RR MATRIX experience

Hi Scrappy, i have flown both the fgravity 22 (for 2 years) and the matrix in a 4 month seasons. I have 2 years as an acro pilot with TOW of 98kgs.

I reallly really love my FG22. I have done so much progress with it very safelty. I have learnt helico and mistyflip with only 160 mts height in my hometown over the sea. The wing is solid, cravatte resistant, anti-twist, obedient and the best part! FAST!. Octane or free force, or other homologated wings are great to, but FG has a very high trim speed and very precise brake handling. I was ready to progress to the FG20 when i knew that niviuk is no more building FGs!!! Shame! so good wing!

In the inbetween i tryed a matrix 20. It is an extremely more powerful wing than fgravity, short sensitive brakes, and not that forgiving. Long lines, easyer to twist.

I have recieved advice from top pilots, and suggest me a thriller 22. Maybe yo could be confortable on a 20. Also heard about the Gradient freestyle.

I you want to progress on sat and dynamic manouvers, go for the mattrix! no doubt! the best one. If you want to go for the helico way, this is not the best wing.

hope it helps!
nelson

Hey Wayneo

The Matrix looks a lot of fun and i am sold however i am not too sure on the size, what is your flying weight? You seem to be able to climb well in the vids which is exactly what i want to be able to do whilst still have fun flying acro. I will not get much practise in if i am always doing top to bottoms.

My flying weight is 90kg and i am stuck between the 18 or the 20. Any ideas?

Cheers

Will

Excellent David! thanks for your reply.
So Matrix definitly seems to be a very good glider. Because of my 90-95kg I think that 22m2 would be the right size for what Im looking for. Now I will look for a fly test. It won't be a soaring one but that's ok.
I friend of mine who is 85kg has the 18 and use to fly in 30-40km/h wind. He also tryed a spiruline, that I tryed too, and described it like a big boat compare to the matrix. That's good!
I asked the prices to my dealer and I'm very surprise about rolling's one:
matrix 2050€
radix 2200€
rolling 3400€!!!!!!!!!!!! even if they are only available in official nova importators (=only one dealer per country) for better price.

Drew,
About F-gravity I wrote to niviuk because I was also looking for informations about it, but they don't produce it anymore and are working on the F-gravity2.

Hi Fred,
I almost need to soar to practice, without lift an almost one hour hiking gives me enough height for maybe two tricks (plus something that I'm comfortable with close to the ground). I definitely thought about getting the 20m^2 size (~87kg) but decided a few more chances to practice was more important to me than a little more energy. On days with strong lift I can't see any disadvantage compared to DHV 1 or 2 gliders (normal loading). Days that are barely soarable for other people I can often stay up and do a spin then try to regain that height, either I gradually lose ground or work my way back up. If I do sink usually other gliders will be sinking out too.

Hope that helps. It's hard to say what conditions are soarable with this loading (87kg/22m^2) it's usually a mix of thermal and dynamic where I fly (haha also I'm stuffed full of oxycodone right now), but I think conditions only a slight bit stronger than the minimum for a mid-weigh range DHV 2 work.

It turns out the rolling I tried was 24m^2 the same size as my gangster. I only had one flight with it months ago but I thought it was much closer to the matrix in feel and energy than to the gangster, no wraps to spin, more energy than gangster but less than the matrix (I think the lines were stretched on my old wing though)
-David

Hello,

Matrix 20 is very nice for dynamics tricks.

Have you ever testing in helico ? specificity ? difficult ?

Thanks

Vinc

I just got a matrix 22 three days ago and got to tow over the water a bunch. Oh man this thing blows my mind so fun. Me+harness=87kg so I'm in the green squares on the loading chart. The only other wing I know for acro is my gangster 24 so everything is compared to that.

wingover: are just effortless looping.

deep stall/stall/tail slide: In deep stall I could feel it start to slip back to full stall still with lots of pressure then relese a little bit and it would stay in deep stall. With the fabric pointing out at the line attachments it would try to rotate or fall back or surge but the break pressure and the response of the wing to the breaks was really consistent and I was happy with how long I could keep it going.

spin(from trim speed): On my first tow with the rolling I pulled too hard (I couldn't pull too hard even with a wrap on my gangster) and I think the forward going side collapsed from just going so fast without enough line tension like the way the lower side of a SAT can colapse. On the other tows with the Matrix I'd start with a hard pull not "jam my fist towards the ground" and the spin would start nicely. As far as letting up on the backwards side I was just trying 360's so I'd let it up a lot for fast rotation not worry about surging as it's already time to stop it. One thing that amazed me was how much the inputs on both sides are still there even when the wing is spinning off to the side. Even a little momentum left from a prevous manouver makes a 360 feel like a misty flip to me, just a gentle rocking on entry and I can see some wing in front of ground (well maybe there were some hills next to the lake) At the top of a swing I'd think I need to pull extra deep because the break pressure/response won't be there, but it is. On my last two tows I think most of my spins were good. I think this wing is even nicer for learning spin stuff than my gangster, the more constant break reactions make the extra speed just sweet not scary.

rythmic SAT: worked so well. On my last tow I was feeling tired and haven't even practiced this much before, only when it's too turbulent for other tricks or I'm frustrated from doing a weak asymetric SAT. rythmic-ing it up was just like playing with a yo-yo just pull it up let it down the wing establishes it's own frequency. I could see the wing entering and leaving the horizon pretty squarely, but was able to exit by turning out like an asymetric SAT not stopping it over head. I stopped because I was getting so high I wasn't sure how to exit, there was still plenty of energy. It made me want to try this trick some more.

helicopter: From the way the wing feels in deep stall I thought this would be easy, but I never made a nice one. I'm still getting used to the extra power and always wanted to be able to scurry in retreat to fly back so I was reluctant to open up on the backwards side. On my gangster though I only get this trick ok about 50% of the time and I've only had maybe 15 really good ones ever, so this is probably my piloting not the wing. I can say that when the wing was oscilating and I had the backwards side a little crumpled the rotation was pretty quick and the oscilaton didn't build too fast so I think if you know how to damp the surging and build rotation speed you get a bunch of chances to correct even if the entry isn't good.

I've only shortened the breaklines a little from the factory setting and I never took a wrap for anything but I tried to do a coconut once and couln't pull through. I'm sure I can shorten the braks more though just flying straight and level with a little pressure on my hands are at about eye level and the break travel is short enough, I'm pretty sure.

So conclusion, this wing is Awesome! I feel like a kid from an 80's movie that finds an alien artifact which gives him super powers, super powers for like swinging around and stuff.

-Dave

PS. I also flew a rolling (also 22 I think) for one tow and that was way more energetic than what I'm used to.
PPS. It comes with velcro clean out holes on the tips that have a tab/loop of fabric behind the opening that you can pull out and it keeps a little channel open if you want sand to work it's way out. The factory made acro handles are great. They come with pullys but they're easy to take off. The bungies keeping the handles just have a girth hitched cord gripping overhand knots which seems a little unreliable but maybe it's just for inital adjustments then you tie a knot when you find the right length.

Anybody has flown Apco Twister AND RR Matrix ? Could he/she compare & give me feedback ? I crashed from 7 meters with my beloved Twister (My mistake of course & thanks to my Swing Connect light airbag I still fly... ) & I'm looking for a more tame wing for speed flying in strong laminar trade winds ? I now fly with a Salto 19/22 but need something in the 18 sq meters range... Thanks. Alain http://picasaweb.google.fr/Alain97133Remi/02MARSTOINY#

Hi Drew,
I flew the matrix 20 quiet a lot and I made one flight with the 18, I also flew the 14 for speed flying.
To resume: the matrix is just a toy! I mean, it's easy and also it's really safe! It's still have a lot of power and do all trix and even speed flying close to the ground! The flares are great when it's time to land it's always a pleasure! The Toy for big boys!!!