I've been lucky enough to get a couple of test flights and
to see first-hand how the XC4 is shaping up. Unfortunately the weather hasn't
exactly played ball, but I did manage to get a couple of flights on it. So what
can I tell you?
Well if the proto stays anything like the final release, it
will be a dream to launch, In-fact I haven't launched a more easy '2 liner'
than this before and after a little practice I could launch the wing in almost
any configuration making it very easy to slope land and restart. Ground
handling was effortless and so responsive to my inputs, giving the pilot
complete mastery over the wing. This proto had trimmers, but even set at a
faster trim it was still very manageable.
Once your feet are off the ground you recognise you are on a
true thoroughbred and it certainly wants to travel, yet it is very nimble to
the touch, making me want to throw it about and simply enjoy the responsiveness
of the wing. - Which has been a lot a fun, however this is also a serious xc
machine and when you enter a thermal it bites into the air and with a bit of
weight-shift and a bit of brake you enter a very efficient climbing circle. -
Thermaling is a real delight. The XC3 was once described to me as like flying
on rails. This is the similar but much better.
The most noticeable real performance improvement for me was
when I flew into a head wind. The experience with this wing was very
reminiscent of what I first saw the R10 doing compared to other open class
wings of the time, in that this proto was able to climb as it pushed forward -
In a way that I got to heights and out over places on my local sites that I
wouldn't have been able to do previously for the conditions. This is what was so impressive as neither of
these days where very remarkable in terms of great flying conditions. With this
glider I was simply able to explore more and still manage to get back with
ease. Making me really want to get out on a good day with it - but that wasn't
to be.
Yes there is a fair bit of movement in the wing ( But this
is still at the prototype stage)and at first I was wary but the leading edge
remained very solid and simply using the B risers to maintain authority over
the wing, these movements were stopped and any buoyancy in the air could be fully
exploited. It does need to be actively piloted, but not in the busy way which
some of my old open class wings required.
Sometimes wings are replaced with only a few improvement
tweaks but this with felt a whole lot better than anything I had previously
flown from Gradient.
I felt that this proto was very close to being a finished
product and must admit to being very reluctant to be have to send it back, but
there are a couple of tweaks required but this is mainly around riser settings.
