The next generation of the legend has arrived - The Aspen5

The eagerly anticipated Aspen 5 has just arrived this evening - What better excuse is there to head for the hills tomorrow and take it for a test fly.

Aspen 5 is coming - Our sources say it should be ready by Mid April

Gradient XC4 trials

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.

AvaSport Eiger lightweight harness (notice of a serious tear during a high G flight)

As published on the PGforum a forum member experienced a potentially serious incident when using a lightweight Eiger harness.

This model's design and purpose is to offer an ultra lightweight and simplified harness for comfortable mountain descents when using a paraglider. It is not known how old the harness in question is, or in fact how many times the pilot has performed these types of dynamic actions; but he does state doing wingovers is a lot of fun. So we are deducing that this type of action has probably been performed using this model more than a few times.

This model of harness was never designed with the intention that users perform high G and dynamic manoeuvres with it and as such we strongly recommend that pilots with this and other types of minimalist harnesses refrain from performing such manoeuvres which take the harness design outside of its intended use.

 

We strongly recommend conducting regular checks on all your flying equipment (including your harness) paying particular attention to stitching and main structural attachment points.

Preview of the all new Digifly - Air -

Digifly AIR - The new integrated instrument with high resolution display. Its shape is optimised to the maximum strength; the display offers the best visibility also in bright-light conditions and has four big operative keys ensures the best accessibility even when wearing big gloves.

The Digifly AIR will be  sold as a single full function version, with  two optional choices:

1) hang gliding pilots can ask for the installation of the optional pitot tube

2) whoever, can ask for the installation of the optional GSM-GPRS module needed for the internal Live Tracking, although this is not essential, as the Digifly AIR is equipped with a 4th generation Bluetooth processor able to communicate with every current mobile device, e.g. a smartphone on which you can install, for free, the Live Tracking app: XC Soar.

 The AIR is entirely designed, engineered and manufactured in Italy; it uses state of the art processors and sensors, including: a 99-channel anti jam GPS unit updated 10 times per second. The Air features a new inertial platform that provides an even more accurate evaluation of the wind’s direction, improves the sensitivity of the variometer, acts as a G meter for acro pilots and allows to get more precise information from the magnetic compass even at high bank angles of the wing.

The AIR has a high-visibility display grayscale, with a new design that facilitates visualisation and management of tasks in 5D.  The “5D” (Digifly trade mark), is based on an ingenious graphic design and comes from the merger of 2D and 3D visualisations, allowing the pilot to check at a glance the needed glide ratio and best ‘goto’ glide during the task; but, this new graphic design will also help the non-competitors to have an immediate idea of needed glide ratio to reach the nearest safe landing.

The display layout is fully customizable also thru PC-Mac simply 'drag and dropping' the preferred functions, or even transferring them from a micro SD card or via Bluetooth from AIR to AIR.

The fast, efficient and full optional AIR’s software, comes from the Digifly’s know-how gained during years of competition’s support. It is designed in distinct blocks that facilitates to set the instrument, entering waypoints and setting task.

The high resolution display, the wide internal memory space and the surplus of computing capability, will allow to listen and to put into practice all the tips that will come from its users, and as like as for all the Digifly’s instruments, every one of the future firmware updates will provide to the AIR’s pilots a totally “for free” perfectly tuned “AIR-tool”.

 

Golden4 from Gradient ready for production

The all new Golden4 is the latest Gradient creation. The wing is a natural follow-up model  to the most successful Gradient model series ever, the Golden series. The result is pure style, with an aerodynamic design and an incomparable variety of uses, the Golden4 has the ingredients and design innovation to meet the demands of all kinds of pilots.

 

The agility, lift, performance and speed of the Golden4 are backed up by strong passive safety characteristics. Combined with Gradient’s typical sensitive handling and immediate feedback, means pilots fly relaxed and quickly harmonise with the wing, enabling them to fly to their potential.

 

It makes the Golden4 a truly reliable partner. Flying becomes intuitive, leaving your mind free to concentrate on making good decisions about your flight.

 

Flying the Golden4 starts with the typical, easy take-off characteristics Gradient pilots all over the world appreciate.  Continuing with the well proved DDsystem allows the development team to prepare  a very safe and stable glider with very interesting performance potential.

 

The Golden4 thermals with a flat turn, even when flying small circles. The wing reacts immediately to weight shifting and has precise brakes for sporty handling. It's well-balanced wing dynamics and a defined stall point gives this intermediate glider freestyle qualities. The glider also behaves in a calm and predictable way in extreme situations, leaving you confident of your safety while you regain normal flight – no matter if it was you or turbulence that caused the trouble. 

The Golden4 utilises the special double-coated skytex cloth EVERLAST which was developed in partnership with Porcher Sort and Gradient. The target was to develop a very durable paragliding cloth that keeps its shape and stability in all directions, including radial and diagonal strength. Gradient intensively tested EVERLAST on the Nevada and Golden4 prototypes for eight months. These gliders were used by expeditions in very difficult weather and flying conditions with excellent results. We are now extremely proud to be able to bring this material exclusively to Gradient customers. The new Golden4 is the first glider to use EVERLAST along the leading edge, after which EVERLAST will be used in the development of all new Gradient gliders.

 

 

 

 

We are expecting delivering of the first models into the UK by the end of this month and we are offering a special discount on any advanced sales. We are confident that the Golden4 is another pilots classic.

Gradient Golden 4 - A sneaky preview

 We have just recieved a couple of photos of the  new Golden 4 from Gradient -

More information to follow:-