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This was my first wing. It was intended for
soaring and, as such, served yeoman duty. The fact that it was difficult
to inflate in no wind only meant something when I had to demonstrate
forward launches for my USHPA P2 rating and then when I added a motor. I
had an absolute blast flying it until I flew the Silex. Then I realized
what I was missing.
Handling: It's a bit sluggish and
speed is average. The wing is heavily coated which is partly why it
inflates harder and has good longevity of the main fabric. Unfortunately,
the spanwise red colored stripe didn't do so well. It failed a porosity
test after a about 200 hours while the rest of the wing did fine.
Inflation: Sucks. I'm sorry but this
is the worst inflating wing I've had to deal with. It was fine in the
mountains and stronger conditions but really gave a challenge in still air
on flat ground. Even after I'd gained experience I struggled with this. In
fact, I keep it around so as to remind myself how far we've come. On a
scale where 1 is the hardest and 10 is the easiest inflating wings, this
is the defining difficult 1. I know there are others that are worse but
they do no more than tie this one.
It was more difficult to inflate than the UP
Vision which was the only other wing I got to fly in the beginning.
Efficiency: Glide is pretty good,
probably about 7:1. It has no trimmers and the speedbar is moderately
effective.
Speed (5): Average but, without
trimmers, you have to have the speedbar hooked up to go fast.
Construction: It's very well built
but, in my opinion, has a major flaw: the lines are sewn into
the fabric. That means you cannot economically replace the lines
after the wing gets some age on it. Most wings have loops sewn in where
the lines attach to make the lines easy to replace. That is by far the
preferred method. When I was told that one of my upper lines failed a
strength test, it was basically curtains for the wing. There must be some
small performance gain using this method but it certainly isn't worth the
hassle.
The fabric is heavy which accounts for some of
its inflation woes. When I sent it in for a porosity test the purple fabric
did well and the red striped fabric failed.
Certification & Safety: It's a DHV
1 from 1998 and has very benign collapse and recovery handling. During a
SIV clinic, however, it did not recover on its own during a frontal
collapse. Having been told it should recover on its own, I wanted to see
if it would. The instructor was telling me on the radio to let up on the
A's and I had already done so. She stayed front tucked until I popped in
some brakes. Unusual.
During a B-line stall she horseshoed (tips
came together). I'm told that was likely because I pulled too far and I
probably did.
Overall: For soaring in the mountains this wing
did yoeman duty but, for motoring, it's far from ideal. Mostly because it's
so hard to inflate.
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