Wills Wing
Flytec

Oz Report

topic: AIR ATOS (5 articles)

AIR ATOS »

ATOS's available after the Worlds.

ATOS

March 26, 2006, 10:55:02 EST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

Things are going to change around Sequatchie Valley this year. Ollie had gotten used to riding herd on everyone there in his VX ‘mother ship’. Now Steve and Kathy Lee, two of the very best Tennessee pilots, both have new ATOS’s coming!

Additionally, I will have several ‘slightly’ used ATOS VR’s after the Florida Class 5 Worlds Meet. I have a short list of pilots that will have an opportunity to buy them at some savings. Other interested pilots or their Dealers can contact me the numbers below

AIR ATOS »

Thu, May 12 2005, 4:00:04 pm GMT

V, VS, VX, VR

Aeronautic Innovation Rühle & Co GmbH|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Neville Almond|Paul Tjaden|Ron Gleason|US Nationals 2005

www.a-i-r-.de

Four models of the V glider from AIR from which to choose from. Which is the coolest glider? Which is the best glider? Which is the most sensible glider? Which glider is affordable? Which one is for you?

The technical data is here.

The VS is of course the small version of the V. You can't believe everything you read on this page, for example, the VR weighs as much as the VX (105 pounds with all the bags in the d-cells). It was built with VX components.

When the VX came out last spring it was widely seen as to be superior to the V in sink rate. The specifications say that, as does the higher aspect ratio and the larger wing area. You'll find some of what I wrote about the VX here:

https://OzReport.com/8.099
https://OzReport.com/8.100
https://OzReport.com/8.101
https://OzReport.com/8.109#1
https://OzReport.com/8.112#0
https://OzReport.com/8.130#2

Alex Ploner won on the VX at the Flytec Championship. Then I won at the South Florida Championship and the US Nationals on the same VX. But, Alex flying on a VX in Greifenburg was second to Christen Ciech on a Stratos, so it wasn't so clear that the VX was all that superior to the V (or Stratos) in an area with tight cores and strong lift.

The VX does appear to have a slightly better sink rate than the V. About 10-20 fpm. I also felt very comfortable and confident in the VX. It felt like it could stay up in anything. The feeling counted for a lot.

Also having a lower sink rate gets one in a good position in the start circle, above the other guys. Having the dominant position is always a great advantage. You only need a little bit better glider to get into this position.

But the VX was built to be a tandem glider. It has a big wing, which is a lot to get through the air. It can't glide super fast (although pretty darn fast) and is not quick in reversing your roll. It's steady, but not nimble.

The VR came out this spring. The design was supposed to be an improvement on the VX with the same sink rate, but a lighter, more nimble glider. Because Felix built it using the VX components it turned out to be as heavy as the VX. But then I like the VX components from the sturdiness point of view.

I had a chance to thermal right with Paul Tjaden flying a VX in the South Florida International. We are outfitted about the same. He was just below and in front of me and we were thermaling at the same speed. It was in a large gaggle, so we kept in the same size (large) circle. He was slowly able to climb on me. So I believe that the inherent sink rate of the VX in fairly flat turns in slightly lower than the VR.

Sure this is only one test, but the VR has less wing area than the VX, even though it has a higher aspect ratio, so you would think that it has a higher sink rate. The difference was small, but it was there.

It appears as though you can slow down more on the VR than on the V or VX. It appears that you can push the VR all the way out and just begin to stall it and that the stall is mild. This may mean that you can slow the VR enough to get a lower sink rate with it than the V or VX (assuming you are not in the same gaggle and having to stay with the other guys), but I have not seen this yet.

The VR is quite a bit more nimble than the VX. It can accelerate much quicker and fly much faster. This may be wasted though as in most cases you would be flying too fast, i.e. faster than best speed to fly. Still at the end of a long final glide you may appreciate the extra speed.

The VR can fly so fast that you can over speed it. That is fly over its VNE speed. You need to take care when flying the VR not to go too fast in turbulent conditions.

I flew my VR side by side with Neville Almond flying Ron Gleason's V at about 40-45 mph. We didn't notice much difference in glide ratio. My guess is that the VR is slightly better than the V in sink rate and only slightly better in glide ratio. But then AIR claims VR=20:1 Vs, V=19:1, which is a small difference. AIR doesn't publish the sink rate for the VR ,but Felix claims that it is the same as the VX.

The VR has better handling characteristics than the V or the VX. It is quicker in roll and lighter in handling. It is also very easy to land, even easier to land than these easy to land gliders. It is simple to adjust the speed of the VR just by adjusting the tail and flap setting using the flap cord. The pitch pressures are determined by your flap setting. You can make them very light.

The VX is a bit more difficult to set up than the V and the VR is a bit more difficult still. I really liked the VX setup. I liked the fact than unlike on the V, the wing tip on the sail didn't have an additional flap. The problem with the VX is getting the long carbon fiber shells at the tips installed. This problem has been solved on the VR, by having these shells slide over the d-cells when the glider is broken down. I wish this solution would work for the VX. Maybe they will retrofit the VX with this solution.

The main problem with setting up the VR is getting the Velcro on the sail to fit on the Velcro on the winglets. I have never been able to get mine to fit completely correctly. Usually I can't get it to fit completely on the bottom of the winglets. In addition, Felix seems to think that there will be a problem with the winglet Velcro later, as he gave us all another set of Velcro for the winglets. I may just need to make a few adjustments with the Velcro at the nose of the glider.

There is a tip wand that stretches the sail out to fit onto the winglets, which are held in place by the aluminum tip tube. The junction between the sail and the winglets is just not nearly as nice as one would like. Otherwise the sail fits extremely well with no wrinkles, better than it did on the V (although this may be fixed by now).

I very much like having the heavier carbon fiber keel on the VR (like the VX) and the heavy duty d-cells. Having had a C destroy itself in mid-air, I am reassured to have a stronger glider.

The nose catch on the VR is not quite the right shape to handle the increased nose angle. Hopefully this will be fixed in later models. I may just have to file mine down a bit more. Felix rotated my nose catch two rotations to bring the tips forward a bit and move the center of lift a bit more forward. This was in an attempt to slow down the VR (which was successful). I can fly it at a minimum speed of 26 - 27 mph (according to my Flytec 530 with has 110% factor on the air speed indicator). I have my hang point all the way back.

To see more of my articles on the VR go here and use Ctrl+F to search for VR.

The V is the easiest glider to setup and the lightest weight one. The VX has the lowest sink rate, is easy to set up, and has the nicest fitting sail. The VR has the best handling and the highest speeds, but takes more time to setup and isn't quite finished at the tips. They are all similar in performance, and the differences in pilot skill and courage out weigh any differences in their performance. But, I found the VX gave me an advantage and the VR may do that also over the V. We'll have to see in the upcoming meets.

2003 Australian Nationals – the finals »

Sun, Jan 26 2003, 3:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat 2|Air Atos|Airborne C2|Chris Muller|Combat|Gerolf Heinrichs|Jerz Rossignol|Kraig Coomber|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.dynamicflight.com.au/Nationals/results_2003.htm

The results from day five:

1 STRAUB, Davis, 36 Air Atos C 145 USA 15:15:00 17:34:45 2:19:45 1000
2 WARREN, Curt, 1 Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 15:15:00 17:42:06 2:27:06 904
3 COOMBER, Kraig, 77 Moyes Litespeed AUS 15:15:00 17:42:27 2:27:27 897
4 DURAND, Jon Jnr., 43 Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 15:15:00 17:43:47 2:28:47 882
5 BERTOK, Attila, 55 Moyes Litespeed 5 HUN 15:15:00 17:44:21 2:29:21 874
6 HOLTKAMP, Rohan, 27 Airborne C2 14 AUS 15:15:00 17:44:50 2:29:50 867
7 BOISSELIER, Antoine, 24 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 15:30:00 17:53:11 2:23:11 863
7 GUILLEN, Bruno, 14 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 15:15:00 17:44:55 2:29:55 863
9 MOYES, Steve, 59 Moyes Litespeed 5 AUS 15:15:00 17:45:14 2:30:14 858
10 HAGEWOOD, Bo, 30 Aeros Combat II 150 USA 15:15:00 17:46:01 2:31:01 849

The overall results (the flex wing only results didn’t appear on the web site):

1 STRAUB, Davis, 36 Air Atos C 145 USA 4126
2 COOMBER, Kraig, 77 Moyes Litespeed AUS 4121
3 DURAND, Jon Jnr., 43 Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 3974
4 GUILLEN, Bruno, 14 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 3904
5 WILLIAMS, Paris, 81 Icaro Laminar St14 USA 3867
6 POSCH, Johann, 42 Atos C AUT 3832
7 MULLER, Chris, 41 Wills Wing Talon 154 CAN 3801
8 HEINRICHS, Gerolf, 26 Moyes Litespeed 4 AUT 3794
9 BERTOK, Attila, 55 Moyes Litespeed 5 HUN 3753
10 ROSSIGNOL, Jerz, 64 Icaro Laminar USA 3750

I understand that the flex wing only results are a bit different, but again I didn’t see them up on the Dynamic Flight web site.

The flex wing results finally came up:

1 COOMBER, Kraig, 77 Moyes Litespeed AUS 4329
2 DURAND, Jon Jnr., 43 Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 4113
3 GUILLEN, Bruno, 14 Moyes Litespeed 4 FRA 4071
4 HEINRICHS, Gerolf, 26 Moyes Litespeed 4 AUT 4004
5 BERTOK, Attila, 55 Moyes Litespeed 5 HUN 3950
6 MULLER, Chris, 41 Wills Wing Talon 154 CAN 3948
7 WILLIAMS, Paris, 81 Icaro Laminar St14 USA 3943
8 ROSSIGNOL, Jerz, 64 Icaro Laminar USA 3906
9 BONDARCHUK, Oleg, 32 Aeros Combat 2 13 UKR 3632
10 RIGG, Gordon, 48 Moyes Litespeed 4 GBR 3619

Kraig is the winner of the Australian Nationals and the new Australian National Champion as well. After Oleg and Paris fell down, the Moyes Boys took their opportunities to dominate the meet, taking the top five places.

Chris Muller, after spending most of his recent competition time flying paragliders, warmed up to flying hang gliders and was the top Talon pilot. Paris came back with top finishes after going too fast and too boldly on the first day. Oleg recovered from his fall, but other pilots were too consistent for him to climb back to the top.

I’ll have more to say about what happened in Australia over the next few weeks.

Discuss "2003 Australian Nationals – the finals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

WRE – Wednesday »

Wed, Jun 19 2002, 6:00:00 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS C|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|AIR ATOS|AIR ATOS-C|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Bo Hagewood|David Prentice|Exxtacy|Flight Design|George Ferris|Hans Bausenwein|Jamie Shelden|Mike Barber|Moyes Litespeed|Pete Lehmann|Will Gadd|World Record Encampment 2002

Wednesday started off with cumulus clouds forming early at two lower levels. The bottom level with a cloud base starting off below 2,000’. At around 19:45 AM the sky was completely black with cumulus clouds – the great precursor of a super day in Zapata.

As the general darkness of the cumulus cover began to break up into cloud streets pilots (starting with Bo Hagewood on the Aeros Combat 2) started launching and finding good lift up to the lower cloud base at 2,400’. Pete Lehmann (WW Talon), George Ferris (AIR ATOS), Dave Watkins (AIR ATOS), Mike Barber (Moyes Litespeed), Jamie Sheldon (Flight Design Exxtacy), and Alex Ploner (AIR ATOS-C) all took off and got quickly to cloud base drifting north quickly in the moderate winds.

The wind direction was quite good and no one had any problem skirting the Laredo airspace as the clouds raised and spread out a bit.

While Gary had predicted strong winds, this turned out not to be the case. Pilots landed mostly at around 125 miles, with Alex Ploner landing near Uvalde (160 miles) and Bo going down way off the road at 184 miles, necessitating a long retrieve (without his glider).

Jamie landed at 30 miles out (automatically setting – but not claiming – the women’s rigid world record) behind two locked gates but a short distance from our friend Rick Walker’s ranch house. He later went in with his helicopter and retrieved Jamie’s glider.

Dave Prentice got up on his first tow into 800 fpm, that turned into 1000 fpm right to cloud base. He raced himself into the ground not too long afterwards. Must have got too excited. Will Gadd and Louise flew their paragliders about 130 miles before deciding to stop. They required multiple tows, as did Hans Bausenwein who landed near Dave. Both Dave and Hans hitchhiked back into town from the main dirt road to our north.

We are looking for more moisture to be pushed up across the state to make for more clouds along the route. It was clear from the satellite photos today that the clouds only went about 200 miles out. It looks like more moisture will be coming our way on Friday.

Discuss "WRE – Wednesday" at the Oz Report forum   link»

AIR ATOS rack pads

Fri, Dec 21 2001, 7:00:05 am GMT

AIR ATOS|carbon fiber

Felix included some carbon fiber backed neoprene foam pads with his ATOS which he sent to me to use in Australia. These pads look like curved harness backplates, about 18 inches long and as wide as the ATOS is when packed up.

Since any dents that we might get in the carbon fiber on an ATOS would most likely come from transporting it on the rack, these devices should be particularly effective in protecting the ATOS.

Discuss "AIR ATOS rack pads" at the Oz Report forum   link»