New World Out & Return Record on his Bi Golden

I have just received news that Toby Colombe on the 26th July set a new O&R world record from the Julian Alps Solvenia on board his Bi-Golden Tandem. His claim distance is just shy of 168km and out and return distance is 170km.
Track log and flight discription here.

- Well done Toby.

Aspen3 Review - by Toby Colombe

Toby Colombe had a really good run in Piedrahita in the British Championship's 2nd round at the end of June. Toby flew consistently at a very high standard to win the Sports and Serial Class on his Aspen3. He since has wrote an excellent Pilots review for the Aspen3 which he posted on PG forum. We have simply cut and pasted it.

Background:
I have about 400 hours on the Aspen1 and 100 or so on the Aspen2. I have also spent hundreds of hours on other wings including the Freestyle, Artic 1, Golden2 , Mantra 1 and 2, the XC2 and several other wings. I am also a keen tandem pilot and fly regularly. Over the last two weeks I have spent about 30 hours on the Aspen 3. Flying in both the French Alps and flat lands of Spain, I have munched up a total of over 600 kilometres and also had several soaring and “play“ flights.

Performance:
Claims about performance are so difficult to verify even by professional test pilots. Although I very strongly suspect that it outperforms its predecessors I haven’t been able to prove this –whistling lines or otherwise. I’ll let others guess its glide and speed.
More importantly here’s how it compares with other wings in some qualitative respects:
A brief comparison with the A1 and A2.
The Aspen 1 was without doubt an all time classic wing and will always be remembered as such. Its main plus points were its agility and light handling. It’s weak point in my opinion was its nervousness. A great wing to learn on with lots of feedback but just a little bit too nervous? I had the feeling I needed to reign it back a lot of the time – a bit like a horse that’s too keen. In contrast the Aspen 2 was less agile and although once again a superb glider it lacked a little of the original’s panache. More stable in both roll and pitch it needed “forcing” to bank-up into the smaller thermals. The increased stability over the A1 did however mean you could let it fly hands high (less reigning in required) and therefore it probably glided better through the rough stuff. As has now been proved with hours and hours of flying it was certainly not a dangerous glider as Jerome had claimed on this forum early on.
Before flying the A3 I had read this thread and also heard a few things on the grape-vine. I have put many concerns to rest and all in all I have to say that the A3 is an absolutely outstanding glider. Congratulations to Gradient: In my opinion you’ve got this wing spot on! In short it has every thing I like about both the A1 and A2 without any of the gripes.

Main handling features:
Lighter handling than the (already light!) A2. It’s so light, delicate and precise throughout the brake range. The brake pressure is still progressive but very light along the whole range of brake travel. Great on a long flight and top marks from me.
Less pitchy than the A1 means its easier to launch. You can let it fly. Nice and stable but with enough pitch to use. It’s certainly less roll stable and took me by surprise initially: lean in and turn. So responsive I almost wing-overed my first turn! In thermals just roll it in. I find that I have to come off the inside so it doesn’t wind in too tightly sometimes. That’s not really a negative but just shows how manoeuvrable this toy is. A real joy. I’d have to say its “easy”, but then its still an LTF2 wing and we haven’t talked about collapses yet!

Bar:
I have spent several hours barring this machine through the thermic air. If you’re looking to get your hands on one of these then behaviour on bar is probably a key quality. So how is it? In short: fantastic! The bar is like butter. Smooth easy and nice and light: It’s such a pleasure to use! Just squeeze and play the pitch. Even after extensive use my legs were hardly tired at all. (In contrast to the XC2 where after a couple of hours flying you’re knackered!) On full bar I found it to be very stable and the leading edge doesn’t quiver in the same way as the A1 used to. The wing does however wobble along its chord – the wing tips moving forward and aft like its breathing. Mildly disconcerting at first I soon got used to it and don’t really know if it’s a disadvantage or not. On full bar it seems to wobble most of the time. That movement has a name but I’ve forgotten it for now. I’ll call it the “accordion wobble”. Apparently it can be tamed out by tightening the C’s. Even in normal flight it seems to quiver just a little bit (like it’s not as solid along the tail edge) but according to wing designers I’ve spoken to this makes the tips more sensitive to the air and helps in finding thermals. It seemed to work… most of the time. (when it didn’t I’ll take the blame!)

Other stuff
Surely the ease of manoeuvrability of this wing has to make the A3 Freestyle a likely successor to the A2 Freestyle! Wing overs, SATs, loops, asymmetric spirals and all that agile stuff are so easy with this wing. Wow! If you’ve ever flown a wing too small for you, you’ll know it makes everything easier (though more agile!) on the ground and that little bit more dynamic in the air. That’s how it feels on the A3 – like I’m on a wing that’s a little too small for me: easy and dynamic. And yet the handling is super light. Strong wind launches are a breeze (no pun intended). In terms of pure feeling, I think Gradient have got this wing just right.

Collapses and recovery
I tend to go pretty easy through the rough stuff but did get one 60-70% asymmetric on full bar which took me by surprise and swung me round pretty quick. I caught it at 90degrees and it seemed to behave and recover smoothly and predictably. Recovery on normal speed asymmetrics and one full frontal seemed pretty standard.
The last two or three cells are a little soft and tuck in from time to time rather like the A2 and as seen on most high arc and high aspect wings (the A3 is neither of these). Nothing to worry about just an observation. They roll out by themselves. See EN reports for full still air recovery characteristics.
In real life air the A3 is not prone to collapses and although with any wing in this category an active flying style is essential I found it had nothing untoward or unexpected to say: I quickly felt very much at home. If you’re looking for a new “2” I’d definitely recommend you put this on your test flight list.
_________________
Toby

Air-Play supports the Antigravity -Acro Team

We are delighted, to be supporting the Uk's Antigravity-Acro Team with the latest Acro-Pro harness from Ava Sport. Both Adam Ingram and Terry Stubbs Jnr recently came to the Lake District for the Lakes Charity Classic and gave us all a great show, despite the less than ideal conditions for flying, never mind acro. They are true professionals. - It's a real pleasure to be supporting you guys.


Here's a short video of Adam (Gradient Seven) and Terry on a variety of different wings putting in some training above Nepal, Turkey and Scotland!

AAT from Antigravity Acro Team on Vimeo.

The Lake District's flying 'Holy Grail' unlocked.

I first began my flying obsession in the Lake District nearly 20 years ago and have been lucky to fly with some of the sports luminaries as well as many of what I consider to be 'top draw xc hounds' who have visited the area. During this time, while other areas in the U.K began clocking distances over the Magical 100km; the Lakes area continued to hold off giving up its main prize; till last Saturday.

Nigel Page was first to come close in the early 90's, clocking an impressive 90 km flight from Jenkin fell, this record stood for over 10years as the area's longest Pg distance; Untill Ali Guthrie made his strong wind flight from Great Mell Fell which lies on the edge 0f the main mountains of the Lakes in 2005. Only to be caught out by Newcastle airspace.

80km on above Moffat.
Photo Credit~ M Cavanagh

For me this flight of Ali's seemed to provide a bit of a key for achieving such a distance from this area; As lovely as it isto be flying amongst the hills and dales of this area, progress through this terrain can be painfully slow, as you need to often battle with either the prevailing wind; terrain orientatition; as well as, the often technical influences of sea breeze which surround the county on three sides. The key for me, seemed to be, to take off near the edge of the hilly area similar to what Ali had done, and so began my obsession with sites like Brigsteer and Barkin, as both these provided easy access to the flat land terrain, taking away some of the added complication which appeared to make achieving better distances from this area just that bit more tricky.

In 2007 I was lucky enough to lay claim to the longest straight line distance from the lakes (flying from Brigsteer) with 3 flights each a little over 95km (completed on consecutive days.) and although one of these, through the turnpoint xc rule, took past the magical and invisible 100km line The xc score, in reality was still short of my 100km straight line holy grail.

The following year I was again fortunate to extend the longest flight distance claim by another km and achieve the Uk's earliest 100km xc score in a season (19th March) but again this was achieved through the now standard turnpoint flight claims. More annoyingly this could well have been the 100km straight line distance holy grail, if I had been better prepared with regard to knowing the actual restrictions of the Leeds Bradford airspace. I had chosen to turn north in an attempt to circumnavigate the approaching airspace. However, If I had simply chosen to fly straight, stepping down my height as I past over Skipton and accepting this as my final glide I could have achieved my ambition. But in reality, flying for me it is really about continuing the great experience of free flight than simply laying claim to a first.

Later that season, flying initially in the company of my good friend Mike Cavanagh, I made another attempt at my Holy Grail; this time from Barkin, but again with no avail. Landing a frustratingly few 100metres short of the Scottish border and again only a couple short of that elusive 100. Ah-well, the search will continue next season.

On the 11th July the day after a great but painfully slow late afternoon/ early evening xc. We headed North once more to collect our vehicles where I chose to get my vehicle to a garage for some much need TLC, as on the journey to site the day before my car started to not fire on all its cylinders. While Mike and Ben Keayes where able to in the enviable position to be free of any such burden they simply had to decide which site they should fly from - finally selecting Blease Fell.

Blease is an interesting site as it is a very much a mountain site though in a position which is on the edge of the main fells and adjacent to Jenkin – the site of the areas first big pg distance claim. It appears that Mike managed to do what Nigel had previously done, by slipping off the side of the range with not that much height he carefullu made good progress over Calbeck then Carlisle, crossing the Solway and the Scottish Border and more importantly into a much improving sky. Following the M74 Mike made a steady track northwards passing the old Victorian Spa town (Moffat) at the 80km mark, knowing now he was in a good position for the 100km distance. This is what Mike had to say. (Full report here scroll down to 6th post).

“As I was over Moffat I knew it was about as far as people had got on previous flights and although my clouds were petering out, they looked like they would get me the 100km! Tinto was also beckoning and the motorway was on the track! Decision made and off I glided into the roughest of thermals, a bit of a wake up after the nice climbs I had got used to. There was an 8mps lurking around in there which gave me quite a tussle, but ultimately it got me back high. Meanwhile those clouds had petered out faster than I hoped and my next glide turned into my final one as the last decaying cloud failed me. I thought about heading for a hill to wait, but looked at the distance on my gps saying 98km; hopefully just carrying on with the glide and landing by the road would get me 100km in a straight line. It was bit closer than I expected as I touched down by the pub at Crawford – 101.75km. I had a big grin on my face and hoped the machine was telling me the truth”.

Although this Holy Grail may have alluded me, I will continue my quest to fly 100km (straight line) from the lakes. I must say a Big Congratulations to Mike. Who unknowingly to me had this this also as a goal for his XC flying as well.
“It was a bit of a holy grail for me to, I am amazed it had not fallen earlier. I was starting to think the lakes were too difficult to get that far. So maybe the fact that from there you can escape the mountains very quickly is key (I've always had that in the back of my mind), although you often have more sea air to contend with”.

Mike has continued to be a great xc sparing partner since the early days and he's a great sportsman who has helped me to greatly improve my own flying as a by-product of our friendship. - What should our next ‘Holy Grail’ be Mike; the 100mile distance?

AVA SPORT DESIRE MF

I have just received a bit more information regarding the new multifunction harness from Ava Sport.

The Desire MF is a harness and packsack all in one. It has a airbag protector, which has already been tested by EN (European norms) in Germany. The harness is very adjustable, the seating position is semi-reclined - striking a good balance between pilot comfort, streamlining and maintaining a good position from which it is easy to make a safe landing. The harness has an integral reserve pocket, which is located on the right hand side and underneath the seat.
The Desire MF has lightweight auto clip buckles with a 'T' bar security system. It is a light harness offering all the pilot security of your traditional harness combined with the versatility of the reversible harness /sack harness The harness is a about 4.8 kg. And it is possible to carry your canopy inside the pack ( not a tandem ) .
What else… it is good for mountain climbing. We are looking forward to getting our first models in shortly.

Main colour is black with various colour stripe options (red, blue, gray, green, yellow, white, orange).

Price £485