QUATRO

When we started to examine the square reserve concept, we wanted to understand every single detail to produce an exclusive product. We did not want to have "one more square reserve" on the market, but to bring unique, fully functional and in a way, easy to use (no matter how much we all wish not to use it all) reserve.

Therefore, we did not start the development in a common way; we did not design several prototypes to find the one that matches the EN criteria best.

We wanted to understand more about the concept - the way the load and shock distribute into the canopy; the factors that play the most vital role in the stability. The complex study of materials available on the market and their influence on sink and stability helped us to combine the shapes, materials and the design techniques to come with the most complex solution. All that resulted in QUATRO, a unique Sky Paragliders reserve that is a safe, stable and reliable square reserve and ready to help in everyday flying, during competition or bivouac expedition flights.

What do pilots like about QUATRO?

• It is light (only 1.4 kg in size 110). Also, being light means smaller, faster opening and less volume to pack and less weight to carry.
• It opens fast because when things happen, the solution must be quick.
• It provides low sink rate – depending on the payload; it ranges from 4.9 m/s (QUATRO 90 at maximal load) to 5.1 m/s (QUATRO 110 at maximal load).
• The uniquely designed corner vents increase the stability in rough conditions.
• QUATRO is immediately stable after the deployment which is essential if anything goes wrong just a few meters above the ground.

The main distinctive features are:

• All the sizes have identical patterns. That means they all pack the same way and pilots do not have to study different packing techniques for different sizes as it frequently happens.
• It uses polyamide lines that are absorbing the shock and make the opening smooth and in a way comfortable which leads to higher safety as the pilot's body does not have to absorb the shock - the lines do it.
• The lines are linked to the canopy with traditional loops. Pilots do not have to search for a workshop to replace a line; the line replacement procedure is simple, cheap, fast and reliable - minimum space to make a mistake. A simple technical solution that can save your holiday was very demanding to design and produce to meet the free fall tests criteria, and the small design detail makes the concept unique.
• All panels are laser cut to increase the quality of the manufacturing. i.e. precision and also the edges are melted and fixed by the laser beam.
• The container with four marked flaps makes the packing easy.
• The ultra-light container provides the solution to pack the lines on top of it; that increases the deployment speed and makes the checking the lines easier.
• QUATRO uses well proven Sky Lite Dyneema risers.

Each QUATRO is delivered with:

• Inner container with four marked flaps for easy packing.

How to repack QUATRO

* weight of fully-equipped pilot without the paraglider   

• Reserve: Nylon 6.6, 33 dTEX
• Lines: 6798-150 Edelrid
• Riser: Dyneema/polyester 13 mm

If you would like to design a unique product, you have to start in a very complex way. So, the journey to QUATRO was a mission to understand many challenges. How is the load distributed? Can we use traditional loops for lines and still pass the load test? How about the material? What is the load for warp and weft? Which manufacturers bring the best material: How about the lines? They should be stable and still able to compensate for the shock if the pilot deploys the reserve. So many questions and many challenges to solve if you want to work on your own.All the chores were compensated by QUATRO which is the lightest reserve with the traditional (9082 series) material on the market. So, get one and fly in a way not to try it :-).

Your designing team: Alexandre Paux, Michal Šotek, Jana Srubkova, Tomáš Lednik.