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Nova / Carbon

Flight impressions (read also my Ownership Experience) by Jérôme Daoust.

Tested 2000/11/19, revised 2003/4/28.

About myself. I have been flying paragliders since 1989, for a total of 582 hours (not much for all those years), mostly in thermal conditions, and mainly with performance or competition wings.

Why I tried this wing. I am interested in this wing because I want to move down from my Advance/Omega 4 (DHV 3, which has very little resale value) which earned me the title of "king of collapses" and gives me excessive sensations every 50 hours or so. The site where I most often fly (Marshall) is very strong in summer time (strong thermals under a persistent inversion), and better suits more stable wings. I am ready to sacrifice performance for stability so I can focus less on the wing during flights. My goal is to purchase a DHV 1-2 wing if I can manage to "live with it", otherwise I will look into the DHV 2 segment. I wish to thank Len Szafaryn (E-mail) (local Nova distributor) for letting me try this wing.

Conditions. Yesterday I had ideal conditions to test this DHV 1-2 / AFNOR Standard wing : My favorite flying site (Marshall), light wind, and good thermals. So I put 2.5 hours airtime on a blue Carbon M(25). Its total flying weight range is 85-105 kg, placing me close to the center of the range at 93 kg. The day allowed for multiple climbs up to 700 m (2300') above launch, which is at 1230 m (4040') so typical altitude was about 1580 m (5200'). Temperature was about 21° C (70° F) at launch and not much less at altitude (no gloves needed). I did 2 flights, the first to make necessary adjustments and to try a top landing, the second to get a better feel for the wing's performance.

Launching. I had previously heard a comment that this wing could feel heavy during its inflation, so I paid attention to this, and did not find it to be the case. Doing reverse inflations in 5-10 km/h wind, I only pulled the "A" risers, and noticed a steady easy inflation. Although the wing felt at least as easy to maintain overhead than my Omega 4, it required much more ample brake input (see note 1).

Construction. The line arrangement was novel to me. The lines from the risers only fan out very close to the wing. I had to untangle 2 knots that had formed with the upper thinner lines, which makes me wonder is they tangle easily or if this was the result of the previous wing packing. Total line length seems to have been the result of some optimization work. The accelerator pulley seemed very sturdy, which allowed me to push the speed bar until the top pulley started rolling over the lower one for the maximum speed tests. I don't remember the brake toggles, so they must have been comfortable in flight.

In Flight.

Landing. I did 2 top landings (where I launched from), while thermal cycles were still active. I could have been more precise, but obtained fair precision. Flaring gave a positive feel, as good or better than the Swing/Arcus.

Maneuvers. There is no point in me re-certifying the wing, but I wanted to test a few maneuvers that I typically perform.

Summary (2001/1/13). It has better overall performance than a Swing/Arcus and similar performance to an Apco/Allegra but with more speed. In the next few days I will buy this wing (Read about my Ownership Experience). I look forward to start relaxing in the Marshall air.

Good

Bad

Easy inflation and launch.

Stability in turbulence.

Good glide on the speed bar.

Very fast (52 km/h).

Good wing feedback for thermalling.

Large brake amplitude (typical for its class ?).

Feeling of low energy retention (compared to Omega 4).


Notes

  1. Brake amplitude. I am wondering if there was not too much brake slack. I should have checked the brake line length. I hear that this behavior (large brake pull amplitude) is becoming more common with recent wing designs (in the DHV 1-2 range). The brake line length may have been correct as the tension seemed to increase gradually, with some (limited) control when the brakes were pulled at least 20 cm.

External information

Certification

From the Medium's DHV report the average DHV score is 1.47 and the wing achieves 51 km/h. Only the landings gets a 1 rating. This wing seems to be "DHV optimized".

Pictures

See the Nova / Carbon page.
My pictures (dated 2001/3/3 and after).

Video

Toni Bender doing a spin over Achensee (Nova test area) - 341 kB MPEG-4 (*.mp4). You may be required to download a special decoder.
My own videos (dated 2001/3/24 and after).


Ownership Experience - (Read the original article)

2001/1/16 :  I ordered my wing through Big Air Paragliding.

2001/2/15 :  I received my wing and did a few inflations in the park that evening.  No wind and I can still bring up the wing with little effort.  The bag is better than anticipated, with sufficient space for the wing and my huge Sup'Air EvoTop with 20cm Bump'Air.  There is still room for the helmet, variometer and small stuff in separate compartments in the bag's top cover.  The bag sits very high on your back, watch out for low ceilings !

2001/2/17 :  At Marshall, cloudy but mild day. I worked light thermals for 30 minutes in company of a good pilot and was able to top land.  2 more extended sleds that day.  I set up the accelerator and noticed a very smooth action thanks to the ball-bearing pulleys.  While doing Wing-Overs  that sent my body higher than the wing (not supposed to do this), I caught a turbulence, which induced a 25% collapse, which sorted itself out (nice).  In the spirit of turn behavior exploration (trying to make the wing more agile than it is), I was flying with lots of brake and pulled sharply to one side.  The wing started a Spin (turned flat about 1/8 of a turn) but resumed normal flight as I raised that hand to its previous position.  This wing is forgiving by nature.  The top lines (near where they divide from the bottom ones) tend to snag more than my previous wings (not a big issue).  I symbolically threw some dirt and grass on my wing to give it a proper entrance to its life.

2001/3/2 :  At Torrey Pines, flew 3 hours and kited 2 hours.  Being able to compare with other good wings, I am happy to see that this wing has a good minimum sink rate, allowing me to stay at the top of the stack with the best wings.  I'm starting to establish efficient turns in light lift by using more weight shift than what I was used to in the past.  From my kiting, I discovered something annoying with the split A risers and my reverse kiting technique :  The brake lines want to slip between the split A risers (1 out of every 4 launches), taking an A line down with them and rubbing on it, and this sometimes pries open the clip holding the split A risers together.  I'm wondering what is most annoying, this, or having a single A riser and more difficulty to do big ears ? Note : It helped when I pulled the wing up by holding the A risers as far as possible (at the links) to prevent the brake line to enter in between.  Lines require manually undoing knots every 4 launch or so.  There were a few uncut line-stitching threads (5-6 cm dangling) at line ends that were cut away.

2001/3/3 :  At Horse Canyon, flew 3.5 hours in thermals, 2 top landings.  I was able to climb with good pilots on good wings, did not suffer from a significant thermalling handicap, and often was the highest during the day.  This wing has a definite advantage in Lift/Drag over the Swing/Arcus at trim speed.

2001/3/11 :  At a "secret site", flew 2.5 hours in thermals.  For some reason, I had a definite advantage in catching low thermals and following them up.

2001/3/14 :  At Marshall, nice day.  Flew 2.5 hours in thermals with 500 m gains over launch.  I was able to compared glide while accelerated with a friend on an Area/Rebel (using DHV 2 setting) :  No obvious difference in glide while accelerated.  The Carbon felt relaxing when the air was rough (more than the Rebel which I flew for 30 minutes).

2001/3/18 :  At Marshall, great day.  Flew 3.5 hours in thermals with 1100 m gains over launch.  Sustained 6 m/s climbs, peaks of 8-9 m/s.  Did a 23 km cross-country flight and was happy to see that I could duplicate the transitions that I was used to achieving with my Omega 4 (DHV 3).  It sure was nice to be under a DHV 1-2 wing when the air wanted to play rough.

 

2001/3/24 :  At Blossom Valley, fun day.  Flew 1.5 hour, top landing about 4 times.  Went on glide with a friend on his Swing/Arcus.  I was at ½ speed bar (matching my friend's speed which may not have been at max speed) and noticed that our glide was similar for that speed.  When we used full speed bar, I had more speed but also a higher sink rate.  This confirms what I knew previously about the Arcus :  A better glide accelerated that its glide at trim speed would lead to expect.  This is not in contradiction with my comment on glide comparisons at trim speed made on 2001/3/3.  Check out the video with today's date in My own videos.

 

2001/3/31 :  At Marshall, about 2 hours of thermalling (6 flights with top landings in between).  As a result of my brake lines rubbing on the outer A lines (see 2001/3/2 comments), now my right outer A line is cut down to its core (sheathing completely cut) near the quick link to the A riser.  I will ask Nova for the original single A riser configuration and replacement outer lower A lines.  Performance :  From a recent magazine test, it was established that the polar curve has a "knee" (it is typical of most polar curves) at the 41 km/h speed (on trajectory), in my case this happens when the upper pulley reaches the red "O" in "NOVA" on the riser.  I don't know if this logo is sewn at the same place for each wing.

 

2001/4/1 :  Nova/USA is sending me replacement outer A lines today and a new non-split A riser set in 2 weeks.  Nice !  In the meantime I will relocate the outer A line to the main A riser and cut off the unused A riser with a hot knife.

 

2001/4/7 :  Risers have been modified.  I received the replacement A lines yesterday and installed them today.

 

2001/4/8 :  Got to Marshall at 15:30 and flew 1.5 hour.  Gains of 600 m over launch.  Did this circuit (see 223 kB picture) : Marshall --> Crestline -->  Billboard --> Cloud --> Marshall.  Made good use of half accelerated glide to return in the 25 km/h headwind.  I'm happy with the modified risers (Single A's) and new outer/lower A lines.

 

2001/4/14 :  At Marshall, about 2.5 hours of thermalling.  Did a B-line stall, and noticed a surprisingly gentle entry and exit.

 

--- From this point on, I will only report unusual/new observations (I don't want this to be a logbook) ---

 

2001/4/20 :  At Owens Valley, about 2 hours between 8000' and 12000' MSL, in sometimes-very-rough air which was well absorbed (no collapse !).  35 km (22 miles) XC flight (landed because of surface wind concerns, and cold fingers) under a cloud street.  I purchased and fitted a System X / Speed Zone speedbar (follow the link to read my review).

 

2001/4/22 :  At Tehachapi, about 2.5 hours in sometimes-rough air, with one 30% collapse.  This wing is starting to prove itself to be as stable as the Swing/Arcus' of the pilots I fly with on a regular basis (difficult to say for sure, because of the different experience levels).  Check out the video today's date in My own videos.

 

2001/4/28 :  At Marshall, flew 3.3 hours to complete the course during a competition.  Many good pilots competed.  I finished 2nd, between an Apco/Simba with competition lines (DHV un-rated) and an Advance/Omega 4 (DHV 3).  :-)

 

2001/6/26 :  Received my replacement non-split A riser set (see 2001/4/1 comment).  I have 48 flying hours under this wing in a variety of conditions, and there have been no surprises.