So the weather’s getting better and prospects for some good flights are looking brighter. As well as feeling the excitement of spending more time in the air, some of us may be savouring thoughts of getting a new or replacement wing. If part of our thinking is that our “old” [...]
During the last few months the workshop has been very busy servicing wings in anticipation of the new season. A small proportion of those gliders have needed repair work when the pilot was unaware that there was any damage. So what kind of damage can easily go unnoticed? We can [...]
Performance and safety of our gliders depend on them remaining in trim
How do the different types of line material perform, both when new and over time?
Packing away your glider may be something that you’ve not given much thought. Perhaps you just follow a familiar pattern that has altered little over the years as different wings have come and gone. Or you may have carefully studied the manual for your current wing, and thoughtfully worked [...]
Back in March 2017 I got a call out of the blue from Chetan Doshi, who lives in Mumbai. He regularly reads these SkyWings articles, and he asked me if I would go over to India to train some local pilots to become qualified reserve packers. He was concerned that [...]
Read about lineplans and line codes. Discover how to fit a replacement line to your glider. If you damage or break a line, the quickest and cheapest way to get in the air again is to order a replacement line to be sent through the post. It’s something we’re happy [...]
One of the pilots I know in my local club had reason to deploy his emergency parachute this summer, when turbulence at the edge of a strong thermal caused a big collapse and he found himself gift wrapped. His Beamer opened quickly, and after a short period of going up [...]
One of our least favourite tasks at Aerofix is to ring up a pilot and let them know that their glider has reached the end of its life. It’s a call that is often half expected by the glider’s owner, but that doesn’t make the news any less unwelcome. But [...]
