OZONE (Luc Armant) interview

Questionnaire for OZONE R&D designer and Team pilot Luc Armant.

1-Ziad : A new concept of gliders with many cells is emerging with low and high aspect ratio. What are your thoughts about this concept? Especially on moderate aspect ratio gliders ?

Luc Armant: The idea from Nova of proposing a glider for richer intermediate pilot is making fully sense. Any other serious mechanical sport industry is having such product. I have no idea what size is that market for paragliders. High cell number concept: for sure things are not simple like the higher the better. Zeno versus Enzo2 is a nice example showing that not only cell number count (78 vs 101). Not enough cells is not good and too much is not good too, even for performances. What we have experimented is that there is an optimum number of cell for a given design, and that optimum can be very different from one design to another.

2-Ziad : Almost every pilot is talking about the Zeno… The Manual is clear. Since you have flown both now, many pilots would like to know the difference in flying demands and feeling compared to the M6 and the Enzo 2. Can you also elaborate on brake response and dynamism?

Luc Armant: Flying demand and comfort is much closer to M6 than Enzo2. I still find that the M6 is a good wing, relatively safe, performant and without bugs, but the Zeno has more character, is more pleasurable, more exciting to fly. All that is without talking about the gain in performances.
Gliding on the side of an M6 or any other END wing, gives you an extra blast. Brake pressure is much lighter than M6. That’s my favorite brake pressure, and you kind of feel the thermal through your fingers a bit like on the Delta2. It can answer fast to roll input and turn in tiny radius with still nice climbing efficiency.


3- Ziad : Now that the Zeno is finished, any news on the Delta 3 project?

Luc Armant: No news yet, apart from the fact we are still working on that project, amongst other projects. But for sure the longest project ever in ozone !

4-Ziad : I know you already answered the following question but just to answer some pilots questions…Will OZONE see an advantage of building a high cell count on a Delta 3 for example? Or a Rush 5 ?

Luc Armant: Ozone will not see an advantage of building D3 or R5 with more cells than optimum for their design.
We try to build product with only necessary stuff.
It does not mean than the Delta3 will have 20 cells only !!!


5- Ziad: Some pilots said that the M6 and Enzo tendency to cravat are high after a collapse ,So did you make any re-arrangement for the Zeno design ,not to have cravats? or may be less...
Any comments?

Luc Armant: I’m not sure about that comment. And I would need to know what sort of cravat they are talking about. Pilots use the word cravats for many different things.
After collapses, sometimes the M6 or the Enzo2 does a small wing tip knot that you can remove by pulling the stabilo line.
I did not make special arrangement but the Zeno is not cravatting easily. For that reason we decided to remove the stabilo line.
Like on any wing, depending on the air and your piloting, you can have a collapse going to the front (sideways air flow), resulting in the collapsed part of the wing blocked by the air flow in front of the lines. But in that case usually two or three deep asymmetric pumping is enough.
 
 6- Ziad: Anything you want to add concerning the future of glider design?

Luc Armant: Like always, I can only talk about present and past. The future is still to be created.

Ziad :Thank you Luc !

Cheers,
Ziad

SUPAIR Leaf EN-B

SUPAIR Leaf EN-B

The Leaf (nice name for a paraglider ! ) is the first Supair certified as a B glider and intended for a larger group in this segment.
The take off is super easy for a B with no hang back or shooting forward.

I flew the Leaf in different conditions from weak to rough conditions and i have now a solid idea about it’s behavior.

In rough turbulent thermals the Leaf resembles the low B category gliders ex: Ion 4 by the comfort it delivers and ease of use.
Inside the thermals, the Leaf S (75-95) loaded at 92 is a real pleasure ! The brakes have moderate pressure similar to the M4 or the Ion 4. A little more pressure than the Swift or the Rush 4.

The brakes are linear, precise and direct, delivering a superb maneuverability!
I could place the Leaf exactly where i wanted even in the roughest of air. The Leaf reacts like an extension of the pilot arm. I re-discovered flying pleasure on board this colored ‘toy’ !

Climbing with reference gliders showed me an impressive climb rate ! I could easily stay near the excellent Swift 4 ! and in rough air i could out-climb easily many high end gliders. For sure the climbing ability of the Leaf puts it right among the top gliders in the mixed B category .

The speed system is easy to push with a moderate pressure, less than the Mentor 4, a bit harder than the Swift 4 pressure. The top speed of the Leaf is around 10 km/h over trim .

Doing lots of glide i noticed a nice trim speed in calm air for the Leaf slightly more than the Rush 4 . The glide however puts the Leaf in the first part of the mixed B category .

Big ears are stable, efficient and reopen by themselves.

Conclusion:
I enjoyed every second flying the Leaf. It was nice to feel like a ‘leaf’ again  :-) .
The climb rate and the handling will draw smiles bigger than the pilots faces !  :-)
The Leaf is a moderate B glider just in the middle of this huge B category. It is not a very low boring B nor a lively high B. It’s a balanced well behaved mid B.
The Leaf glide angle will share the first part of this B category.
I think the Leaf with its sheathed lines all over was created not to drag race the top B contenders with a knife between the teeth…. but to deliver comfort, ease of use, excellent climbing, pleasure and a lovely handling.