Should I pack my glider loosely or tightly?

2019-03-14T10:34:13+00:00Packing|

Roy Dade writes: John, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your Skywings articles. Just a suggestion but packing is an often debated topic on the hill. I’ve often felt a tight neat pack is good if walking in or out any distance to stop the rubbing of glider fabric against fabric but [...]

Line strength

2019-03-13T17:11:56+00:00Line strength|

Over the last couple of months we’ve had a number of gliders fail because there lines were no longer strong enough to fly safely. In each case the pilot was disappointed – that’s entirely understandable – but in a couple of cases surprised as well. So what might be [...]

Reserve repacking time

2018-10-10T12:13:50+00:00Reserves|

With the flying season drawing to a close, you may find yourself thinking about next year’s adventures, after winter has passed and welcome warmth returns. But it’s also that time of year to spare a thought for your reserve: is it up to the job that it might just be [...]

Airflow around a wing

2018-10-10T11:57:29+00:00Porosity|

You may have read an article that appeared in Skywings last August about porosity. In that article I referred to the diagram in Ozone’s paper about SharkNose technology which showed how the difference between the internal wing pressure and the external pressure is greatest at the leading edge (Figure 1). [...]

Why do lines shrink?

2018-10-10T11:54:07+00:00Line material, Line measuring|

Since we started using laser equipment to measure glider linesets at Aerofix, we’ve measured over a thousand gliders. Measuring the distance from the risers to every attachment point on a canopy reveals exactly where line lengths deviate from specification, and the program we wrote enables us to determine exactly what [...]

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