Version Française - French version

There is a new wing that just came out ! You can read about it in the News. But how good is it compared to others of its class ? Paraglider manufacturers can enjoy the "gray area" during the time they release a new wing and the time it takes for that wing to be properly reviewed in a magazine for its performance and behavior. The car industry does not have this freedom as there are many car magazines competing to be the first to write about their findings, so you will buy their issue.

The best thing to do in the meantime (the manufacturers say) is to try the wing from the closest dealer. "You will see if you like it" they say. What happens next is that you arrange to try the wing and on that day, your feet leave the ground, you stay up and high for a long time, and you land thinking that this is the best wing in the world. Of course, you are still hyper from flying something different, re-discovering the pleasure of early flights. People will say things like : "I could never have done this with my other wing" , "I didn't even have a collapse, it is so solid" , "The glide is incredible" , "This wing is really fast" . You then buy that great wing.

Then, reality sets in. About 6 to 9 months after the availability of the new wing, a magazine comes out with a full article on the same wing. You quickly look for the performance measurement (and later read the article) of the wing's Polar curve and dispel it as "this can not be right". Then you check out the GR_W in Paraglider Performance Comparison. It can not be that bad ? Can it ? The DHV test said it flew up to 100 km/h. So you console yourself by knowing that you are a great pilot and you will make up for the setback in performance (and I agree with you).

What can we do ? How about waiting for the article to come out before we buy a wing. The problem with that is that we are impatient by nature and it takes a long time for the manufacturer to send a wing to the magazine staff. Then the magazine staff put the wing in the "waiting to be tested" queue and finally test it. You get to see the review after the editor have polished up the article and distribution has occurred. It does not really matter where the time has been lost (manufacturer/magazine), what really counts is that we send a clear message : "I will not buy a wing until I know what it is really worth". Do like me when you are interested by a new wing that came out, be patient and write an E-mail to the manufacturers to let him know you are waiting for an article from you favorite magazine. You can use the example message written below (It is OK if they all look the same to the manufacturer).

Ideally, your country's association should be performing these duties of evaluating each new wing that is made available. But that is another subject. Let us first get the manufacturer to understand that we (pilots) will be better buyers. In time, this will be beneficial to all of us pilots.

Hi,

I am interested in your new WING_NAME and I'm looking forward to reading a full article describing its performance and behavior in MAGAZINE_NAME magazine.

I could tease myself by trying the wing from a local dealer but that would not allow me to have a proper comparison basis with wings of its class from other manufacturers, and the performances and stability achieved that day could be non-representative of the wings true nature.

Please post on your web page a link to the article when it is available, or simply let me know that the article is available at the newsstand.

I will NOT make the mistake of buying the wing before that time.

.

Thank you for developing new wings that contribute to my flying pleasure,

YOUR_NAME

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.