Dudek Paragliders

Orca 4

TANDEM WING

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Orca 4 is a universal tandem wing of EN B class and 5,4 aspect ratio (53 cells).
It offers exceptionally easy launch, perfect handling and the highest passive safety accompanied by a performance of a single-seater.

The paraglider is dedicated both for free-flying with passenger and for light paramotor trikes.

Four-row canopy with rigid cores (Dudek FlexiEdge technology) blends recent experiences of testing other prototypes featuring this technology with long-standing info received over years from happy users of the original Orca. The aspect ratio and other factors were carefully calculated in order to make full advantage of new technologies while retaining an optimal mix of passive safety, performance and steering for this class.

Orca 4 as compared to Orca XX:

  • further improved already great launch parameters, precision and ease of steering as well as flaring efficiency during landing,
  • slightly increased aspect ratio,
  • minor design changes within the canopy,
  • new, LTF-certified spreader bars.

The aerofoil used in Orca 4 has Shark-nose intakes - they help to the internal pressure of the canopy stays stable within a wide speed range.
Inner reinforcements, structural cores and mini-ribs perfectly shape and stabilize the aerofoil. Mini-ribs on the trailing edge keep it slim and decrease ballooning, radically improving the airflow.  All in all, we succeeded in creating a perfectly balanced design, mixing great performance with safety and stability. In turbulence, the paraglider behaves very reassuringly and predictable, with efficient damping of both longitudinal and lateral oscillations.

Orca 4 easily inflates and rises, without lagging behind. Then it stabilizes and with slight brake action simply flies away. On the landing approach, it is enough to brake down a little in order to markedly decrease speed with ensuing soft touchdown. All tandem pilots appreciate those features, so we've put quite an effort into polishing them to perfection.

DESIGN

Canopy of the Orca 4 body was designed in our CSG (Canopy Shape Guard) system, comprising a number of elements resulting in exceptional coherence and stability of the shape.

Below you will find a short description of CSG subsystems.
Orca 4 has an elliptic shape with slightly back-swept wingtips. The canopy is made of doubled cells, with ribs supported with VSS (V-Shaped Supports) system. Such design guarantees that the canopy stays rigid, the upper surface is smooth with correctly reproduced aerofoil, and what is most important we have fewer suspension points (thus reducing overall lines' length and drag).

Inside the canopy, there is RSS (Reinforcing Strap System) applied on the lower surface. RSS is a ballooning-independent reinforcements system made entirely of paragliding fabric, effectively stiffening and stabilizing the canopy.
The aerofoil was perfected with DOA technology (Dudek Optimized Airfoil). It merges all our experiences stemming from previous designs and as a special feature is optimized with dedicated CFD engineering software.

The air intakes are placed on the lower surface close to the leading edge, placed so that the max pressure point remains in the area at possibly many states of flight. They are designed and executed in Shark-nose technology, meaning the specific, concave shape of the reinforced profile area at its leading edge (the name comes form the very shape, reminding shark's nose). Due to such shape, the intakes can be smaller and moved a bit back, so that the leading edge remains undisturbed and offers smooth airflow. The internal pressure of the canopy stays stable within wide speed range. In everyday flying, this results in greater resistance to stalls (e.g. when thermalling) and front collapses at high speeds.

The suspension points areas are additionally reinforced with laminated fabric so that loads are equally distributed on three planes: vertically (with the ribs), diagonally (with VSS system) and level through RSS.

All crossports have been prepared with the application of OCD (Optimised Crossports Design). Carefully designed shapes of the openings and their optimal placement between stress lines guarantee efficient pressure distribution in the canopy and its quick inflation. These openings are scaled together with the ribs so that their replicability is flawless and they do not disturb the aerofoil in any way.

Another feature of the Orca 4 is the Flexi-Edge technology. The leading edge is closed to the airflow, and its precise shape is kept with laminated cloth reinforcements, incorporating synthetic rods. The rods make the leading edge stiffer and smoother, bringing improvements in many areas - from easier inflation, through stiffening the canopy in flight to improved general airflow.

The intakes are located on the undersurface in the vicinity of the leading edge. Their position was chosen very carefully so that they got maximum ram effect in possibly many flight situations.

The wingtips additionally feature ACS (Auto Cleaning Slots) – as the name suggests, these are dedicated openings automatically removing dirt from inside the canopy.
Careful selection of modern fabrics and design solutions brings about great strength and durability of the Orca 4. All materials used come from marked production batches, and each production step can be verified down to the identification of a specific worker and controller.

Orca 4 is delivered with tandem spreaders, with an LTF certificate.