- Remarks by Steve Bralla
- Report by Kurt Wimberg
- Q and As by Mike Eberle
- Report by Tyson Richmond
- Report by Jim Lamb
- Report by Ian Barclay
- Report by Chris Jones
- Report by Mark Poustinchian
Steve Bralla
>From: Zulufive@aol.com
>Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 17:12:46 -0400 (EDT)
>To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu
>Subject: Re: Extacy
>Resent-From: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu
>X-Subscription: To unsubscribe send To: hang-gliding-d-request@lists.utah.edu with Subject: unsubscribe
>X-Archive: For archive assistance send To: hang-gliding-request@lists.utah.edu with Subject: archive help
>
>I got to fly with the Exxtacy at Torrey a few weeks ago and I was impressed.
> Seeing someone jump on the glider for the first time and in 15 minutes be on
>top of the stack, fly down the ridge a mile and come back higher than
>everyone made a believer out of me. The landings with the flaps looked easy,
>this was a day that had a Laminar get into PIOs and a down wind landing. On
>the down side, I'm not a fan of spoilerons. It looked like one or the other
>was alway deployed. I didn't get to see the set up or break down.
>Steve Bralla
Hi Steve--thanks for your comments. Talking with Felix Ruhle, the lead designer, I have learned that one of the spoilers is not always deployed. Sometimes with pilots who are new to the Exxtacy they will tend to do more than is needed to fly the glider and may have the spoilers up a bit too much. This would lead to a little worse performance until the pilot gets used to the glider. This learning curve is normal with any glider. This would account for why it took 15 min to get on top of the stack! :)
Glider set up and break down takes 10-15 min.
Mike Eberle
Kurt Wimberg
From: Kurt Wimberg
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 1997 12:41 PM
To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu
Subject: Review of Exxtacy
Review of Exxtacy
I was browsing the List on the WWW and noticed that there was several posts about the Exxtacy. I was the first U. S. Guinea Pig to fly one in SLC in early April and have one being shipped from Germany on Tues the 3rd of June. I only flew it for 30-40 minutes or so but I can comment on what I know and give an opinion. I'm not a member of the list so I'm not sure what's been posted to date.
The problem with reviewing the Exxtacy at this time is that there's a definite learning curve to deal with and until I get 10 or so hours on it, I really won't be sure that what I've experienced in a 30 minute flight is true or not. Before I test flew it, I really contemplated what aspects of flying I enjoy and what appealed to me in the Exxtacy specs I had received.
I decided that if it didn't fly like a hang glider, I wouldn't buy it. I was, and still am, concerned that it's not weight shift. Turning with ailerons scare me, as does the moving parts involved. I am very adamant about flying prone, open to the air. I flew paragliders and the view is great but it doesn't FEEL as good to me. I've flown in a sailplane and I don't care how much performance they have, the windshield and cockpit takes away from the experience I prefer superman style, and although I don't do aerobatics, I love to crank and bank. I also don't fly that much 40 hrs/year), and the thought of a 17.5:1 glide ratio with a 150 Ft/min sink rate appeals to my sense of future air time. Safety is another concern; the speed at the high end and a 5:1 glide with full flaps at the low end appeals to my sense of safety. Lastly, since many of my buddies are going topless I'm either going to be flying alone or buying a new wing. We always go XC so performance is important.
Several of us met the Germans, Felix and Christoph at the Blue Sky factory (impressive factory.) along with Mike Erberle the U. S. rep. My impressions of just looking at the Exxtacy are this: It's a machine. I've never seen anything so well thought out. (I'll spare you the details.) Every aspect of the construction of this glider is unbelievable. It sets up quicker than a traditional HG but there is more to preflight which adds time. It folds up very neatly and super fast. Everybody who was there was impressed. Felix, the designer had been working mentally on the design for 2-1/2 years and said it took 14 months with a full time crew of 25 people to reach the point of production. Obviously a lot of bucks behind them. Flight design makes a successful small aircraft that is the meat of the company. Felix said that designing a glider like the Exxtacy is difficult because you can't make trial and error experiments. Everything must be figured out on a computer first. The design process of traditional Hang Gliders can incorporate trial and error aluminum bending and experiments can be made on a daily basis. The Exxtacy is mostly carbon fiber with no aluminum battens to bend. They had less tries to get it right.
A short flight on a traditional HG can tell a lot but the first thing I realized about the Exxtacy is that there's going to be a learning curve. Felix and Christoph were guessing it will take 10 hours to begin to dial into it. The day was very windy on the North Side. A solid 15- 20 mph with low cloud base and occasional virga dropping out. All the pilots in he air were working on avoiding cloud suck that started right off launch. Felix flew it first to prove to everybody that it really does fly and made it look easy.
I was up next. The first thing I noticed is that the glider sits low on the control frame. This makes its easy to hook into but hard to get under it to bring the tail up. You need to pull it upright before hooking in and even then it's hard to get in there. Could be a problem in turbulent launch sites. I didn't want help walking out to launch so I could experience ground handling. I managed the walk to launch but had to put it down several times and start over. Later, I had about the same trouble with my Klassic.
Nose down, Eyes up. Launching was no problem in strong winds. I was very concentrated on keeping my cool and controlling my input slowly into the control frame. There's around 3 inches of left and right base tube movement before the aileron is activated. The side wires activate the ailerons. Once activated it feels a lot better and initiates at about the same speed as a HG. I didn't like the play. Felix says he can take it out, but that after I get used to flying it , I will like it adjusted where it is. (Trust). I was told to coordinate turns similar to a HG but I definitely did not get it wired. This is where the learning curve will come in. I'm going to take a risk that it is possible and I will eventually coordinate turns. John Heiny flew it after me and said he had no trouble with turn coordination and liked it. Pitch control is weight shift . There's around 6-8 inches of light bar pressure and then it gets very stiff. Within that 8" is quite a speed range. Felix says he can adjust the pitch pressure to be lighter by putting shims somewhere in the wing tips but is convinced that it's adjusted correctly. He voiced concern about the glider getting away from you if he sold it with light bar pressure.
Some more observations: yaw input does NOTHING to this glider and muscling it is a waste of energy. It took me a while to figure this out and I soon relaxed into the easy power steering technique. I never realized how much yaw input I put into my glider until I flew the Exxtacy. In a traditional HG the yaw input effects the glider in the 2nd half of your turn after the wings are loaded. It helps you turn faster. The Exxtacy initiates just as fast but continues with a round turn that's slower and not as tight. When turning into strong lift, the Exxtacy will power into the thermal better. There are tradeoffs here. I'm guessing that in certain conditions, small tight thermals, a HG will out thermal an Exxtacy. In light lift and bigger thermals there will be no contest.
The wings don't flex, I love the feeling of flexing wings but now I understand that it's not as efficient as flying on rails like the Exxtacy, another trade off. The most amazing thing about the Exxtacy is how stable it is. This can be good in some conditions and not as fun in others. When I started slow and slammed the bar to my waist the gliders nose hardly came down at all. All that happens is it goes real fast and very flat. When I pushed out fast, the gliders nose rose up slow and slight. It is very stable. I believe its claim to a 17.5:1 glide with an incredible polar. I played with the flaps full on, with my body vertical. I did come down fairly fast although it was tough conditions for descending. I didn't have a air speed indicator so I didn't get its top speed but John Heiny said he only got it up to 50 mph.
I landed on top and was told later that top landing conditions were difficult at the time. On my final turn I imputed too quickly back and forth between left and right turns. It hated it and went into PIOs. I was told this would happen if I did that so I collected myself and made slower movements and got out of it quickly. I came in straight, and got into ground effect. The glider never told me to flair and I ended up running it out. I was told that I did great for the conditions but a flair would have helped at some point. Felix says the flair has more resistance than a HG and I'm sure that landing will be another learning curve altogether. All the pilots who landed at the bottom had an easy time of it.
Well I said I wouldn't buy it if it didn't fly like a hang glider and it doesn't. I don't think it will crank and bank as well as a traditional HG but it turns great and has the superior glide and the sink rate. There are tradeoffs as with all gliders. I was impressed with it enough to believe that I'll get used to it and learn to love it. I'm hoping I'll get more air time, get higher and go farther. After I get comfortable on it I'll give you another honest review. My Klassic is not for sale yet. Can't wait to get the Exxtacy.
Life is good.
Be safe
Kurt Wimberg
kwimberg@wyoming.com
Mike Eberle
From: North American Paragliding Inc. , on 6/3/97 8:00 PM
To: Tyson Richmond
Q.1) Do I have any hope of receiving one undamaged?
Yes! The shipping from Germany on the last glider was not a problem and no damage occured. Unfortunately, when US Customs opened the package, they were not very careful and they cut the sail. This will be replaced and paid for by US Customs.
Q.2) How many have been shipped into the US? Of those how many have arrived undamaged? (er...uh...Davis... hopefully somebody's already called you...) The rate of successful delivery appears to be EXTREMELY low. How have the manufacturer and dealer been addressing the problem?
So far 3 have been shipped to the US. The first demo arrived undamaged. The second glider arrived undamaged only to have a US Customs agent slightly cut the sail. The glider is still flyable with a patch on it and the sail will be replaced for the owner free of charge. The third glider has not been fully cleared through Customs as of this hour, but I don't think they, Customs, will make that same mistake twice.
As far as the Exxtacy for Davis...That glider was being shiped from one pilot in CO to another in FL and a local shipping company damaged it. Any normal HG would have been totaled if it had a truck run over it. This is not a normal thing.
As far as me and Flight Design addressing the problem...we are concerned and working on it. So far there has been no problem with the gliders getting to the US, so nothing we could have done would have prevented damage. The gliders are baged, bubble wraped, double boxed, and then weather sealed with platic wrap to help facilitate a smooth ride over the Atlantic. I am having my broker insure all gliders for $9000. This insurance will be in force until the glider reaches it's owner. If the glider is shipped again after that, similar care is advised.
Additionally Flight Design is looking into shipping in PVC pipes. This will increase the volume weight by a few hundred dollars(?) but may be worth it for some people if they want to keep the PVC as a permanent storage.
Q.3) Can the Exxtacy withstand a less than perfect landing?
Yes.
Q.4) Can it be landed on wheels?
Yes.
Q.5) Does a wheel landing stress this glider significantly more than it does a flex wing?
No.
Q.6) Anyone out there actually landed it on wheels?
In the green flat fields of Europe, this is the preferred method of landing and the test pilots have done this often.
Q.7) Does "beaking" or "whacking" stress this glider significantly more than it does a flex wing?
No, and there is a nose piece, designed to take the impact and break, built in to protect the center of the leading edge. Additionally, the wing tips, outer ribs, and tail are also designed to take an impact if you flare too high and come in on the tail.
Q.8) Are there any non-obvious places to look for signs of damage? (i.e. non-obvious to those whose experience is with all-aluminum craft)
There are a few things you need to know, but these are fairly straight forward once you have seen it. The manual will also point out some of the minor repair ideas. This manual will be posted on my web page once the translation is complete.
Q.9) Is it practical for XC?
Better of course!
Q.10) At what airspeed is the stated full-flaps 5/1 glide achieved? (i.e. a normal approach speed or at say 50 mph?)
Normal approach speed. Landings are done with full flaps.
Q.11) Can it be carried broken down on a shoulder?
Yes, but it weighs over 85lbs.
Q.12) Can it be loaded on top of a vehicle by lifting one end of the bag at a time?
Yes.
Q.13) Will it wear more (or less) than a flex wing in car-top transit during (hopefully) long drives home?
No problem on the rack at all. Some care should be given on rough roads to launch. You just need to make sure all your racks are padded.
Q.14) If you land on a crowded beach, will the babes still thing it's cool, or will they know it's not a "real" hang glider?
All the babes will think it's WAY COOL...they may realize it's not a normal hang glider, but they will like its aspect ratio even more!
Mike Eberle
Further comments by Mike Eberle on September 25th, 1997 on the HG Digest:
If you get a chance and want to see some photos of the Exxtacy, my web page techs just got a great slide show working on my page. Check it out at www.fun2fly.com/exxt.htm when you get a chance.
FYI, there are now about 150 Flight Design Exxtacy flying Worldwide and 14 (and out climbing!) are in the USA!
Tyson Richmond
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 97 14:51:03 EDT
From: "Tyson Richmond"
To:
Subject: In Exxtacy
Well flight fans, I finally received my Exxtacy and I thought I'd let the mailing list readers in on what just might be the future of hang gliding.
I started out with 4 calm air (aerotow) flights at the Wallaby Ranch in Florida to get the feel of the controls. These were followed by a fairly long thermal flight. My initial impressions of the glider follow.
Aerotowing:
I am told by observers that immediately after leaving the cart on my first flight I made rapid side to side "corrections" (probably due to first flight jitters), however, since the control bar can be moved a little side to side without actuating the spoilers these "corrections" were ineffectual. They were also quite unneccessary. The Exxtacy tows very easily behind the tug, tracking almost automatically and with very little bar pressure. Once past the side to side "slackness", input is smooth and predictable and requires very little effort.
The nose occassionally falls slightly during tow. I don't know if this is a slight stall or some other weird aerodynamic phenomenon. A stall seems unlikely since the rate of occurrence seemed to decrease when the tow speed was reduced from 36 to 31 mph. The mystery nose down effect does not produce any loss of control and can be reduced, but not entirely eliminated, by applying a little more flaps. I've found that about 30° on tow works better for me than the recommended 15°.
By my third flight I concluded that in calm air the Exxtacy is no more difficult to aerotow than a flex wing. In rowdy air, based on only two midday tows, I found the Exxtacy to be a little easier to tow than my Ram Air, requiring fewer small corrections. The Exxtacy seems to be less easily diverted by turbulence. I experienced zero yaw on tow.
Since the pilot has no control input until the wing is free of the cart, I was initially concerned about a wing being lifted during the roll, resulting in leaving the cart while in the middle of a turn. While I'm still a little concerned about this (especially if a tip contacts the ground) my experience so far suggests that the wing levels itself out during the few seconds before and after liftoff.
On one flight the cart rolled off to the side rather than tracking directly behind the tug. Nevertheless, the Exxtacy lifted off and immediately tracked the plane. No problem. That was a major confidence builder.
Thermalling & Gliding
My first thermal flight lasted a little shy of 4 hours. It took 1-2 hours before I felt like I was using thermals efficiently but by the end of the flight I felt right at home. The Exxtacy claims a little better sink rate than a high performance flex wing. Whether this is true or not, I believe that the Exxtacy will consistently out thermal a flex wing. The glider seems to maintain a bank angle with no high siding and little or no correction required during a thermalling circle. On my Ram Air (and previous gliders) I am constantly making little corrections during a circle. This has to cost me. With the Exxtacy I was able to establish a bank angle and maintain it with little effort. This was even true on a rowdy (by Eastern standards) day.
The slackness in the side (control) wires was a little annoying at first, especially in turbulence, but I'm getting used to it. The degree of slackness can be adjusted during setup, however, I'd recommend sticking with the factory default for a few flights. Adjusting out too much slack could lead to over-controlling and/or the deflection of both spoilers at the same time creating unneccessary drag. The slackness may also prevent unwanted control input when getting vertical prior to landing. According to Dave Sharp (Flight Design's factory pilot in the US and comp. pilot extraordinaire) best glide is around 35 with 5-10° flaps. As speed is increased above 35 mph flaps should be decreased to maximize glide (0 deg. at 40 mph). I ended up using the flap setting for speed control almost a much as I used bar position. When the flaps are let out the glider will speed up (e.g. from 35 to 40 mph when moving from 10 to 0°. At 0° flaps the glider is very "hot" requiring very little bar pressure to add additional speed.
The glider will fly quite slowly. I was able to fly at 18 mph (according to a downtube mounted Tangent vario) with good control and had to extend my arms completely in order to force a stall. Stalls are gentle and straight.
I felt like I could glide forever. While the Exxtacy definitely has a great glide it can be brought down. After encountering some major sink I almost landed out in a very bad field from a retrieval standpoint. Fortunately I had sufficiently wired in at that point to make a much needed low save.
Approach and Landing
The Exxtacy is landed with full (90°) flaps. The flaps are engaged via a VG-like string. The pull is easy, short, and smooth. (Not "gorilla easy" like HG manufacturers mean when they say a VG pull is easy, but really easy.)
When you engage full flaps, you're coming down soon. The flaps can be reduced briefly on final to extend the touchdown point.
The ability to land this high performance glider in a relatively small field was perhaps the feature that interested me the most. 12+ to 1 L/D is great on glide but not on landing. Concensus at the Ranch is that full flaps will bring you down to 7 to 1 or better.
The glider lands fairly slowly. I find it a little hard to flare, although I admit I'm not a particularly good lander to begin with and that I'm pretty light on the glider (155 lb. after lunch, plus a cacoon harness). Other pilots have consistently told me that they thought it was easier to land than a high performance flex wing.
Ground Handling
Well, nothing's perfect. The Exxtacy is pretty massive and is quite tail-heavy. While this is not apparent during tow, flight, or landing, it's pretty darn apparent when carrying the beast off the field after landing. The 40 ft. wing span also adds a little difficultly to ground handling. On XC flights I hope to land near a road! Larger pilots may have less difficultly with the weight. Pointing it into the wind helps A LOT.
It remains to be seen if the Exxtacy is more fragile (easy broken) than a flex wing. It is pretty likely, however, that the cost of most replacement parts will be very high. Special care should be taken to ensure adequate support when transporting and storing. I was suprised and pleased to hear that the leading edge (D tube) can be patched if punctured.
Setup and Breakdown
Without getting into the details, setup and breakdown is fairly easy. The battens (really carbon fiber spars) remain attached to the glider and are simply pivoted into place and secured at the trailing edge. While setup and breakdown still takes me a while, I believe that I'll eventually get it down to about that of most high performance flex wings. I will note that if you get in a hurry and do it wrong you can break stuff, expensive stuff. Oh yeah, don't forget to attach the side wires or you're gonna have a short and very straight flight (they activate the spoilers).
Owner's Manual
This won't take long. They've obviously got some work left to do in this area. The owner's manual I received was unclear and appeared to include many translation problems (German to English). Since it was provided to me in on-line (text file) form, I plan to provide some suggested updates and email it back to Dave Sharp.
Dave was at the Ranch when I received my glider and provided a lot of assistance in setup/breakdown and flight instruction. I found him to be a very professional and credible representative.
Summary
Although "hot shot" pilots may disagree, if you have a chance to demo an Exxtacy I recommend a couple of smooth air flights to get used to the "slackness", the light handling, and the effect of flaps on glide path. I also recommend that your first few approaches be long and straight and that you get in the uprights while still high.
While the Exxtacy takes a little getting used to, so far I've found it to be everything I expected and more. Good glide, very easy thermalling, and a highly variable glide slope for landing approaches. Now if it just weighed 50 lbs and sold for $5000.
When in Florida, pilots can fly a demo Exxtacy at the Wallaby Ranch. (gotta plug THE RANCH)
Tyson Richmond
Tampa, FL
tyson.richmond@telops.gte.com
Jim Lamb
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 15:40:47 -0600
From: Jim Lamb
To: HG mail server
CC: gloverdh@gate.net
Subject: Exxtacy Clinic
I went to the Wallaby clinic to see the Extaccy with 3 main objectives in mind. Is it really 150 fpm, is it really 17/1, how does it handle tow, tight 'punchy' lift, rowdy landings, etc. First of all, David Sharp did a nice job on the 'how-to's' and David Glover, Malcolm, and Ryan really made it a pleasant stay.
The glider is all you've heard about in terms of elegant design, neat new thinking, and nice craftsmanship. A combination of sailplane and hang glider construction techniques that also reflects in its flight characteristics.
I normally fly a Concept 149 and nobody outclimbs me. One of my first flights [on the Exxtacy] was with a Concept and I easily climbed through him and then the SuperFloater. 150 f/m? I'm not exactly sure- Maybe only 160 f/m, but no worse. I hook in at 195#'s.
Best glide- Again it's really hard to tell. Maybe 17/1 maybe 18/1, but for sure no worse than 15/1 and maybe as important, best glide is probably achieved at 5 mph better speed than a flex-wing, and at 40-45 mph it's still as good as a flex gets at 32-35.
Handling and stability in rough air will be better than I could have hoped for. Since the glider doesn't rely on a slight anhedral to give it quickness in handling, it's slight dihedral makes it want to track straight even at 50 mph. The control surfaces give as good a roll rate even though the wing has more span. In thermals the wing wants to stay at the bank angle you set and at the airspeed you set. Consequently, tracking the thermal is much easier than a hang glider where most often after each circle you're wondering if you actually came back to where you started or just wandered away from the core. The longer wing and constant narrow chord seem to be much better suited to deal with turbulence by getting through it quicker and not having the inflation/deflation problems. Obviously, I didn't get to see how it handles Owens Valley type turbulence?? It is significantly better at launch and landing.
Monday I got to fly xc with two world-class (and first-class) pilots and a very fine local pilot. I actually had to wait for them to catch up at various points.
My congratulations to its manufacturer. I'm enthused about it for the sport because it brings an evolutional new planform but keeps us in the control bar/open cockpit environment we all love. Another thing that excites me, we seem to have gotten where we are making relatively smaller improvements at larger costs to our ragwings; although the current price is high, I can see where this planform can manage significant further improvements and where volume can actually bring pricing down or better yet, be used for those improvements.
This glider will have everyone's attention very soon.
Ian Barclay
Date: 22 Sep 97 15:05 GMT
From: BARCLAY Ian
To: ultralight-soaring@primenet.com
Subject: Exxtacy vs Pegasus
This last weekend was the 24th annual Coupe Icare free-flying festival at St Hilaire, France. As well as the usual mix of paragliders, hang gliders, ultralights, paramotors, etc, this year also saw the arrival of the new generation of rigid wings. Both the Flight Design Exxtacy and Lutz Pegasus were on display and flying. On display together the common heritage was very obvious and only close examination highlighted the differences.
Leading Edges: both use carbon composite hollow D-cells. The Pegasus seems to have some balsa core towards the nose. The Pegasus, and probably the Exxtacy too, have each LE produced as a single component. The Pegasus has a separate 2ft tip section. Pegasus suggest that LE damage could be repaired by a competent composites shop rather than writing off a damaged LE. The sail on the Exxtacy wraps around the LE and so surface damage cannot easily be checked whereas the Pegasus has separate upper and lower sails with a smooth exposed composite LE. Each sail half is velcroed to the aft edge of the LE box and taped for a very clean joint. The German DHV apparently took a bit of convincing that this was an acceptable means of attachment.
Flaps: both wings have flat composite panels that slip easily into sail pockets and that are operated by a simple hang glider style VB cord. The Pegasus has a slightly neater overlap arrangement between the two flaps. The Pegasus has a 4" exposed metal operating rod on the upper surface whereas the Exxtacy has a simpler arrangement with cords running from the flap TE to a few inches below the control frame apex.
Control frame: the Pegasus has two struts to brace the frame whereas the Exxtacy has wires like a HG. Pegasus had an aerofoil basebar with composite fairings at the control frame corners. The control wires on the Pegasus rise at an angle similar to the side wires on a HG whereas the Exxtacy wires rise almost vertically into the sail. Exxtacy control frame side-to-side rotation is by a simple hinge arrangement. The Pegasus has the control frame attached with a bolt through oversized holes and some rubber washers to keep it aligned but allowing limited side-to-side movement for control.
Nose/Keel: both wings are very similar with each leading edge hinged from the aft of the LE box to a centre plate. A metal rod connects the front of each LE together and is pip-pinned in position during rigging. Both wings have a 2.5" alloy tube for protection against nose strikes and a neat plastic fairing. The Pegasus keel is a composite box whereas the Exxtacy has a simple tube and plate riveted structure.
Spoilers: Pegasus spoilers lie such that their trailing edges are positioned over the TE of the wing itself. The Exxtacy spoilers however are mounted slightly forward. The Pegasus spoilers have exposed vertical plates to which the control lines attach unlike the Exxtacy's which are completely clean of any exposed hardware.
Tips: the Exxtacy has very simple moulded tips and a near symmetrical section. The Pegasus has a much squarer section with a slight bulge on the undersurface possibly for aero or maybe tip strike protection. Both have a beefy composite rod to tension up the sail at each tip.
Ribs: both wings have ribs hinged to the D-cell and which pop out on rigging. However they are difficult to inspect on both wings. Rib pitch is about 2.5 ft but the very high sail tension and solid LE seems to give good surface definition between ribs.
Weight: Both wings claim a weight of 39 kg. However some rumours suggest the Exxtacy is nearer 43kg. The Exxtacy feels heavy on the ground and in nil wind is quite hard to ground handle with the moving control cables obviously giving little help. In a breeze I guess it should be easier. Having only handled conventional HGs I must admit I personally would not be happy foot launching machines of this weight. Stick a few wheels on them and launch off tow then maybe.
Finish: the Exxtacys were all very well built with excellent finish. The Pegasus had excellent build quality for the composites and the sail but a few more rough edges on the fittings.
Rigging: Pegasus rigging was timed at a comfortable 10 minutes and looks very straightforward.
Performance: Flying conditions were not ideal for HGs or rigids and was not helped by literally hundreds of paragliders in the air at times. However both the Pegasus and Exxtacy did well and easily outflew the conventional HGs. Most of the HGs could only stay up for 15 to 30mins or so before getting sunk out but the two rigids scratched well for an hour or so. In the small weak thermals they were not able to get higher than the paragliders but given the conditions, the busy airspace and the low time on type of the pilots this was a very good performance. Objective comparisons between the Pegasus and Exxtacy are hard to make. The Pegasus landed OK in the paragliding field. The Exxtacy unfortunately spoilt things with a nasty crash. The pilot, who had never flown the wing before, came in over the HG field with plenty of height and full flaps. After losing height a tight, low 180° brought him into wind (0-5mph). Dropping out of prone, he then drifted over the south end of the field before turning back into wind. This manouevre was unnecessary and left him low over the edge of the next field. Before he could complete the final turn his left wing tip dragged the 8ft crops and spun him in. An extra 5ft (or possibly letting off the flaps) and he would have got in. Fortunately he was unhurt. The uprights of the glider were bent but the leading edge looked undamaged. However this did raise the question of whether you are absolutely sure it is undamaged and to what length you have to go to check for damage to the composite structure.
Production: the big problem for the Pegasus has been the cost. Currently in limited production they are essentially individually built taking 300 manhours or so. This makes them very expensive compared to the Exxtacy. To overcome this Jurgen Lutz has teamed up with the French hang glider/ultralight/paramotor manufacturer La Mouette who will use their composite experience (Topless HG, Cosmos trikes, etc) to productionise the wing.
Swifts: a couple of Swifts were present but stayed in their boxes all weekend.
Summary: both wings generated a lot of interest and the Class 2 semi-rigid wing looks ready for another revival. However these wings are still not as practical as conventional HGs and not as high performing as ULS wings optimised without foot launch/land capability and so I personally believe they will remain a minority interest.
Ian Barclay
Toulouse, France
Chris Jones
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 21:52:57 GMT
From: eu-glider@cj-hb.demon.co.uk (Chris Jones)
To: europg@psychol.ucl.ac.uk
Subject: Exxtacy - Something for the hang-glider pilots
Greetings, I've had an Exxtacy on demo for a few days. I guess everybody else is as keen to hear about this glider as I am, so here are my first, not very well formed, very subjective thoughts.
I case you aren't aware the Exxtacy is the new "rigid wing" from the German company Flight Design. It is based around a carbon composite cantilever wing. It is controlled in pitch by weight shift and in roll by spoliers attached to the top surface and activated by weight shifting a convential A-frame. In addition to spoilers it has flaps on the inner trailing edge of the wing. This should allow for L/D ratios from 17.5:1 down to 5:1 with the flaps fully extended.
At first I was concerned that it would not be suited to the small sites we have in the UK. But I needn't have worried, it is well suited to our small windy hills and isn't the unturnable/ unlaunchable/ unlandable monster some where expecting.
For my first flight the day was far from epic, and the site was a small one that I would normally avoid flying. Milk Hill , jokingly called Milk Mountain by the locals - (just over 200 yards long with a 90 degree bowl at one end). The day was ridge soarable in about 10 - 18 mph of wind.
First up I flew my own glider whilst Christoph from Flight Design flew the Exxtacy. I was kinda disappointed that he didn't get any higher than me. I was hoping that a better sink rate would show up in the ridge lift. This earlier part of the day was good for a cloudy day on this site, with 400' feet above the hill on offer in ridge lift and weak thermal.
Where the Exxtacy did shine was on the glide, granted we didn't do much of it, but one incident stands out. I'd cored a weak blob to 550' (see I am talking weak here :-) Christoph flew in under me and took the thermal to the same height but about 100 yards downwind. By this time I was pulling forward out in front of the hill. I glanced back just to check that he wasn't still climbing :-) and saw him gliding in my direction at about the same height as me. I continued to glide out. He flew over the top of me with about 100-150' of extra height. Quite impressive in the minimalist conditions we where flying in.
The wind then switched slightly and 100' ato feet was a good height :-( also the pg's started to fly making things very restrictive indeed. I waited hoping I'd not lost my chance of a flight.
Eventually things started to lift a bit and I nervously launched hoping it all worked as advertised. My first mistake was not flying with my own vario. The seemingly random beeping of Christophs told me nothing in my tense state. But it flew, and it flew well, I 360 under a kiss that appeared to be thermalling but neither of us went up, but the turn co-ordinated easily. It was a short flight as the lift soon died and I was keen to try the landing. I top landed into an easy 10 mph with full flaps - no bother. I was relieved. It hadn't been much of a flight but I was looking forward to going up again, this time with my own trusty Lindsay vario.
30 minutes later I was off again and soon was above the four other gliders scratching the hill. Maybe it does have a better sink rate. This time I was relaxed and found it really fun to fly. On occasion I'd over bank a turn but it soon came back. I was pleased to see that I could turn just as tight as on my RamAir (admittedly not the easiest glider to roll). Rain soon put an end to my second brief flight but I was impressed, very impressed.
The next time I got to fly it was in Wales on Merthyr Common , a much bigger site with a mile of ridge and lots of sky to play with. It was quite a thermic day, typically rowdy for Merthyr. A good test.
It was blowing 20+mph on launch but the Exxtacy was easy to ground handle, which is good as there are no side-wires for a ground-crew to grab. The spoilerons auto-magically correct any wing-lift with minimum input from the pilot. Weird from a British view point was that glider must for all practical purposes be rigged on the A-frame. This kind of thing doesn't come easily to us Brits. But unlike a conventional HG there is little flex in the wing, so being turned edge-on to the wind doesn't stress the sail to the same degree as a "normal" HG. Once rigged, with a harness weighting the upwind tip slightly, the glider sat calmly in the 20 mph wind.
Launch was again easy and once in the air I soon lost any thought that I was flying anything strange, it was all so familiar and easy. Shift your weight and it turns, just like hang-gliders should but often don't! Pitch was light with a slighty vague feel to it at speed.
I couldn't say that it climbs better than anything else in thermals but that may just be down to my technique, time will tell. With only 30 minutes air-time on it I was climbing as well as I would have on my Ram on which I have 150 hours.
I was first to cloud-base at 2400 ato by taking the thermals back behind the hill and easily gliding forward. I've no ASI so I've no idea at what speed I was gliding, but the straps on my Keller Hi-Tech harness were vibrating annoyingly, something they have never done before. Must get an ASI.
Flying was stress free, very little effort was required to initiate a turn but a little high-siding was needed on occasion to maintain the correct bank angle. There was an almost complete absense of yaw.
On top-landing I used full flaps but found I had to adjust them on approach as I was in danger of undershooting. Adjusting the flaps required flying one-handed but this wasn't much of a problem as the glider continued to fly straight. Try that on a Kiss :-)
I'd be interested to here how Exxtacys land in nil wind. The stall is "deep" rather than the usual - nose down type. My guess is this reduces the tendency to nose-whack, but that's just a guess. I'm not keen to try a nil winder just yet.
In all I had about three hours air-time, the final flight a simple ridge soar in 15 mph evening winds. It was easy to stay 100' above the three other hang-gliders in the air so maybe the sink rate is slightly better. Usually me and the Ram are somewhere near the middle of the pack.
Comments from other pilots later was that the glide looked fantastic and that the were left standing for speed. Maybe the manufacturers 17.5:1 figure is accurate, I'm normally sceptical of such claims but I think it can't be far off. They also commented that it look so smooth when turning in thermals, and I must say it was real easy to maintain a nice flat circle.
Everybody on the hill that day had a good flight but I had the biggest grin. The worst part is that the glider isn't mine and I have to give it back soon :-( The waiting list is two to three months.
There is a downside, the weight - about 40 Kg and - the bulk in the bag. When rigged the weight is not a problem, but it is very awkward to man-handle in its bag by yourself. Folded it is about the size of two conventional hang-gliders side-by-side. I have managed to get it on and off my Trooper by myself, and onto the rack in my garage, so with a bit more muscle and better technique it shouldn't prove too much of a hassle.
Then there is the possiblity of damage. It has to be treated with much more care than your average HG pilot is used to giving his/her wing. The carbon loops at the nose could easily be fatigued if the glider was banged on the ground whilst still in the bag. And those leading edges...Umm a new ball game I think.
The sail work looked good, helped by the very simple cut required by the design, but whoever cut out the stick-on logo and lettering should be given a new pair of scissors and some reading glasses! Overall the quality is well up to scratch, though it doesn't quite have the WW or Airwave level of detailing.
Pilots in the UK interested in flying it should contact Paravion.
- Chris Jones, Bath., chris@cj-hb.demon.co.uk, RamAir & Hurricane
Mark Poustinchian
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 09:05:56 -0500
From: Mark t Poustinchian
To: polachm@mail.cadvision.com
Subject: Re: rigid-wing-d Digest (Exxtacy info)
Munchie wrote:
> Congratulations.. you appear to have had a most excellent summer on your > Exxtacy.. > > A few questions, keeping in mind that I have never seen the wing... > > Do you foot launch or tow? There is a feeling in this area (Calgary) > that it is very heavy (requires two people), very awkward to transport, > (ie bulky) and very fragile? > > Obviously the flying is awesome..but why do you wish to put it aside for > the winter? > > Just curious to hear from some one who has extensive long term > experience with the beastie! > > Best of lift > > Martin Polach
Hi Martin:
Sorry I couldn't get back to you earlier, this is my work e-mail and I just got back to work. To answer your questions here is what I have to say, the Exxtacy has changed the flying experience for me completely, some good and some bad. I have never been able to fly over 2000 miles in a five months period in Arkansas with a full time job, not even close. But, the Exxtacy made that possible. There has never been a flight over 100 miles in Arkansas until this summer, pilots including myself have been trying for years. A 20 or 30 mile flight is considered a very good flight out here. This summer I was able to do a 137 mile, 124 mile, 112 mile (out and return) and a 104 mile in Arkansas and many flights close to 100 miles. The Exxtacy has been fun and very pleasant to fly and it is fast. The reason that I was trying to put it away for winter was because I have two Laminar ST's (one almost new), a Ramair and a Fly Two tandem glider and a new single surface Target in my garage. I wanted to save the Exxtacy and go back to my Laminar ST which I used to love and my other flex gliders and try to keep the Exxtacy in good shape for next season. However, that proved to be not a good idea. The reason is very simple, after flying the Exxtacy for about 140 hours in five months, I have lost my skills to fly the flex gliders and almost killed myself trying. There is a big difference between the two types of gliders. That is one of the negative points which you may want to consider. Once you go rigid, it may be hard to go back to flex. I have more than 1300 hours on flex wings and have a master rating and a tandem instructor, but now I am almost scared of flex wings. Would somebody out there please buy my flex wings before I kill myself.
As far as how the Exxtacy is holding, after 140 hours, it is still in very good shape, the top colors fade a little. It has a very few small holes in the sail due to ground handling. The wing tips may hit the ground if there is some wind. The side wires do not provide much support to keep the wing tips from hitting the ground. So, it is a good idea to have someone to help you ground handle the glider on launch on a windy day. It launches better than a flex wing, once you get it balanced and start your run, it is very stable and a piece of cake. Once your feet leave the ground, you forget all about the weight, big bulky glider and all them $$$$ and you would say, yes that is what it should feel like and wonder how much fun you have been missing. I foot launch in Arkansas, but I know hang IIs air tow the Exxtacy in Florida and they love it. I have air towed twice with a flex wing and it was much harder for me compare to truck towing. Once you land the Exxtacy, then you have a heavy glider to carry around and load up. I have loaded it by myself many times, but if there is someone around, I ask for help. As far as transportation and driving it around, it has been holding very good and not a problem so far. If the roads are bad, you may want to add extra padding to you rack just to be sure.
I am very surprised that out in the west someone hasn't flow a 300+ miles with this glider yet. I think it would be very possible to do on a good day. I hope I have answered your questions. The bottom line, if I had to do it all over again, I would have got an Exxtacy as soon as they were available instead of waiting any longer.
Mark Poustinchian