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 [...]
Most of us are aware that water, heat and salt are bad news for our wings. Each of them individually is bad, but in combination they can cause significantly accelerated deterioration. But what’s going on exactly? And how does understanding the process help us deal with unintended exposure? Let’s [...]
We all know that the less porous our canopy fabric is, the better. It is important that our wing stays pressurised, and cloth that leaks air will reduce that pressure. But is it equally important all over the wing, on the bottom and on the top surface? The proper maintenance [...]
Canopy porosity In the past two articles we’ve focussed on line length and strength. But our gliders’ performance and safety also depends critically on the porosity of the fabric because increased porosity will reduce internal pressure. So how good does the porosity have to be, and what causes it to [...]
