Katana

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Item:	Katana
Manufacturer:	Performance Designs (3379 Hits)

Purpose:	Main
Shape	Elliptical
Cells	9
Fabric:	ZP

Description:
Performance Designs' Katana is a high-performance canopy designed for experienced canopy pilots. The Katana has been described as “a perfect fit between the Stiletto and Velocity,” and a canopy that is “very suited to modern flying styles.”

Like the PD Stiletto, the Katana is a highly tapered or “elliptical” nine-cell canopy made from zero-porosity fabric. Both the Stiletto and the Katana were designed using a conventional cell structure, without cross-braces or airlocks™ . The Katana may look similar to a Stiletto at first glance, but beneath the surface they are two completely different machines.

Added: 2004-02-13 | Item ID: 465

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Total Reviews: 19

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3 Recent Reviews:

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Katana 83

Rated by: tonka (more about me) on 2008-03-26 02:29:42 (user reviews) Review ID:1960

Pros: Dives like crazy, fast, and light front riser pressure.
Cons: Rear riser pressure is a little tough and long spots can be a problem.

Usually jump a Competition Cobalt 85. Demoed a Katana 97 and 83. 83 opened and flew much better. Basically it flies better at 1.9-2.0+ Put 25 jumps on each canopy. Review is based on the Katana 83. Packing- Trash pack. Shake it out-No flaking. Shuffle nose in a little bit. Pull slider Out Opening- Sweet smooth on heading. Not too fast but not slow. Never wanted to spin up or jerk me around. Easy to steer during snivel using harness unput. Smooth opening for such an agressive canopy. Flight- Very steep trim. Canopy wants to be on the ground. Long spots are a little trouble because it still sinks in brakes or on rears. Cant hang out and wait for others to land- Falls out of the sky too fast. Very stable and fun to fly. Fairly hard to stall using toggles. Hard to stall on rear risers. Not super fast responsive but thats good. Makes for smooth flying. Any more responsive would be too much on such an agressive canopy. Landing- Very light front riser pressure and moderate rear riser pressure. Harder to plane out using rears that my Competition Cobalt. Keeps speed and a dive very well. Swooping into the wind is no problem- Cuts right through the wind. On the 83 loaded at 2.0+ started 360 turn at 800-1000ft. Dives like crazy. Come out of turn at 200+ feet and put pressure on rears right away. Planes out very nicely on rears using this technique. If you are late on the rears use toggles because it will not plane out right away on rear risers. Can hold double fronts to keep in a dive if needed. Not a forgiving canopy. Has good flare. Not quite as much flare as my Cobalt and Competition Cobalt. At higher speeds and correct dive altitudes there is much more flare. Lower speed- Decent flare. (Enough to have a nice stand up but you can feel the need for more) Low turn=Not much stopping power. Dont do it because you will not pull it out of the dive even if you are deep on the toggles. 270 turn worked best for me. @600+ft Whether doing a slow carve or a fast dive swoops are great. Fast dive and then hard on rears makes for super fast swoop. Carve makes for a long smooth and fast swoop. Had to do an aviodance braked approach and landing. Landed much better than expected. Almost half brakes until full flare and it still landed me softly. Canopy can be jerky if the transition from rears to toggles is not smooth. Just fly it smoothly. Jerky Motions(Rears and toggles)=Loss of speed and shoter swoop. Not much or really any running out landings. Flies until its almost stopped. Overall- Awesome canopy. Swoop machine. If you like to open low then the spot better be good because you will be on the ground shortly. Most agressive canopy I have flown. Approaching the dive and long recovery of the Velocity. Great canopy to try with 750+ jumps and good canopy control and progression. Not a good idea if you are not current or dont have the swoops mastered on something else. Competition Cobalt is a good transition canopy to the Katana. Main negative aspect is that it doesnt fly as well at slow speeds as my Competition Cobalt. The Cobalt will continue to fly going slow and keep gliding at that slow speed. (End of a swoop) Once the Katana starts to die out it will lose the speed and the swoop is over. Still flies well at that slow speed but comes to a stop sooner. Swoops were longer in distance but seemed shorter in time than my Cobalt. Meaning it is much faster and covers ground in a swoop very fast. Great product from the best in the biz. A+ Canopy

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