Samurai Pilots

[polarbear 1]

I've put about 50 jumps on my Samurai 150 (loaded at 1.4) and have noticed a couple of characteristics of the canopy I wanted to ask about. I am curious if other Samurai pilots experience similar personalities from their canopies.

1)Brian Germain talks about using the "bump the brakes" method to flare. This consists of making the initial toggle input fairly quickly to get the canopy planed out. This is contrary to what I had done previously. After trying both a slower, smoother flare and bumping the brakes, I haven't decided which one seems to be more efficient. What have you all experienced?

2)The recovery arc on this thing is longer than a Stiletto, but it is not quite as negative as I expected. When I come out of a front riser turn, I find that the canopy loses speed fairly quickly. It does not, however, plane itself out...it seems to return to normal flight rather than hitting a high speed, low descent type flight you'd get on a Stiletto. My brakes are long enough that the tail doesn't deflect on using the front risers. Anybody else experience this? FYI, I jumped a Vengeance 170 whose brakes were too short and it recovered less agressively than my Samurai 150.

3)This is the hardest canopy to shut down I've flown. It seems to stall at higher speeds. Being smooth on the toggles throughout the surf and the shutting down process seems to help, but it still is moving faster than other canopies when touching down. Anybody else have this problem?

"Holy s*** that was f***in' cold!"

[ramon 0]

Took me a whole weekend to learn the flare on one at about 1.5.

I am not so sure bumping the brakes is actually meant to be really abrupt. Being smooth is the name of the game, but ins some instance like if you are ever so slightly steep, you can have a very smooth input to change the angle of attack on the canopy. with sufficient speed you can then follow up with a slight let off of the brakes to full flight but slighlty more nose up attititude. There is a very good shot of JC Coclosure doing this on a stilleto on the Freefly millinium II tape. that is probably the best description of an actual 2 stage flare. he is getting very low over a ditch and he bumps the toggles right before his foot scrapes the water, as he sinks more and his foot begins to skim and his canopy adopts a higher lift attitude he lets up on his toggles slighlyt to allow a good airfoil shape to increase his surf.

The thing is I only get away with them if I am ever so slightly low (not at the point where I need to dig out of the corner, just not planed out yet) and going very fast.

Ideally you will pull out of your recovery arc at a high rate of speed with little or no toggle input and very smooth controlled flaring will keep you going.

My friend Wane's first eliptical was a samurai. He was the only person that could surf it and shut it down. In the long run the very smooth technique he learned on that canopy paid off as he went on a downsize frenzy (not necessarily a good idea) and his flaring technique was such that he was landing very small canopies smoothly.

Not being smooth on a small canopy will either bleed so much speed that you wil have a much shorter surf or in the worse case could cause a dynamic stall.

remember, opionins are like assholes

ramon

"Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.", Ambrose Bierce.

[Samurai136 0]

Re-read, or read, pages 18-20 and 30-33 of your owners manual.
1. Bumping the toggles works because the canopy doesn't plane itself out after a riser turn. 'Bumping' takes the slack out of the brake lines, quickly bumps the tail down and changes the angle of attack on the wing; planing out the canopy. The more time you spend doing this step, the more airspeed you throw away for your swoop. If the canopy planed out immeadiately you'
d have to stay on the riser(s) all the way to the ground or you could have your whole swoop spent at 15' AGL.

2. What wind conditions have you jumped your Samurai in? If you have any wind, it will retard your forward speed when you release from a dive. Also keep in mind that 'normal flight' for a Samurai is more ground hungry than a Stiletto or Vengeance. Bring your other riser down once you get to final and that should keep your speed up until you reach swoop altitude.

3. If the canopy is moving faster than you expect during touch down, finish the flare. You should have more toggle stroke left . All the speed you perceive is available lift to work with.

Blue Skies!
Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[polarbear 1]

Thanks for the reply.

I have read the owner's manual (several times) and I understand the idea behind the bump-the-brakes thing; I was just curious if other pilots had found that it really did work better.

As for the wind conditions, I jump in everything from light and variable to 20+. I usually stop swooping if winds get close to 15 mph or higher.

I do find that in normal flight the canopy has a steeper descent (that took a while to get used to). I was expecting a more negative recovery after a riser turn to landing. The bigger Vengeance I jumped really seemed to keep its speed up after a turn...you would return to being under the canopy (it wouldn't be pointed towards the ground) but it would keep its speed for a while untill you leveled it off. My Samurai doesn't seem to do this as much...it swings you back under and starts losing speed more quickly. It doesn't recover as strongly as a Stiletto, just stronger than I expected.

I usually use the other riser to steepen the dive while I am still turning. I have found that turning high, stopping on heading, and the riding double fronts to the appropriate altitude doesn't hold speed as well. I start in brakes, let up and hold double fronts for a second, shift my weight and let up on one front riser to establish the turn, and then pull the other one back down some if I feel I'm too high. This seems to build and hold speed better. I just find I have to carry the turn down lower than I expected. I am still starting this all about 450' AGL (pretty high). Again, I was just curious if others had experienced this.

As for the flare, I do get the toggles all the way down at the end, I just find it is moving quicker than other canopies. I have it set such that I can only bowtie the canopy at the very bottom of the control range...I have to push those toggles down as far as possible to make it collapse. Again, I am interested if opther pilots experienece the same thing. I have heard some say that they never have to take any steps during landing which, well, I do.

"Holy s*** that was f***in' cold!"

[ramon 0]

I've found my vengeance to stay in a dive more than a samurai also, but I think a really good samurai pilot at the same wingloading might out swoop me.

I have also found it easier to shut down...then again I've only put a weekend on the samurai and my vengeance has ~200 on it.

funny thing, I bought a VX and I am selling my FX (also a very good canopy at 2.0) and keeping the vengeance 135 cuz I like it so much.

ramon

"Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.", Ambrose Bierce.

[dove 0]

Why don't you give Brian a call? Or email him. Big Air Sportz has the best customer service BAR NONE! Brian is very big on safety and learning and will always take the time to talk to you about any issues you may have. Give it a shot - you'll be glad you did.

dove

[polarbear 1]

Yeah...I've already had a good experience with his customer service. I was planning on talking to him at Rantoul this year.

"Holy s*** that was f***in' cold!"