Discussions de vol libre au Québec

Hier, dimanche , je suis allé au mont Mégnatic avec mes amis de vol

libre de la région Sherbrooke. Ben j'vous jure on n'a pas pu ce rendre

en haut , pas parce qu'on avait pas un 4x4 , accause de la cris de

neige. Y'en n'avait 2 pieds ds le chemin . Après quelque moment

d'hésitation on a décidé ,moi et François , de faire le reste a pied

avec nos ami. Une chance qu'ils étaient là parce qu'on serait aller a

yamaska "hen Guy". Malgré tout,c'est a dire pas vent ou trés peu,on a

fait une trés belle "sled" et passé un belle journée. c'us loin de mon

objet!!!

Donc ,en revenant du mt Megantic par le chemin le plus court vers

St-Célestin, J'ai passé prés du mont Ham , une montagne de 708 métre ASL

et une trés bonne pente tout le tour. Un dénivellé d'environ 350 metre

et le sommet est dégagé . Le mt ce situ entre Ham-sud et St-Adrien sur

la route 257. Il y a une batisse au pied de la montagne proprièté de

????? Athabaska. Je ne sais pas si il y a un chemin pour monté , mais il

y a un croix sur la montagne.

J'aimerais avoir votre opinion sur cette montagne ainsi que tous

renseignement disponible, surtout si vous avait déja passé par là.

bon vol a tous Carol Boulianne

From: Kurt Wimberg

Sent: Sunday, June 01, 1997 12:41 PM

To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu

Subject: Review of Exxtacy

Review of Exxtacy

I was browsing the List on the WWW and noticed that there was several posts

about the Exxtacy. I was the first U. S. Guinea Pig to fly one in SLC in

early April and have one being shipped from Germany on Tues the 3rd of June. I

only flew it for 30-40 minutes or so but I can comment on what I know and

give an opinion. I'm not a member of the list so I'm not sure what's been

posted to date.

The problem with reviewing the Exxtacy at this time is that there's a

definite learning curve to deal with and until I get 10 or so hours on it,

I really won't be sure that what I've experienced in a 30 minute flight is

true or not. Before I test flew it, I really contemplated what aspects of

flying I enjoy and what appealed to me in the Exxtacy specs I had received.

I decided that if it didn't fly like a hang glider, I wouldn't buy it. I

was, and still am, concerned that it's not weight shift. Turning with

ailerons scare me, as does the moving parts involved. I am very adamant

about flying prone, open to the air. I flew paragliders and the view is

great but it doesn't FEEL as good to me. I've flown in a sailplane and I

don't care how much performance they have, the windshield and cockpit takes

away from the experience I prefer superman style, and although I don't do

aerobatics, I love to crank and bank. I also don't fly that much

40 hrs/year), and the thought of a 17.5:1 glide ratio with a 150 Ft/min sink

rate appeals to my sense of future air time. Safety is another concern;

the speed at the high end and a 5:1 glide with full flaps at the low end

appeals to my sense of safety. Lastly, since many of my buddies are going

topless I'm either going to be flying alone or buying a new wing. We

always go XC so performance is important.

Several of us met the Germans, Felix and Christoph at the Blue Sky factory

(impressive factory.) along with Mike Erberle the U. S. rep. My

impressions of just looking at the Exxtacy are this: It's a machine. I've

never seen anything so well thought out. (I'll spare you the details.)

Every aspect of the construction of this glider is unbelievable. It sets

up quicker than a traditional HG but there is more to preflight which adds

time. It folds up very neatly and super fast. Everybody who was there was

impressed. Felix, the designer had been working mentally on the design for

2-1/2 years and said it took 14 months with a full time crew of 25 people

to reach the point of production. Obviously a lot of bucks behind them.

Flight design makes a successful small aircraft that is the meat of the

company. Felix said that designing a glider like the Exxtacy is difficult

because you can't make trial and error experiments. Everything must be

figured out on a computer first. The design process of traditional Hang

Gliders can incorporate trial and error aluminum bending and experiments

can be made on a daily basis. The Exxtacy is mostly carbon fiber with no

aluminum battens to bend. They had less tries to get it right.

A short flight on a traditional HG can tell a lot but the first thing I

realized about the Exxtacy is that there's going to be a learning curve.

Felix and Christoph were guessing it will take 10 hours to begin to dial

into it. The day was very windy on the North Side. A solid 15- 20 mph

with low cloud base and occasional virga dropping out. All the pilots in

he air were working on avoiding cloud suck that started right off launch.

Felix flew it first to prove to everybody that it really does fly and made

it look easy.

I was up next. The first thing I noticed is that the glider sits low on

the control frame. This makes its easy to hook into but hard to get under

it to

bring the tail up. You need to pull it upright before hooking in and even

then it's hard to get in there. Could be a problem in turbulent launch

sites. I didn't want help walking out to launch so I could experience

ground handling. I managed the walk to launch but had to put it down

several times and start over. Later, I had about the same trouble with my

Klassic.

Nose down, Eyes up. Launching was no problem in strong winds. I was very

concentrated on keeping my cool and controlling my input slowly into the

control frame. There's around 3 inches of left and right base tube

movement before the aileron is activated. The side wires activate the

ailerons. Once activated it feels a lot better and initiates at about the

same speed as a HG. I didn't like the play. Felix says he can take it

out, but that after I get used to flying it , I will like it adjusted where

it is. (Trust). I was told to coordinate turns similar to a HG but I

definitely did not get it wired. This is where the learning curve will

come in. I'm going to take a risk that it is possible and I will

eventually coordinate turns. John Heiny flew it after me and said he had

no trouble with turn coordination and liked it. Pitch control is weight

shift . There's around 6-8 inches of light bar pressure and then it gets

very stiff. Within that 8" is quite a speed range. Felix says he can

adjust the pitch pressure to be lighter by putting shims somewhere in the

wing tips but is convinced that it's adjusted correctly. He voiced concern

about the glider getting away from you if he sold it with light bar

pressure.

Some more observations: yaw input does NOTHING to this glider and muscling

it is a waste of energy. It took me a while to figure this out and I soon

relaxed into the easy power steering technique. I never realized how much

yaw input I put into my glider until I flew the Exxtacy. In a traditional

HG the yaw input effects the glider in the 2nd half of your turn after the

wings are loaded. It helps you turn faster. The Exxtacy initiates just as

fast but continues with a round turn that's slower and not as tight. When

turning into strong lift, the Exxtacy will power into the thermal better.

There are tradeoffs here. I'm guessing that in certain conditions, small

tight thermals, a HG will out thermal an Exxtacy. In light lift and bigger

thermals there will be no contest.

The wings don't flex, I love the feeling of flexing wings but now I

understand that it's not as efficient as flying on rails like the Exxtacy,

another trade off. The most amazing thing about the Exxtacy is how

stable it is. This can be good in some conditions and not as fun in

others. When I started slow and slammed the bar to my waist the gliders

nose hardly came down at all. All that happens is it goes real fast and

very flat. When I pushed out fast, the gliders nose rose up slow and

slight. It is very stable. I believe its claim to a 17.5:1 glide with an

incredible polar. I played with the flaps full on, with my body vertical.

I did come down fairly fast although it was tough conditions for

descending. I didn't have a air speed indicator so I didn't get its top

speed but John Heiny said he only got it up to 50 mph.

I landed on top and was told later that top landing conditions were

difficult at the time. On my final turn I imputed too quickly back and

forth between left and right turns. It hated it and went into PIOs. I was

told this would happen if I did that so I collected myself and made slower

movements and got out of it quickly. I came in straight, and got into

ground effect. The glider never told me to flair and I ended up running it

out. I was told that I did great for the conditions but a flair would have

helped at some point. Felix says the flair has more resistance than a HG

and I'm sure that landing will be another learning curve altogether. All

the pilots who landed at the bottom had an easy time of it.

Well I said I wouldn't buy it if it didn't fly like a hang glider and it

doesn't. I don't think it will crank and bank as well as a traditional HG

but it turns great and has the superior glide and the sink rate. There are

tradeoffs as with all gliders. I was impressed with it enough to believe

that I'll get used to it and learn to love it. I'm hoping I'll get more

air time, get higher and go farther. After I get comfortable on it I'll

give you another honest review. My Klassic is not for sale yet. Can't

wait to get the Exxtacy.

Life is good.

Be safe

Kurt Wimberg

kwimberg@wyoming.com

C'est certain qu'il y en a beaucoup d'interˆt partout. Pour ceux

qui aiment ces ailes rigides, vous pouvez en voir d'autres … mon site

(toujours en construction), y inclus le Pegasus que l'on a copi‚ pour

faire l'Exxtacy. C'est au: