KINGMAN, ARIZ. — Where? Kingman is north of Phoenix and isn’t far from the popular soaring site of Mingus Mountain. Why am I here? Because BRS hires a large aircraft here to drop heavy weights as the company conducts final R&D tests for the Cirrus parachute. Cirrus will certify their four-seater SR20 early next year and it comes standard with a BRS ‘chute system. • Now to product news… I told you last month that I had some accessories I couldn’t fit it. ••• First off is the Dust Devil, a wind indicator but with a difference. You won’t have to go to a landing field and set up poles and flags or wind socks. Instead you can carry the indicator with you, whether on a local or cross country flight. Huh? Yep, Ray Bauer of San Diego has developed a simple, low cost device that should help all your landings be into the wind.
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Product Lines – August 1996
ST. PAUL, MINN — Airshow season is here. About the same time we hang glider pilots are heading out to sites across the country to catch the big thermals of summer, millions of non-pilots (and pilots) will attend local-area airshows. They’re America’s second largest public spectator event after baseball, quite a statement in a country known around the globe for having countless choices of entertainment. At how many of those airshows will the millions see hang gliding? Darn few! ••• One man is changing that by succeeding as few before him have done. Dan Buchanan performs despite physical challenges (a vehicle accident if you don’t know Dan’s story). He was able to fly the main airshow at Oshkosh last year, no small feat since the Wisconsin convention is one of the world’s largest events with close to a million people attending. Some pilots have waited literally years to get in, that is, to volunteer to perform; no pay is offered.
Product Lines – December 1992
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Another British invasion? The approach is different (than Airwave) but the idea is the same. The UK’s "other" glider company, Solar Wings, is testing the waters by working with Tennessee’s Hawk Air Sports to import their Rumour glider line. They’ll start with the Fever model, a 12 square meter (≈ 130 ft2) machine. The first one has arrived and will soon be in Dennis Pagen’s hands for a review in HG mag. No other details yet. However, Bruce Hawk — one of those guys who literally built his own training hill near the tourism mecca of Gatlinburg, TN — has just established a new training site. He flew the Fever briefly at this facility and says "It is fast, rolls nice, and lands sweet." He adds, "The sail is different from anything here in the States." Gotta have one? Drop a note to PO Box 9056, Knoxville TN 37940.
Product Lines – July 1991
St. Paul, MINN — Lots of deserving stuff came in for this month’s "Product Lines." While I’m delighted at the response to the column, I can’t use everything that arrives… not enough room. But keep sending your material; who knows? ••• As you know from the ads and editor Gil’s write up, Wills Wing has announced their new glider, the Super Sport. You’ll get all the poop from other sources. But I want to mention that WW has done a first with this release. All three sizes (143, 153, 163) were completely computer designed, flew "right out of the box," and are being submitted for HGMA certification at the same time! Quite a statement of engineering achievement. The Super Sport replaces the Sport AT. All three sizes are priced at $3,595 and have many AT features but no VG. Wills expects to be shipping end of July or so. Road Time ’91 so long distance guru, Larry Tudor, will be doing lots of XC on the ground as you read this.
Product Lines – July 1990
ST PAUL, MINN — Several recent calls and letters referred to rigid wings presented here. Are we experiencing an upsurge of real interest? Or just another bubble of enthusiasm that will burst with the announcement of some new hotter-than-ever rag wing? No one knows. ||| Meanwhile in response to several inquiries, you can contact the Owens Composites Swift people at 10000 Trumbull SE, Albuquerque NM 87123. Their February Swift News announced work on an article for Hang Gliding. Watch for it. ||| Two other projects bear mention here: Advanced’s Sierra and the Cloud Dancer ||| The ultralight company Advanced Aviation, is flying their second prototype Sierra ultralight sailplane (42 foot span and greatly cleaned up). I saw #2 flown by towplane designer Bobby Bailey — who is also the principal designer of this bird — and I flew the #1 machine some months ago. The original prototype had promise which the successor significantly reveals.
Product Lines – April 04
St. Paul, Minn. — You’ll probably be amazed to hear that Wallaby Ranch and Quest have merged. Yes, unbelievably, the two rivals flight parks signed an agreement to become as one. • This stunning development comes just after Wills Wing purchased Moyes “for a song” crooned WW president, Rob Kells. “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he added. How much more shocking news can you withstand? Well, in keeping with a few fun items elsewhere in this magazine, the above is pure April Fools fiction. I’ll leave more inventive humor to others and return to what this column does best. ••• Amid all the excitement, I completely forgot to blow my own horn… Yup, with the February 2004 issue, “Product Lines” finished 25 years of continuous publishing. In all that time, the column never missed an issue. As I am working to post all these columns on my long-in-development Web site, someday you’ll be able to scan through a lot of hang gliding history presented in a familiar format.
Product Lines – February 2003
St. Paul, Minn. — Please bear with me as I use all of this month’s column on something that has little to do with products, the usual focus of this column. I’ve been doing this bit of writing for Hang Gliding magazine for a long time (“PL” finishes 24 years with this issue), but one man has been even more long lived. lll After 25 years on the job, Hang Gliding editor Gil Dodgen handed off all his duties to Dan Nelson, a new paraglider pilot with an editorial background. Gil started with USHGA’s magazine with the January, 1978 issue. For those with weak memories or those too new to hang gliding to know the past, an extremely brief history lesson is in order. s In 1978, the Big Three of hang glider building in the USA were Seagull, Electra Flyer, and Wills Wing. We had other prominent Yankee brands like Sky Sports, Bennett Delta Wing, Eipper-Formance, Ultralite Products, Manta, Sunbird, Highster, and CGS Aircraft.
Product Lines – November 03
St. Paul, Minn. — Again with the motor news…? These little contraptions are making quite a… how nicely can I put it? — “joyful noise.” The vote is now history. As I write this in late September, the count has not been made but trends pointed toward acceptance. • Time to take a breather and then move on. Let’s realize that we only have a few hundred of these motor guys. Some flying sites will have to work out compatibility issues, but for the most part powered harnesses, powered paragliders, and nanotrikes allow flight from places closer to home. When they do fly in the company of unpowered hang gliders or paragliders, they are among the quietest of ultralights as their engines have commonly been developed in noise-sensitive Europe. • This column will continue to track the field. But these tiny rigs are simply engines on hang gliders or paragliders and the wings still fly the same (they may even have similar wing loading through the use of larger wings).
Product Lines – November 00
ST. PAUL, MINN., — You know, it seems like quite some time since I wrote about a new flexwing hang glider but in this month’s "Product Lines," I’m pleased to tell you about a new topless entry. It’s AirBorne’s new Climax 154. First some specs: area is 154 squares, span is 34.1 foot, AR is 7.6, nose angle is 127-133 degrees, and it has 90% double surface with 32 battens, a weight of 77 pounds, and recommended pilot weight of 155-275. AirBorne says it takes only 10 minutes to assemble and packs down to 17.4 feet (short pack to 12.8 feet). Well, the specs don’t differ much from any other topless, so let’s look a little further. • The company has already found success with their entry-level Fun, intermediate Sting II, and recreational Shark. As principal Ricky Duncan said, "The only product missing from our range was a truly high performance glider." Besides the obvious removal of upper rigging, they reversed prior AirBorne patterns and went with the more widely accepted elliptical tip and changed their older Shark cam-VG system to allow a tighter VG full-on setting.
Product Lines – September 03
St. Paul, Minn. — At this fall’s meeting of the USHGA board of directors debate will continue regarding the inclusion of powered paraglidersand powered hang gliders in our national club. This debate won’t go easily or swiftly. Many pilots of either wing type feel engines don’t belong in USHGA or at their flying site. Yet the popularity of these flying machines is growing and they are more like us than powered ultralights. • Last month’s story about the Minnesota pilots exceeding 10,000 feet of vertical gain might not have happened without the Mosquito powered harness allowing those pilots find thermals. Besides, the old questions exist: Doesn’t the tow vehicle have an engine? Don’t we have to drive up to most mountain launches? Ironically, the Mosquito engines may use less fuel to get pilots up than a monster 4×4 often used at mountain sites. • So, perhaps you won’t be surprised to read that editor Dan Nelson has asked me to include more power coverage in this column.
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