permeability fabric that optimizes the aerodynamic forces in the
                                           most efficient way during the opening sequences of the parachute.

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                                           The friendship with Gary Douris became a milestone in Johns further career in the                                                   world of parachutes. John made an agreement with Gary to market the FFE                                                             parachutes in Europe, and even Gary died in 2009, this agreement is still valid today.                                             All CAHOMA/LITE FLITE parachutes contains canopies from Free Flight Enterprises                                                 and have done that for more than 40 years.

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                                           In the beginning of the new millennium, a new demand showed for a slightly bigger and softer emergency parachute and the SLIMFIT Mk-5 was born. This parachute is equal slim from top to bottom, and even the outer measurements are a couple of cm larger in both ways, the feeling in the cockpit is soft and gentle to most pilots.

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John is certified “Parachute Master Rigger” with education from USA, Great Britain and France.
He has about 2000 skydives and packed through several decades more than 15000 parachutes.Through all the years John has contributed to increase the safety in the use of parachutes. His experiences through many years of skydiving, piloting, and manufacturing of emergency parachutes have given John a wide knowledge that he generously shares in speeches and written articles.