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Widgeon

Max Effective Wing Loading on a Non-Crossbraced

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Where do you think the performance starts to fall off on a non-crossbraced design? I'm talking about a noticeable drop in distance and shutdown power, but want to retain the most potential for speed and power. Those of you that jump crossfire/katana, what WL/size combination do you like and why?

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I flew a xfire2 119 loaded at 2.0 and at first I thought it was a bit too small but after a few jumps found it to be a lot if fun. Was still able to get it to shut down nicely and found no real performance drop off. Jumped a 109 loaded over 2.1:1 and knew right away it was too small.

Johnny
--"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!"
Mike Rome

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The Blade is one exception.



i flew a blade 58 loaded at 3.2

but i cant compare it to any other blade.

i can say this though, it is a rock solid canopy, and i had no fear whatsoever flying and landing that canopy. even though it isnt crossbraced.

i think because it has a lower aspect ratio. but not sure, ask beezy. but i pulled the strings and it was solid to me.B|

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I think in general there are very few Non Crosbraced canopies that fly well over 1.8



I've been very impressed with the Xfire2 at 1.9-2.0, however at 2.1 and above I felt like it wasn't flying well (personally opinion). I also didn't feel like at 1.7-1.8 it was flying quite fast enough, if you know what I mean.

With that said, Sabre2, Sabre, Spectre, Stiletto and the Nitro don't seem to fly at 1.9 very well at all. Infact, I seem to remember relating that wingloading on those canopies to be compared to a "brick" even though at 1.6-1.7 I thought they flew really well.

Eitherway, no one take my word for it, if you have the experience to fly these sorts of wingloadings, then by all means, demo everything you can get your hands on and decide for yourself.:)
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I've seen some posts here and on canopypiloting.com that certain sizes of canopies seem to "have it" and others don't, regardless of minor to moderate overloading. The katana being one for sure as I've seen alot of praise for the 107/97 and the people I see posting about their experiences on these canopies would have been taking them to 2.1+ at least.

What would you expect to gain overlaoding a canopy a little? I know you'll sacrifice some distance and some bottom end flare, but what do you think is on the other side of the coin?

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know you'll sacrifice some distance and some bottom end flare, but what do you think is on the other side of the coin?



Speed. Blow-your-hair-back-pants-on-fire-adrenaline-pumping-scare-ya-till-ya-pee-a-little-speed.
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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I currently jump a sabre2 120 loaded at 1.93 ish.

I think it flies very well at that wing loading, I previously had a 135 loaded from about 1.6 to 1.7.

It has a nice long dive for swooping, but equally will completely shut down on a nil wind day with a straight in approach. It did take a bit of getting used to the flare though!

I have jumped a spectre 120 at 1.9 as well, I would have to say it took a bit of effort to get a nice soft landing out of that, and I'm not sure I have the skill to land it safely on a nil wind day.

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I had Stiletto 135 loaded at 1.6 and it did fly better than Stiletto 150 (I had before)
I tried 120 and it flies even better.
But it is not only wing loading. Original designed size is important too.
As far as I know Stiletto was designed as 120 and then up-scaled.
Unfortunately in aerodynamics scaling doesn’t perfectly works.
Usually original design is the best.
It so happens that I’ve got X-Fire 119 and it is loaded at 1.8.
Man this is the best! I just love it. I feel like I’ll fly it forever!
(Unless it so happens and I’ll go to x-braced :P)
Live 2 Fly

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It so happens that I’ve got X-Fire 119 and it is loaded at 1.8.

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you're flying a x fire 119 at 230 jumps?


Yes but...
I have more than 12 years of paragliding and more than 120 hours of airtime on competition class paragliders. (truly elliptical X-braced wing with more than 50 cells) This experience helps a lot. (And I just got the x-fire several jumps ago, Jumped 135-stiletto about 100 jumps before that)
My case is a bad example, don’t try it at home :P
Live 2 Fly

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I'm more concerned that the guy is talking about going cross-braced with only 40 swoops under his belt (and I am no canopy nazi). Dude your paraglider experience is good for general experience in being up there in the skies. But no way should your paraglider experience be confused with swooping. Have you taken any advanced canopy control coaching or are you just living on your paragliding past? What kind of turns are you doing and more importantly, "what is your setup"?

Swooping is tons of fun, but it is very unforgiving of the errors that we make (and we are all capable of making mistakes up there). Be smart and dial it back. You're on a road to disaster thinking that you're ready for a cross-braced canopy with only 40 swoops under you belt and 200 some odd total jumps (also knowing that unless you do a road trip, you're done jumping this winter and how's that for currency).

Ah fuck it, I've got a Velocity 111 and maybe even a Velocity 103 for sale if you're interested. You should be fine under either one of these as long as you promise NOT to play with them up high when you first get it, be sure to pull low and really show us how good your paragliding skills are by going big swooping the beer line with that new cross-braced canopy.


Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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It so happens that I’ve got X-Fire 119 and it is loaded at 1.8.

Quote



you're flying a x fire 119 at 230 jumps?


Yes but...
I have more than 12 years of paragliding and more than 120 hours of airtime on competition class paragliders. (truly elliptical X-braced wing with more than 50 cells) This experience helps a lot. (And I just got the x-fire several jumps ago, Jumped 135-stiletto about 100 jumps before that)
My case is a bad example, don’t try it at home :P




you ever try to deploy a wing with that high of an aspect ratio?:D

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I'm more concerned that the guy is talking about going cross-braced with only 40 swoops under his belt



Sorry for misunderstanding...
I was talking about jumping X-Fire forever and going to X-braced after “Forever”

For the wormup after the long winter i still have my Stiletto 135 and my girlfriend's canopy.
Live 2 Fly

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I'll try and find some vid...


http://airvisionadventures.com/media/Italy.wmv
... and I was flying this thing?
Holly crap this is scary.

check also topic "loops"

Here is instruction wideo How To:
http://krisz.3gteam.hu/video/WingOverInstruction-lq.wmv
Do not try it at home

http://www.bigairparagliding.com/jdaoust/PG/Video/1997_FR_Grant_RaftLZ_SebastienBourquin.mpg
Live 2 Fly

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