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Wills Wing

Oz Report

topic: Flight Design (11 articles)

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.

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Hot to trot (pure rumors)

Mon, Feb 26 2001, 3:00:00 pm EST

carbon fiber|Wills Wing|ATOS|Flight Design

There appears to be a lot of interest this year among the very top hang glider pilots in making sure that they have the very finest control frame, and the least drag due to their harness and instruments. Everyone is also tuning up their gliders to get the best performance, for example by installing leading edge carbon fiber inserts.

Everyone's wires will be of the thin variety. I heard that when Wills Wing tested their new aluminum down tube they found that it had 1/3 of the drag of an equivalent length of regular front wires. Sure makes you want to cut down on the drag due to wires.

I heard that Wills Wing is working on a modification of their control frame so that it can be used on an ATOS. Also, that Flight Design (as reported earlier) is working on a new streamlined control frame (the existing one sucks, as does the standard control frame on an ATOS – relatively speaking).

Everyone seems to be more aware than ever that they need to have the very highest performance possible if they want to compete. The smallest items are being examined as every little bit makes all the difference between winning and coming in tenth.

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What's up with AIR (continued)?

Tue, Oct 24 2000, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Mike Eberle|Flight Design|Ghostbuster|Exxtacy|A.I.R. (Aeronautic Innovation Rühle & Co.)|Altair|ATOS|Bernd Weber|Edelgard Stasch

On Monday Mike Eberle (North American Flight Design «napi») the US distributor of Flight Design's products including the Ghostbuster and the Exxtacy sent me the following note:

I am trying to get more info about AIR closing their doors. I just tried to check their web page to see if there are any updates and the page is gone.

I have heard from Altair, the US distributor of AIR's ATOS, that Mike has been sending out many notices regarding a supposed closing of the doors at the AIR factory in Zainingen. I heard today from Altair that they are communicating normally with AIR on current and future orders and received e-mail today from Manuela at the AIR office in Zainingen.

It is quite clear why Mike would want to spread this kind of rumor as widely as possible, but still as a reporter I have to track it down as best I can, no matter how unfounded it may be.

I asked Berndt Weber the managing director at AIR about what Mike has written, here is what he said:

Bernd Weber Managing Director
A.I.R.
Aeronautic Innovation Rühle & Co.
GmbH Salzstr.
6 D-72587
Römerstein-Zainingen

(editor's note: notice Berndt's address here.)

«Bernd»
http://www.a-i-r.de

Edelgard Stasch, my wife, will get the website up. It was just a mistake on the part of our Internet service provider and had nothing to do with A.I.R.

Thank you for your understanding, but some of the information in your Oz Report was speculation and wasn't actually the case. We are making changes to our business structure to manage the tasks in the future.

We are currently the number one manufacturer of rigid wing hang gliders in the world and we don't any strong competition especially in Europe. But having competitors is normal and necessary in a healthy market. Our job is to keep our products strong enough to be the best and most popular products in the future.

Felix is the most experienced designer in the rigid wing scene and we will reorganize so that he doesn't have to be concerned with administration and production as he has in the past. His main tasks in the future will be controlling quality, customer support, advice and very importantly, design.

With Felix focusing on design we will be able to offer an intermediate ATOS (easy to fly, safe, less weight and cheaper). In addition he will be able to further work and optimize the performance, safety, and quality of our products.

To start a business and build it up in the short time that we have is hard work. Our hard work has paid off and AIR has done very well indeed. We have sold more then 400 ATOSes and earned money in the process. But, now we need to grow further to meet our new goals. We need to optimize the producing process as well as the company structure.

This is what we are doing now. I will keep you informed as we make the changes that we have currently laid out. Perhaps in the next two weeks we are able to give you additional information about the coming changes at AIR. Without any doubt we are sure that our solutions are a big step in the right direction and will satisfy our customers now and in the future.

I see a great future for AIR company and its products. As a hang glider pilot I will be very interested in flying new innovations from Felix Ruehle.

(editor's note: I will be sure to publish any news I hear from Berndt, and any one else who has some accurate information. I am currently tracking down another rumor that Mike has sent me.)

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Solar winging it

Sun, Mar 19 2000, 7:00:02 am GMT

Flight Design|Solar Wings|Chris Jones|Darren Arkwright

Doctored photos? Virtual reality is so easy to manipulate these days. An Oz Report reader who wishes to remain anonymous writes:

Solar Wings and Flight Design have come to an agreement whereby Flight Design will make the wing of the Solar Eclipse 'to an existing design'. Solar will, apparently, put there own control frame fittings on, and (they say) change the rigging so that the glider can be rigged flat (ideal for windy English hillsides). They have taken delivery of their first Ghostbuster, and they are working on the modifications at the moment.

As an aside, Solar Wings is part of Pegasus Aviation, who is the UK importers of the Flight Design CT microlight.

Chris Jones, <chrisinusa@freewwweb.com>, writes:

Darren Arkwright (Solar designer) told me about this new Solar glider a few weeks ago. He said they were going to use the leading edge moldings from a GB supplied by FD. I know they'd been doing some work on the trike version of the Exxtacy so it is sounded feasible. He said they would announce it in six weeks time.

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Flight Design speaks up on spins

Sat, Mar 11 2000, 2:30:00 am GMT

Christof Kratzner|Flight Design|Flight Design Ghostbuster|Mario Campanella|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|spin

Mario Campanella, <flightdesign@t-online.de>, Flight Design Rigid Wing Manager, writes:

We in Flight Design have a professional attitude of work; we take our responsibilities seriously and don't make false promises or fool anybody. We take opinions and criticism as a natural and necessary part of our relationship with the pilots. The Ghostbuster pilots will confirm how we really establish a dialog extracting and giving information from field experience to improve our gliders and the way they are flown. We know that a great glider like those that set up industry standards mature with time and are rarely perfectly born. Flight Design is not in a race disputing with any particularly manufacturer, we have a tradition in building sport aviation machines and we pay respect to the traditional hang glider manufacturers that are busy building their beautiful machines. We are anaeronautical company that produces a long range of flying machines, from paragliders, rigid wings and microlights (http://www.flightdesign.com). This cannot be done without knowledge and experience. Our R&D Staff is composed by several persons and every machine we built without exception is the result of intense collaboration.

The Ghostbuster was conceived to push the rigid wings borders further. We designed a glider with the same safety standards and pleasure to fly as the Exxtacy but with a substantially better performance both in the low and high speed range. The Ghostbuster introduces several innovative features like an asymmetric spanwise cord distribution, stall step wing tip fairing, retractable flaps and a new profile.

(editor's note: I've asked Mario to explain - which axis it is asymmetric about. What asymmetric spanwise cord distribution means. What is stall step wing fairing?

We put a lot of attention at the low speed characteristics off the glider, especially the stall and spin characteristics. The planform and the twist of the Ghostbuster were optimized via extensive computer analysis to provide a close elliptical lift distribution with the necessary trimming forces. The result was a planform that has a small taper (around 1.3) in the ribs between the keel and the wing tip (ribs 4-7), that means that the cord length from the first rib (inboard) and the eight rib (outboard) are the same. It is known in airplane design that wings with small or no taper combined with the right amount of twist have favorable stall and spin characteristics. On top of that we designed a tip fairing that after several tests in the DHV test car is able to diminish the influence of the wing tip vortices in the upper wing surface reducing the induced drag and preventing tip stall.

(editor's note: Two of Mario's gliders have stalled and spun big time on me. I certainly didn't do it on purpose. I was under the "guidance" of a factory pilot in one case, and a factory sponsored pilot in another. I went to fly these GB's with the greatest of goodwill and got royally burned.

I did nothing other than fly the GB like I flew the Exxtacy. This worked fine on Campbell's, which I was quite willing to fly after the initial bad experience. I wanted to give the Ghostbuster another chance.

There are some big problems with the GB in some configurations. I suggest that a real report on the bad spin characteristics of the GB is in order. Pilots need to know how not to configure their GB so they can avoid these. Flight Design needs to make sure they know what Gibbo did and then make sure that other pilots don't do this.

I ask Mario to please tell us explicitly what the difference was between the gliders that I flew and spun inadvertently, and the regular factory set GB.)

It seems to me that you are not being impartial with your judgment of the stalling or spinning characteristics of the Ghostbuster. After having a good impression with the Campbell Ghostbuster you started to focus on the flight with Gibbo's glider and the prototype you flew before the Worlds. His glider has some modifications especially a very rearward position of the hang loop. This certainly causes the spin recovery more difficult for a light pilot.

(editor's note: First, let the reader decide if I am being impartial. I report what has happened. These two flights didn't happen Am I supposed to ignore these two flights? If the reader were to go back and look at my reporting on my first Ghostbuster flight, they will find that I wrote it as though it were all my problem. Apparently it wasn't.

I have presented plenty of material on the spins – after all this was a much more important result of a flight than the fact that I had a really great flight on Campbell's GB - which I did report in full for three days (or was it four). Before I flew Gibbo's GB.

I would suggest that Flight Design has much more reason to be partial than I. Again, I suggest a real report on why the GB is very bad spin characteristics.

Speaking of the prototype. I understand that these were the gliders flown at the Worlds. I also understand that they were rejected by a potential customer prior to the Worlds. I also am given to understand that you made no changes in twist from these prototypes to the present gliders.

Can you tell us just what the difference between these prototypes and the present GB's are?

The stall characteristics of the GhostBuster are very good as stated by Christof Kratzner in his test report http://www.dhv.de/deutsch/testberichte/index.html and all the Ghostbuster pilots. The DHV is a serious institute that would never certify a glider that does not show proper flying behavior. It is very destructive to start alarming the flying community without the necessary collections of knowledge about a fact. We appreciate very much the use of the Internet through the OZ report as a global forum of discussion but we think that some care must be taken before spreading a hype.

(editor's note: The English version of this URL has no information re stalls on the GB. The DHV site needs to publish pitch curves (which I have repeatedly asked for).

I hope very much to be alarming the flying community re the very bad stall and spin characteristics of the GB, which I have witnessed first hand.

It has been reported that Christof does not try to do spins in rigids under test at the DHV anymore. It looks like this policy needs to be reviewed.)

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THIS: (editor's note: The key here is fact that the Ghostbuster has a breaking stall, i.e. very quick and without any mushing.)

(editor's note: Well, I hate to have to be the bearer of bad news, but there is indeed something like this.)

Just for comparison reasons here are the reproduction of the DHV reports for the ATOS in English and the English translation from the GHOSTBUSTER. Both where made by the same pilot and please note how they are quite similar, with only some small differences for both sides:

ATOS:

0in0in 0in">
0in 0in 0in;height:14.25pt">

STALL BEHAVIOUR

Flaps 0 degrees

Flaps 70 degrees

Straight flight, control bar slowly forward

stable deep-stall

stable deep-stall

Straight flight, control bar quickly forward

pitches down strongly

pitches down softly

In turn, control bar slowly forward

mush-turn

pitches down softly, mush-turn

In turn, control bar quickly forward

dives distinctly in direction of turn

pitches down softly, mush-turn

Provoked spin

no tendency to spin

no tendency to spin

GHOSTBUSTER:

0in0in 0in">
0in 0in 0in;height:14.25pt">

STALL BEHAVIOUR

Flaps 0 degrees

Flaps 55 degrees

Straight flight, control bar slowly forward

stable deep-stall

stable deep-stall

Straight flight, control bar quickly forward

pitches down softly

pitches down softly

In turn, control bar slowly forward

mush-turn

mush-turn

In turn, control bar quickly forward

dives distinctly in direction of turn

dives distinctly in direction of turn

Provoked spin

no tendency to spin

no tendency to spin

About spin possibilities with rigid wings the footnote that follows all the certified DHV rigid wings is clear: "Spinning might be provocable in the extreme case and must be avoided". Our gliders like ALL certified rigid wings were tested until the limits that DHV found that are safe for an average pilot.

(editor's note: You've got to wonder how this is possible since rigid wing gliders aren't tested for spins anymore.

There are many dozens of Ghostbuster flying around the globe and any record of spin tendency. Thepilots migrating from the flex wings should know that the rigid wings introduced a series of handling and safety improvements with no compromise in performance but they are not totally fool proof. Our border is the possibility of spinning or spiral dive (remote to standard certified gliders).

(editor's note: I must say that I never came close to spinning any of the many Flight Design Exxtacies that I have flown. The only stalls I could get them to do were so mild as to not be noticeable. I have never experienced on any of the ATOSes that I have flownanything like what I experienced on two out of three GB's that I flew.

To paint all rigid wings as the same is to paint over all the differences. There are obvious problems with the GB in some configurations, and I suggest a full report on what to avoid is in order.

By the way, we have a report today, which I'm checking, that another pilot spun his Ghostbuster inadvertently yesterday at Quest Air. This appears to be a regular standard Ghostbuster.)

All rigid pilots should be aware that they cannot push out too much or too fast in a curve especially if he is flying slow and encounters sinking air. This is not a threat if the pilot flies consciously about this possibility. This is a similar case as with the flex wings where the gliders were designed and tested as to minimize the possibility of tumbling. As every pilot knows they still can tumble in extreme cases if they push to hard when they encounter a sharp change in the vertical movement of air (strong sink after strong lift).

(editor's note: Just to be clear here. I was flying in the light smooth stuff they call Florida air. It was overcast. It was light. I was entering smooth rising air. I pushed out slightly. What happened was inexcusable.)

We would like to invite you and any pilot (please the Europeans ones can contact us directly at <flightdesign@t-online.de>) for more flights with a standard Ghostbuster so that you can have a fair experience and be delighted with it in all speed ranges. I am sure that the guys at Quest Air will happily lend you one (if they are not far away breaking another distance record :-).

(editor's note: I reported that I had a delightful time flying Campbell's GB. I doubt if QA would be all that happy to have me back (just kidding). I know that after all the grief that Mario personally gave Gibbo, he won't be letting me fly his any time soon (good thing, too). Probably won't be picking me up on his way back from the next flight to Georgia, either. :-)

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ATOS – the whole nine yards »

Mon, Feb 28 2000, 8:30:00 pm GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|Exxtacy|Flight Design|George Ferris|John Reynoldson|Rhett Radford|Wallaby Ranch

This Oz Report is a dedicated report on the ATOS. This report with the quite a few more photos can be found at http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/atos.htm.

We all like what we fly, whether it is objectively that great or not. That said, my ATOS is by far the best hang glider that I have ever flown. It glides the best, it climbs the best, it is the easiest to handle, and it lands great. This says it all: my longest flight before ATOS – 165 miles (Exxtacy, Hobbs, NM.). Longest flight (so far) with ATOS 232 miles (Manilla, NSW, OZ).

Just because I think it is the best, doesn't mean it's perfect (or that someone else won't come out with a better one soon). There are lots of little things about the ATOS (and the pilot, for that matter) that I wish were a little bit better. I thought that it would be useful to list them (and qualify them where I could), so as to open a discussion about these issues, and to push along the development of rigid wing hang gliders.

Oz Report readers will remember that I wrote a long article about the little problems with the Exxtacy not too long after I got it. I also let Flight Design provide answers to my issues. I published the whole give and take and other publications picked up on it.

I have sent this list of issues to Felix and Berndt at AIR. I know that answering this article just cuts into their research, development, and production efforts, but then customer relations are also an important part of a total business operation. I have included their answers to my points, so that I can present a balanced picture.

Felix's responses are in blue.

As I go through these points, I may not be clear on certain items. Hopefully the give and take between Felix, Berndt and me will clear up any misunderstandings.

I found a good-sized crack in one of my leading edges (not the spar).

As I have not crashed my ATOS, and I didn't find any damage around the crack, I wondered where it came from. Did it come from transportation, i.e. while on a car top? There was no denting at all around it.

It was very easy to fix, but it made me nervous about where such cracks come from.

Was there a small deformation or just a crack, can you sent me a picture with description of the location?

Reconsideration and reflections:

I fixed the crack easily. There was no deformation in the d-spar.

Lots of dents

Perhaps these are entirely my fault. It appears that rigid wing gliders (well this didn't seem to be the case with my Exxtacy) need to have extra special care taken when transported. Padding that is good for flex wings is not enough for rigid wings. Racks should be square (they are on my truck, and Gilbert's son's car that I have here in Australia) and not round tubes. The racks should be well padded.

I've checked the Exxtacy and an ATOS prototype with honeycombs. The spar with honeycombs looked at first much better compared to other ATOS D-spars with foam and similar hours (about 200 hours). Checking later however we found more and bigger impacts on the spar with honeycombs. Because it is easy to check, the D-spar with foam sandwich is more practical be cause all damage done to the spar is visible.

Never the less every carbon surface is sensitive to puncture loads and shouldn’t be placed on an unpadded rack. We have special foam pads in stock which work well when transporting the glider on your car or cable car. These pads are fixed around the glider back with Velcro and can be stored in the glider during flight.

I wish the sail would resist damage a bit more successfully

Compared to flex wing hang gliders, the ATOS sail is very, very thin rip-stop nylon. Even compared to the Exxtacy it is very thin. This has a couple of advantages as far as I can tell. One is weight reduction. Two, elastic fit around the D-cell leading edges and to the trailing edge.

The disadvantage is that it is easy to cut the sail, put holes in it, permanently deform small bits of it, and weaken it. Almost all the damage comes while the glider is packed up. Other surfaces inside the sail and outside it rub together and cause the problems.

A number of these packing problems were, in my case, due to manufacturing errors, or lack of final quality control. There wasn't a rubber piece over the piece of keel where the back wires connect. There wasn't a foam piece over that rubber cover. There isn't a foam cover over the flap pit pins at the keel (I added one). This is necessary to keep the pins from punching holes in the sail (too late for me).

During packing, getting the wires anywhere near the back edges of the D-cell and the downtubes can cut the sail. You have to be sure that the pad around the apex is pulled down (or when the glider is on the ground up-side down, up) to protect the sail when you lay down the down tubes.

The bolts on the rib that raises the spoilerons were put in backwards on my ATOS. This caused quite a bit of wear on the sail in this area. Felix at first told me that I was doing something wrong. I didn't believe him, and then I discovered the manufacturing error. Lesson, better not to blame the customer first, as it may come back to haunt you.

The edges of the carbon fiber (the back edge and the wing tip edges) are sharp and can wear on the sail or cut it. If you pack up the sail by folding the wing tip sail material at the ends of the D-cell, this can cause the sail to wear there. You would do this to allow the glider to fit more easily into the bag, for example (more on this later).

This issue of easy sail damage is probably one of the biggest problems. AIR must make sure that they manufacturer the glider correctly, that they pad everything, and that they send out repair material. I'm sure that anyone looking at my six-month-old glider would be quite upset to think that their glider would look like that in six months. I have little patches everywhere and there are new holes forming. This doesn't do a great sales job for ATOS.

I know that Felix has tried thicker sails. Perhaps they have disadvantages that pilots won't put up with. At least AIR could ship the gliders with a complete patch kit for the sails.

We tested many different sail materials. The ATOS sail (polyester) is not only lighter it showed less wear compared to a thicker sail we’ve tested. The main reason for the damage you detail are locations were the sail touch hard parts like screws or carbon edges. A thicker sail wouldn’t help much. It is more important is to solve the problems at their source.

We spent a lot of time discovering all the points and padding them. Your glider was one of the first gliders made and in some cases we didn't detect the wear points in advance be cause the gliders before were packed little bit different or just had less flight time.

Thanks to the feedback of the first pilots we have improved this. We have protections at pulleys , rib hinges and for the edge of the D-spar (see pictures below). All this things are available as retrofit and the first customers will get this parts for no cost just be contacting us. Additionally the very first customers who had the option price like you can get a new sail for manufacturing cost.

Reconsideration and reflections:

Recently here at Wallaby Ranch, I looked at George Ferris' ATOS sail and it is absolutely pristine. He had better protection and was able to avoid all these problems.

It's not clear how to fold in the wing tip extra material

The ATOS comes with curved wing tips. Take out the tip wands, and the tubes that connect to the end of the D-cells, and you have quite a bit of material that needs folding. Even Felix couldn't figure out a good way to fold this when I saw him do it in Italy at the Worlds.

The problem is that you have to fold the material enough to allow the bag to go around the ends of the D-cell. You also have to allow the spoilerons to fold correctly onto each other so that they can fit in the bag on top of the D-cells. I sure wish there were a good formula from AIR for how to do this.

That’s right it is a little bit difficult be cause there are many possibilities.

Enclosed you'll find the method which we determined to the most practicable.

Turnbuckle breaks off pieces of the whack tube's outer sleeve.

This was a problem with the Exxtacy also. If you don't rotate the turnbuckle all the way counter clockwise before spreading the wings (one of the first things you do when setting up the ATOS), the unclipped end of the turnbuckle will lodge itself inside the whack tube sleeve and knock off a piece of it on the left hand side (pilot facing forward). Even if you do rotate it, it is easy for it to fall back and still hook the sleeve when you spread the wings.

I've knocked off three pieces of the sleeve so far, and I try to be sure that the turnbuckle is swung out every time. I lost one of the A4 bolts (cylinders actually) that connect the turnbuckle to the leading edge of the D-cell. I have replaced it with a hardware-store bolt while I await a new A4 bolt. The replacement bolt holds the turnbuckle in even more and has helped me take the last two sleeve pieces off.

See below.

I wish I had a cam or a lever rather than a turnbuckle

The nose turnbuckle has the advantage of being very flexible. You can adjust it as your glider adjusts (you make measurements of the nose angle). The problem is that often it is difficult to turn, and you feel that you may be straining the system.

I often find the tail end of the keel is sitting on the ground when I am attempting to tighten the turnbuckle. The tail is supposed to be off the ground in order to allow the pilot to push down on the front of the keel and take tension off the turnbuckle while turning it. The wing tips are supposed to be on the ground so that pushing on the front of the keel pushes the leading edges together as the wing tips are held in place.

I often find that this doesn't work, even on flat ground. Perhaps the keel should be a little shorter.

I am a bit torn by this issue. I like the solid nature of the turnbuckle, and worry about a cam just flipping open. I know that the turnbuckle has been designed to fail before the carbon fiber rings on the D-cell. I also know that the forces on the front nosepiece should be no greater than the sail tension.

When I inadvertently lost my A4 bolt to my turnbuckle, I was running with my ATOS in a field into a 20 mile per hour wind without the turnbuckle connected and the wings did not fold up (except about 1° of nose angle), so I have had some experience with the forces on the nose.

If Berndt and Felix want to say that it is just the case that the customer has to be careful, I can accept that. But I do know from speaking with Oliver, who worked at the factory, that even Berndt and Felix would have the same problems as I do.

The turn buckle is a well designed part for its purpose, but it requires special attention like you mentioned. Our new lever has several advantages. You tighten the fitting before fixing the tip and ribs. Then it is possible to insert the tips without holding the wing. This method help you also to keep the sail clean and makes it more comfortable to insert the tips.

The fitting folds out automatically and can’t damage a part if you forget to fold out the fitting.

It is not necessary to remove a bolt or ring (except one Quick Pin) so you can’t lose them and you save assembling time.

The new fittings are already available as retrofit. If you however used to the turnbuckle and don’t care about the extra assembling time or comfort there is no need to change.

new nose catch saves assembling time (available as retrofit)

Reconsideration and reflections:

I have found that if I just move one of the wing tips forward when the turn buckle gets hard to turn, that this solves the problem. There was no need to shorten the keel, or really complain. I just had to know to walk out to the tip and pull it forward an extra couple of inches (after I had already done this before I started turning the turn turn buckle.

I wish the whack tube wouldn't tear a hole in the sleeve in a hard whack

I'm a bit torn on this one also. I realize that the whack tube and its sleeve are supposed to be sacrificial items. That is, you are supposed to replace them if you have a very bad landing. I have had only two nose overs in my ATOS (I have wheels). One was in a gust front at the Austrian Nationals. The only damage was a bit of lengthening of the hole in the sleeve that allows the pop-up from the whack tube to lock in.

The present design is probably the right design, but perhaps we should get a couple of extra whack tubes and sleeves when we order a glider (just as standard items). My whack tube itself has suffered no damage (other than a slightly bent pin, which I was able to straighten). People who saw me flying my Exxtacy might remember that my whack tube didn't have a cap. That way when I whacked, I could use the ground as a cushion, since I could dig a divot.

I've found the ATOS really easy to land, so the percentage of whacks is now quite small (say compared to the Exxtacy, which wasn't that hard to land). The light weight of the ATOS contributes to the ease with which one can rotate it. I also recommend not pulling on the flaps all the way for landing, as the ATOS (and the Exxtacy) pushes back hard when you flare if you do have them all the way on. The only reason for full flaps would be a very short field.

That’s right. It is easier to flare with less flap. It is possible to land shorter with full flap deflection. I personally prefer to use only full flap position for landing to have enough practice if I need it.

There are now little folds of sail material near the ends of the D-cell

The sail material shrinks a bit, as you can see by looking for a bit of carbon fiber leading edge near the nose of the glider. At the factory there is no little strip of leading edge showing here. Perhaps there is a way to adjust the sail so that the little folds are taken away, but I don't know what to do at the moment.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but everyone always wants to have a nice tight sail. It may require that I tighten up the ribs (more on this later). Maybe tightening the tip wands, but at the moment they appear to want me to loosen them up.

I have noticed that on one sail the Velcro keeps unhooking at the wing end of the D-cell. Perhaps this sail is too tight (too close to the nose). I guess that I am just looking for some guidance here.

Unlike flex wing gliders, the Exxtacy and the ATOS are very adjustable. This puts some responsibility on the pilot to adjust them correctly, and responsibility on AIR to tell you how to adjust the ATOS. You can adjust the nose angle, sail tension straps, zipper tension, sail placement at the nose and ends of the D-cell, batten tension, flap and spoileron placement, spoileron wire tension and stop point on the spoilerons. A lot of adjustments to get correct.

The sail material shrinks a bit, as you can see by looking for a bit of carbon fiber leading edge near the nose of the glider. At the factory there is no little strip of leading edge showing here. Perhaps there is a way to adjust the sail so that the little folds are taken away, but I don't know what to do at the moment.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but everyone always wants to have a nice tight sail. It may require that I tighten up the ribs (more on this later). Maybe tightening the tip wands, but at the moment they appear to want me to loosen them up.

I have noticed that on one sail the Velcro keeps unhooking at the wing end of the D-cell. Perhaps this sail is too tight (too close to the nose). I guess that I am just looking for some guidance here.

Unlike flex wing gliders, the Exxtacy and the ATOS are very adjustable. This puts some responsibility on the pilot to adjust them correctly, and responsibility on AIR to tell you how to adjust the ATOS. You can adjust the nose angle, sail tension straps, zipper tension, sail placement at the nose and ends of the D-cell, batten tension, flap and spoileron placement, spoileron wire tension and stop point on the spoilerons. A lot of adjustments to get correct.

answer below (tightening the rib)

The top and bottom trailing edges don't line up

The bottom trailing edge near the wing tip on one side is now a little forward of the top trailing edge. This means that the Velcro doesn't line up. One would think that the sail isn't fitted around the leading edge correctly. I'll have to check this again.

The bottom trailing edge near the wing tip on one side is now a little forward of the top trailing edge. This means that the Velcro doesn't line up. One would think that the sail isn't fitted around the leading edge correctly. I'll have to check this again.

A small tolerance here is acceptable. It has no influence to the aerodynamic. However to get it optically perfect you can attach the sail at the root that the upper side is little bit longer the bottom side should be little bit shorter to get a nicer look. The Velcro connection which fix the sail at the tip has to be adjusted in the same direction to adjust the sail right.

The sticky Velcro is stronger than its glue

Sticky Velcro is used on the flaps and spoilerons. The problem is the Velcro is stickier than the glue. If you try to undo the Velcro, it comes unglued first. AIR has sewn some of the sticky Velcro on the flaps to overcome this problem. Unfortunately they didn't completely sew it on the flaps or the spoilerons. Take off a spoileron, and the Velcro tries to come off the spoileron first.

The Velcro at the outside ends of the flaps is not sewn, so it comes off. I really can't get mine to stick now. Perhaps if I had a really strong sewing machine I could fix this up.

The Velcro is now completely stitched and not as strong. I hope you find somebody with a stitching machine there or you can wait for the next check at AIR or ALTAIR. If not we will replace the spoiler. Till then you can fix with new sticky Velcro. The standard Velcro is not as strong and not stronger than the glue.

The fiberglass at the outside ends of the spoilerons has broken

Perhaps due to folding problems, the fiberglass pieces have split along the Velcro line. In one case the split went along the Velcro about 4 inches. I have tacked it back together with carbon fiber, although I could have used fiberglass.

Perhaps the spoilerons are too long to be folded easily. Perhaps there just needs to be a little reinforcement there.

We reinforced this area with Aramid and additionally shortened the spoiler there so that it is little bit easier to pack . The easiest way for fixing if this occurs is to use a self sticking sail or Velcro at this area from the bottom side.

area which needs special attention when packing the glider

critical area for packing (outer side of the spoiler)

It is difficult to keep the bottom trailing edge of the sail covering the front edge of the flaps.

This just seems to be a fitting problem. Perhaps the bottom of the sail could be made a bit deeper to cover the front edge of the flaps that are Velcroed up inside it. Perhaps it just requires that the pilot Velcro the flaps further into the sail. I noticed that everyone at the Worlds had this problem, including Felix. You would have to take your finger and go along the bottom trailing edge of the glider by the flaps, and make sure that the sail wasn't tucked under the front edge of the carbon fiber flaps.

This just seems to be a fitting problem. Perhaps the bottom of the sail could be made a bit deeper to cover the front edge of the flaps that are Velcroed up inside it. Perhaps it just requires that the pilot Velcro the flaps further into the sail. I noticed that everyone at the Worlds had this problem, including Felix. You would have to take your finger and go along the bottom trailing edge of the glider by the flaps, and make sure that the sail wasn't tucked under the front edge of the carbon fiber flaps.

The tolerance to install this was quite small. After some flights the flap comes little bit out. To get the right fit the flap has to be fixed with the Velcro more inside that the position after some flights is still right. A good way to fix this is to adjust the Velcro and deflecting the flap several times to check the position once again.

At the new sails the bottom sail is longer and provides a higher tolerance for the adjustment.

Perhaps the flaps are just a bit too long, because if you move them out a bit when installing them the outside end of the flap interferes with the rib.

The length and breadth of the flaps is a bit arbitrary to begin with, so it wouldn't seem to be a big deal to remove an inch or so from the end of the flap to keep it from interfering with the nearest rib. The pilot can install the flap a tiny bit closer to the keel, and that solves the problem, but it seems like the tolerances are a bit tighter than they need to be.

I was able to get rid of any waves in the flaps by unhooking the flaps and re Velcroing them back into the sail. I believe that John Reynoldson was referring to the wavy flaps on my ATOS when he said that there were some minor problems with the ATOS trailing edge. It was easy to fix.

But once I fixed it, I noticed that the end of the flap was too close to the nearest rib. I could undo the flap again and reposition it, but it didn't seem to be that much off to begin with. Perhaps AIR wants to make sure that it isn't required that the flap be exactly in the right spot.

The flaps are in the right place when they didn’t interfere each other in the middle and when the distance between the flap is not wider than about 10mm (we adjust it with 5mm). The flap at the very first Atos like you have were a little bit longer than now. If you shorten and round the outer side of the flap you will get the same shape like we have now and it will be easier for packing. A good distance between flap end and rib is about 6cm.

The pulley at the back of the flap rope flips over and causes the flap rope to wear out.

AIR puts in a shrink-wrap piece that is supposed to keep this from happening, but it is now wearing out on my ATOS. I expect that the pulley will soon flip and cause the rope to wear.

AIR puts in a shrink-wrap piece that is supposed to keep this from happening, but it is now wearing out on my ATOS. I expect that the pulley will soon flip and cause the rope to wear.

Even if this shrink tube wears the pulley will not flip over if the knot

It was easy to fit my Exxtacy speed bar onto my ATOS

AIR sent me two end plugs that fit into the ATOS control frame hardware. I fashioned two shims that allowed the plugs to form a tight fit with the sleeves in my Wallaby Ranch, Rhett-and-Ryan Exxtacy aero-steel base-tube. All I had to do was bolt the plugs into the base tube using the already perfectly positioned holes, and I had an aero base tube.

The large pulley wheel on one of my D-cells has partially disintegrated

Perhaps it got a bit wet. It is made of bakelight. The other pulley is fine. The other pulleys are metal, but they need to be greased or the bearing don't work very well and the rope wears. I've put some Phil's grease on all my pulleys. I noticed rope wear around all the pulleys.

AIR sent me two end plugs that fit into the ATOS control frame hardware. I fashioned two shims that allowed the plugs to form a tight fit with the sleeves in my Wallaby Ranch, Rhett-and-Ryan Exxtacy aero-steel base-tube. All I had to do was bolt the plugs into the base tube using the already perfectly positioned holes, and I had an aero base tube.

The large pulley wheel on one of my D-cells has partially disintegrated

Perhaps it got a bit wet. It is made of bakelight. The other pulley is fine. The other pulleys are metal, but they need to be greased or the bearing don't work very well and the rope wears. I've put some Phil's grease on all my pulleys. I noticed rope wear around all the pulleys.

Water should not be a problem for the pulleys. However while these pulleys are built to an aeronautical standard, the quality is not perfect. Perhaps one pulley has a different look because we sometimes smoothen the surface if we find irregularities at the check. If there is a damage at the pulley especially at the area where the control cable is connected the pulley has to be replaced.

The bag needs more padding at the ends, especially the nose.

There is a lot of metal in the nose, and it wears out the bag.

Perhaps I'm a wimp, but cams on the wing tips would be nice.

Perhaps it is just an issue of getting the proper adjustments, especially as the sail shrinks a bit, but at the moment the wing tips are very tight (too tight?). It is quite a struggle to get the lines on and off.

I really enjoyed the cams on the Exxtacy. They were inside the sail and they were easy to use. I sure hope that Felix decides on how to deal with this issue.

There is a lot of metal in the nose, and it wears out the bag.

Perhaps I'm a wimp, but cams on the wing tips would be nice.

Perhaps it is just an issue of getting the proper adjustments, especially as the sail shrinks a bit, but at the moment the wing tips are very tight (too tight?). It is quite a struggle to get the lines on and off.

I really enjoyed the cams on the Exxtacy. They were inside the sail and they were easy to use. I sure hope that Felix decides on how to deal with this issue.

The news Atoses have cams which work well and provide a possibility to adjust the sail with different tension. This levers are available as retrofit.

tip lever

Reconsideration and reflections:

The problem I was having was due to the fact that the sail had shrunk about ⅜" along the span of the wing, and I hadn't increased the length of the string on the tip wand, or moved the sail away from the nose by that amount. The tension kept getting tighter and tighter, so it became quite difficult to put the tip wands on. Once I started adjusting the sail to make up for the small shrinkage all thes problems went away.

Is AIR going to come up with their own speed bar with skids?

I do like my thin little steel speed bar, but I can't put the wheels with brakes on it because the hubs are too small to go around the bar (at least it seems that way to me). I currently have to use my other thin plastic wheels that don't have brakes on them.

Yes we have a carbon speed bar available with skids right now.

Reconsideration and reflections:

Send me one!

One special hassle is connecting the spoileron to the base tube

My ATOS is a bit older so that it is more of a hassle. You have to pull the pit pin almost but not quite all the way out of the plastic piece at the bottom of the down tube, in order to slide in the spoileron wire. You have to do this while the glider is completely set up. It is a pain.

Fortunately the design was changed for later ATOSes so that you didn't have to pull the pit pin out quite as far. I hope those pilots like this change.

I must say that the hardware on the ATOS is for the most party very streamlined, elegant, and well thought out. If it wasn't for this spoileron wire connection problem I would say that these corner brackets are the best I've ever seen.

My ATOS is a bit older so that it is more of a hassle. You have to pull the pit pin almost but not quite all the way out of the plastic piece at the bottom of the down tube, in order to slide in the spoileron wire. You have to do this while the glider is completely set up. It is a pain.

Fortunately the design was changed for later ATOSes so that you didn't have to pull the pit pin out quite as far. I hope those pilots like this change.

I must say that the hardware on the ATOS is for the most party very streamlined, elegant, and well thought out. If it wasn't for this spoileron wire connection problem I would say that these corner brackets are the best I've ever seen.

connection of the spoiler cable (important: safety cap must be on to secure the pin and to keep the end of the pin clean)

Yes it is changed and the first brackets can be replaced or reworked (drilling a longer whole) to get the new connection. A longer Quick Pin is necessary.

I like the heavy duty construction of the spars as shown at the nose conjunctions

The ATOSes look beefy at the nose, perhaps even beefier than the later Exxtacies. It gives one the perception of a safe joint connecting the two leading edges together.

The ATOSes look beefy at the nose, perhaps even beefier than the later Exxtacies. It gives one the perception of a safe joint connecting the two leading edges together.

It is very hard to say something about the strength from the look but the design load of the Atos is the same as at the Exxtacy and some things have received an additional safety factor like this root connection of the spar.

End of rib was chipped away

The ends of the ATOS' carbon fiber ribs seem to be made of some other material. They are formed into U-shaped slots that fit the metal cams that connect the sail to the ribs. The end of the outboard rib on my right-hand d-cell flaked off so that the cam wouldn't go on it any more.

I saw something similar happen to one of the ribs on an ATOS at the Worlds.

I was able to repair the end of the rib using carbon fiber, epoxy, and filler. We'll see if this lasts. Perhaps we could get some guidance on how to fix this problem.

The ends of the ATOS' carbon fiber ribs seem to be made of some other material. They are formed into U-shaped slots that fit the metal cams that connect the sail to the ribs. The end of the outboard rib on my right-hand d-cell flaked off so that the cam wouldn't go on it any more.

I saw something similar happen to one of the ribs on an ATOS at the Worlds.

I was able to repair the end of the rib using carbon fiber, epoxy, and filler. We'll see if this lasts. Perhaps we could get some guidance on how to fix this problem.

At some of the very first ribs the fibres didn’t go to the very end at the area where the metal cams are fixed. If the trailing edge touch the ground at a hard landing the metal cam of the outer rib can damage the end of the rib. After detecting this we changed the lay up process and additionally we used new designed metal cams which should fail before the rib fail. With this combination we haven’t had a failure there.

I've had three broken ribs (on my ATOS)

Two of the ribs were broken at the Worlds. Dave Sharp added a bunch of carbon fiber to them when he fixed them, and there are been no problems since. These first two were the number eight ribs at the ends of the D-cells. They are easy to break if your flair isn't perfectly even and one wing touches before the other.

AIR is well aware of this problem, and one fix is to install little pins that break off first. I wonder if they send out a bunch with each new ATOS?

The third rib was an outer rib. It also was quite easy to fix and hasn't caused a problem since. This rib is hinged so it should take any impacts. I saw another rib like this one broken at the worlds.

Fixing ribs is very easy and quick. I flew with the broken number nine rib for a week before fixing it as it had just delaminated and otherwise was fine.

Two of the ribs were broken at the Worlds. Dave Sharp added a bunch of carbon fiber to them when he fixed them, and there are been no problems since. These first two were the number eight ribs at the ends of the D-cells. They are easy to break if your flair isn't perfectly even and one wing touches before the other.

AIR is well aware of this problem, and one fix is to install little pins that break off first. I wonder if they send out a bunch with each new ATOS?

The third rib was an outer rib. It also was quite easy to fix and hasn't caused a problem since. This rib is hinged so it should take any impacts. I saw another rib like this one broken at the worlds.

Fixing ribs is very easy and quick. I flew with the broken number nine rib for a week before fixing it as it had just delaminated and otherwise was fine.

This is a very sensitive location for rigid wings. On one hand the wing has to be stiff in order to not change the pitch up moment but on the other hand it has to be flexible or strong enough too not break during a hard landing. The first Atos rib were not very strong in order to protect the D-spar. We reinforced this rib after noticing this week point and fixed it with a special bolt to get a predetermining breaking point there. This rib bolt fails before the rib or the D-spar get damaged. If the tip would be stronger the outer rib wouldn’t fail cause the load is taken by the tip and introduced the load to the D-spar, which can fail like it happened at very hard landings on the tip of the Exxtacy.

We've had good experience with this solution at the Atos now and haven’t had a broken rib since, considering the last four month and about 150 gliders. However it still could be damaged and is designed to fail before something fails at the D-spar. It must be checked after a hard landing.

It is unclear how tight to set the cams at the rib ends

The ATOS comes from the factory with really pretty tight ribs. The tightness is adjusted by a piece of Velcro that sets the placement of the cams on the rib ends. It would seem that you want to adjust the Velcro so that the cams can be put in place without undue stress on your fingers and arms, but as tight as possible. I want to be able to just flip on the cams with my thumb without creating any creases in my thumb.

The ATOS comes from the factory with really pretty tight ribs. The tightness is adjusted by a piece of Velcro that sets the placement of the cams on the rib ends. It would seem that you want to adjust the Velcro so that the cams can be put in place without undue stress on your fingers and arms, but as tight as possible. I want to be able to just flip on the cams with my thumb without creating any creases in my thumb.

To tighten the sail well it is usually necessary the tighten the ribs with different tension. The tension should increase from the root rib no.1 to the tip rib no.8+9. We set the ribs a little bit stronger when the glider is new. The reasons is, that the sail and seams get stretched a little bit and after the first flights the chance is pretty good to get the right tension. However this only works well when the temperature and humidity changes are not too big. Under very warm and dry conditions it will be necessary to adjust the sail to be a bit more lose and under cold and wet conditions it will be necessary to retighten the sail. If the tension is too high you get wrinkles like it is shown in the picture below.

You can see in the picture below the right way to tighten and untighten the ribs. Two things are important: 1. Be sure that the cam fits correctly before turning. 2. Never pull or push at the rib, only the metal lever.

tightening the rib wrinkles in the sail when the tension is to high

After some flights or under different conditions it is also necessary to tighten the webbing which connect the sail to the keel. If it is too tight you will have wrinkles and the nose fitting is hard to close.

To adjust the tip with the right tension we tighten it till the trailing edge gets lose and loosen it again to have high tension with a tight trailing edge. The tension there is usually quite high. With the new levers you get this tension easy so it is good to check the tension at the trailing edge in order to not overload the sail or rivet. Without lever it is hard to get to much tension.

checking the tension at the trailing edge

With the rib ends completely inside the sail, the trailing edge doesn't form a smooth edge

There are rises in the top surface of the trailing edge as the sail goes over the ribs. The top Velcro doesn't contact bottom surface Velcro at these points. There is not a smooth trailing edge.

There are rises in the top surface of the trailing edge as the sail goes over the ribs. The top Velcro doesn't contact bottom surface Velcro at these points. There is not a smooth trailing edge.

It should be smooth but there are small rises be cause there is no Velcro close to the rib to have a better handling when opening the cams. (hope I understand you right here )

Reconsideration and reflections:

I just meant the the trailing edge wasn't smooth and tight. Because the ribs are inside the sail, the trailing edge has a series of bumps in it at each rib. Also, you can't close the trailing edge at the rib, as it gets in the way. So the trailing edge is open a bit.

The sail is attached to the leading edge at the nose using Velcro. The Velcro on the leading edges in epoxied onto the leading edge. It doesn't come unglued.

Unlike on the older Exxtacies, the Velcro on the ATOS doesn't come unglued on the nose. This is a great relief. I personally epoxied the Velcro on my Exxtacy, so it is good to see this on the ATOS.

The sail comes off the ATOS is about ten seconds

This makes it easy to examine the leading edges (which unfortunately appear to need regular examination).

It’s very easy to repair carbon fiber

Some of my repairs even look good. Took me about half an hour to repair the large crack in one D-cell. I'm getting better at this, but with a little practice anyone can do it. I carry around a small repair kit with epoxy and carbon fiber from Flight Design. Every pilot should obtain a repair kit from AIR or Flight Design.

Adjusting the zipper is problematic

I just decided to loosen the zipper at the starting ends, as I could never get it to start zipping otherwise. Felix says to leave it tight, but that didn't work for me. I assume that as the sail shrinks you need to loosen the zipper a bit.

That’s right. The zipper should be loose to get an easy start then tight and a little less tight to the end. This is usually the best setting in order to avoid wrinkles.

Reconsideration and reflections:

As my problems with the zipper and the tip wands were due to the fact that I hadn't adjusted the sail the account for its mall shrinkage. Once I did that, everything worked well. It was easy to adjust the Velcro on the zippers. If the sail shrank much more (which I don't think it will do), I would appreciate having 3" on Velcro on each side of the zipper instead of just 2".

Thanks for your report and feedback, your glider was one of the first and many things are changed with thanks to the good feed back of many Atos customer. All things we changed are available as retrofit. A new sail for the very first customer is available for the manufacturing price and the pads for no cost. An other update is the new nose cover (see picture below) which covers the nose tube and improves slightly the aerodynamic in this area. Enclosed more pictures of some new details which are available.

Discuss "ATOS – the whole nine yards" at the Oz Report forum   link»

X-CERA

Fri, Dec 10 1999, 11:00:08 pm GMT

Flight Design|Ghostbuster|Andre Fleury

There are meets going on in Argentina and Brazil at this time of the year.

George, <gah@semptoshiba.com.br>, wrote to tell me about X-CERA, which was held in Brazil, and is reputed to be a site for big flights (https://OzReport.com/Ozv3n119.htm):

Last week in Quixada the X-CEARA ended, and as usual Manfred won. He said that the distance record could be easily broken over there, it was probably a question of taking off early (around 10 o'clock morning). Gliders during the meet were limited on 200 km distance to goal because many gliders were making goal easily. Also organizers wanted everyone to be able to return home quickly for the following day flight.

Looks like a new world record on distance for paragliders for tandem has been set, with 214 km, by a couple pilots (locals) Andre Fleury and (co-pilot?) Mailcar (a lady). As you can see, that place has some potential for distance marks. On rigids, a Ghostbuster was present, no ATOSes, pilot- Joseph (Flight Design test pilot) and two local Exxtacies.

Discuss "X-CERA" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Nose pins

Fri, Dec 10 1999, 11:00:03 pm GMT

ATOS|DHV|Exxtacy|Flight Design

Long time Oz Report readers will recall my extensive article on the Exxtacy detailing a list of minor problems that I ran into when I received my first Exxtacy. You'll find it at http://www. davisstraub.com/Glide/Extreme Exxtacy.htm.

Part that article dealt with my unease about the turnbuckle. Now it appears that Flight Design and the DHV also feel a bit uneasy about the turnbuckle. Mike Eberly, at North American Flight Design, www.fun2fly.com, writes:

According to the determination of the DHV all RIGID WINGS owners that have the rotating nose rig fittings must be warned about the right procedures needed to tension the glider:

1- The action of tensioning (rotating) the nose fittings must be done without load, that means: that the tail tube cannot be inserted at the keel and both tips must be on the ground, and there must be no help from others at any of the D-spars.

2- Whilst without load the nose fittings must rotate freely without grinding or making any noise.

3- If the action of tensioning is very difficult due to high forces, the fitting must be changed. In no case the nose tube, pliers or any lever can be used to help the tensioning.

North American Flight Design will be getting more of these standard nose catches in soon to accommodate anyone who may have been experiencing high tension and want to replace theirs. In addition, we will soon be stocking the new lever action nose catch for those of you who would like to upgrade. Flight Design will offer a 10% discount for any rigid owner who would like to exchange their old style for the new style through the end of November 2000.

While I was able to deal with my problems with the turnbuckle, by correctly loosening the straps at the trailing edge/keel junction, other pilots were left in the dark. Jim Neff, here in Australia, didn't realize that he had to rest the tips on the ground and not install the stinger before tightening the turnbuckle. He was also using the whack tube to turn the turnbuckle.

I found that a little bicycle grease (comes in the green tube), the correct tension on trailing edge straps, and pushing down on the keel tube solved my problems. Sometimes tough it is not possible to keep the keel tube off the ground and therefore pushing it doesn't relief tension on the turnbuckle with turning. One way to relief this tension is to go out to one of the wing tips and pull it as forward as possible. Setting up on flat ground really helps.

As the ATOS uses the same turnbuckle as the Exxtacy, this warning from Mike, DHV, and Flight Design applies to ATOS owners as well.

Discuss "Nose pins" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Ghostbuster questions

Thu, Jun 3 1999, 4:00:01 am GMT

Flight Design|Ghostbuster|Matthias Betsch|Scott Rutledge

Scott Rutledge interviewed Matthias Betsch, from Flight Design, about the Ghostbuster. Here's what he had to say:

Is the pitch stability different with the flaps retracted?

Yes. Retracted less, extended higher.

How rugged is the retraction mechanism? Can it be used without any problems in flight?.

Improving. At the moment still with some problems, but solved at the moment.

Has the control bar position been changed for flying at trim? Or at trim is the control bar still in front of the pilot's head?.

Yes, it is closer to the pilot.

Can the glider be landed safely with the flaps retracted, in the event they become stuck?.

Yes, but you should land directly into the wind and the flare window is smaller.

I notice that the upper surface sail cloth is all white, but is the cloth the same as the Exxtacy?

We try again two different ones: the light "rubber sail" which they use on the Atos, and we have tried before for the Exxtacy, and the normal Dimension sail. What we will use is not clear.

From the pictures of the glider mounted on the DHV rig, it would appear that the trailing edge is being held to the ribs without strings. Has the sail attachment changed?.

No, the strings are inside. This allows us to have different tension on lower and upper sail.

How were you able to lower the glider weight? Are the D-spars tapered?

Yes, but this does not reduce weight. Weight has been reduced by using a new core material for the sandwich, the lighter sail (if it is used) and less area.

Is the air foil profile thicker? High camber point moved rearwards?

Yes it is thicker and camber moved slightly backwards.

Does the set up and breakdown take longer because of the retractable flaps?

A little (2 min.) longer, also because of the tips.

Does the glider fly faster with the flaps retracted? I assume that best glide speed is increased, but how about top speed?

Much faster. The trim is even about 10 km/h faster.

Discuss "Ghostbuster questions" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Short takes »

Sun, Apr 4 1999, 5:00:01 am GMT

Avron Tal|Flight Design|G.W. Meadows|Ghostbuster

Flight Design’s word on the Ghostbuster (thanks to Avron Tal):
http://www.flightdesign.com/pages/startfr.htm

G.W says that the Nationals have about filled up. He also states that he will use a start line (as opposed to a start point) and a 15 minute interval on the start clock. He is considering using Race 3.20 with the GAP scoring system.

Discuss "Short takes" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The Certification Saga continues

Mon, Mar 29 1999, 5:00:02 am GMT

ATOS|BHPA|carbon fiber|certification|DHV|E-7|Exxtacy|Felix Rühle|Flight Design|Ghostbuster|Gianni Hotz|HGMA|James "Jim" Zeiset|Jos Guggenmos|Matthias Betsch|Mike Eberle|Wills Wing

A couple of issues back (#18 and #21) I published statements from Matthias Betsch and Gianni Hotz about the importance of glider certification. I mentioned at the time that it was perfectly acceptable, even necessary, that glider manufacturers use the designation of their gliders as certified as a marketing ploy in their struggle for market share. Today, we discuss just where things stand with rigid wing certification.

Apparently DHV, BHPA, and Australian hang gliding testing organization, Wills Wing, and HGMA, are all going to have, or now have the same test vehicle and structure (including the computers) from Mark West. The DHV is using this test vehicle to do the new DHV tests. We’ve heard that the DHV testers are just getting use to the new software and computer.

BHPA hasn’t got their test vehicle yet. The whole point of having a common platform for testing purposes is to come to an international agreement on the proper tests and procedures.

I am amazed that all these different groups could come together to buy the same hardware and agree to perform most if not all of the same tests. It certainly would be great if tests performed in California or Munchen were equally valid.

Mike Eberle, the US distributor for Flight Design and their Exxtacy (and the Ghostbuster in the future) wrote to say:

Just wanted to let you know that last week the final flight test for the small Exxtacy was done (after a 4 month break from DHV for weather and vacations). The certification (all aspects--pitch, load, flight, paperwork, etc.) is now complete. A long time in coming, but now both sizes of the Exxtacy are DHV certified.

There is lots of talk about other gliders working on being DHV certified, but right now the Exxtacy, in both sizes, is the only certified and proven rigid. The Ghostbuster is next in the DHV line for official testing—right after the E7. Others may be borrowing the DHV test truck for unofficial company testing, but no rigid gliders, other than the Exxtacy and E7, have done any official DHV tests in the recent past. To my knowledge, the E7 and Ghostbuster are the only ones on the DHV waiting list and/or right now.

Mike’s statement would indicate that two small Exxtacies were sold in the US without DHV certification. Not exactly in the spirit of Matthias’ message. I asked Matthias about this, but I haven’t yet received a response from him.

In issue #7, I quoted Jim Zeiset, the American distributor of the Guggenmos E-7, as saying:

He first built the E-7 carbon fiber rigid wing in August of 1998 and has been flying and testing it ever since. It was recently DHV certified and has been put in production at the Guggenmos factory in Germany.

I checked with Jim about Mike’s statement and this is what he had to say:

I just got off the phone with Jos Guggenmos and received some new information. The E7 has completed satisfactorily the DHV load, pitch and aerodynamic tests. There is some paperwork that needs to be done before DHV announces that it has passed certification.

He reports that he has added some strength in the front of the D-tube to help prevent damage during transport. That has brought the weight up to 33 Kg. or 72.6 lbs. He said that the production ATOS is now 35 Kg. or 77 lbs.

Jos flew with an ATOS today as a matter of fact he flew all day and was able to make some comparisons. He felt that they were pretty well matched in sink rate but at speeds above best glide the E7 had a better glide.

The ATOS uses 90g./sq.m sail material whereas the E7 uses 180g./sq.m. It looks like I will have an E7 for the Wallaby Open and it will be green.

I checked with some of my European connections, and they also said that other than the final paper work, the E-7 is DHV certified. So everyone is a bit correct here. Not yet certified, but soon to be.

I also checked with Felix Ruhle, the designer of the ATOS, about the non-certification testing that he has done on the DHV test vehicle. He said:

The ATOS is already tested in pitch and load tests are done with the strain gauges. The load test up to breaking is scheduled next. I don't know who else is on the list and who else is going to be tested first. I think it is better to promote facts of the glider than telling who is not on the list. The DHV is only a small task compared with the development already done. Main tasks are improvements, which are only possible with the response of the pilots. Here it was a big support to get two years of Exxtacy feed back from you and many other pilots, thanks.

He also wrote:

Yet to be done is load test and official test flight. Unofficial, it is already done.

About spoiler discussion: Spoilers in front have a hysteresis effect and the control is not nice. Additionally they have more drag. Spoiler close to the trailing edge can have too much pitch up moment and has to be bigger to get the same roll ratio.

So it appears that the ATOS is in the process of DHV testing. Just where, is a bit unclear. Certainly not as far as the E-7, perhaps no official results yet, but maybe ahead of the Ghostbuster.

Finally, as to the Ghostbuster, we haven’t heard if being on a list at DHV means that there has been any testing of the Ghostbuster. Some of my European connections indicate that no one that they know of has seen the Ghostbuster, so no one can comment on it.

So, we’ll await developments. We should know quite a bit more within the next week.

Discuss "The Certification Saga continues" at the Oz Report forum   link»