U-Turn Vision EN-B S

U-Turn Vision S (80-97) 

The Vision is U-Turn high B with an aspect ratio of 6 and relatively light construction. The S size weights around 4.6 kg. 
Taking off is super easy without any hard point. The Vision rises smoothly and stays above the pilots head.

I flew the Vision S at 94 all up. The brake travel has moderate travel, and pressure with very good agility. The Vision can be steered very tightly in small cores. Despite the 6 aspect ratio, the Vision is super far from the earlier Carrera from Gin for the extra comfort and smooth behavior in the air for the Vision. 
The moments in turbulence are very comfortable and I really asked myself many times if really the Vision has a 6 aspect ratio!  The overall movements in turbulent air are quite tame and showed me a super balanced glider. Some gliders with 5.5 aspect ratio that I have earlier tested, needed more pilot input in strong air. The Vision has surprised me by its mellow reactions.  
The pitch stability on the Vision is very high as it cuts smoothly into the airmass.

Inducing some asymmetries and frontals seems surprising to behave like a lower grade glider. 
The Vision cuts through the air like an efficient high B glider and the speed bar is very usable in turbulence. The C steering is efficient on the Vision for a 3 liner. Staying at bar, the C steering can control almost any pitch movements in 75 % turbulent air.  One of the most efficient 3 line B glider, for control ability on the C’s. 
The glide at trim and at max speed are like the very best you can find on a high B.  Gliding in a headwind or against the valley breeze is efficient on the Vision, especially at bar. 

The climb rate in weak thermal at 94 all up, is nice and relatively ok. The climb in strong thermals is smooth and rewarding by its comfort. 
The top speed is around 12 km/h over trim, taken at 2500 ASL. Big ears are stable and efficient. They reopen very quickly. 

Conclusion: A very well balanced high B glider. The impressive ratio of comfort, efficiency, and glide at speed. The Vision can be considered as an agile glider, and I think it could be the first high B glider with an aspect ratio of 6 that behaves and feels like a mid-B, even after collapses. The Vision overall performance package can easily challenge some mid-C gliders in XC conditions at trim and at bar. 
A must try in order to feel the high overall ratio of “comfort and performance”.    


B comparison updated 

Little Cloud Urubu King size M, 75-95

Little Cloud introduction sentence:  (It all started in 2008… with Tom’s vision of being able to enjoy flying as much as possible, all year long, and with maximum pleasure, LittleCloud was born).

If you look in the Little Cloud range, you will see four mini wings and five regular gliders including a tandem! 

The Urubu King   I am test flying is targeted for the C class pilots and it is not bonded by a certification label that sometimes restricts the feel and homogeneity and especially the soul of a glider.  It means that Tom Bourdeau (Owner/designer) tuned it to satisfy his personal philosophy while delivering a safe Little Cloud product for the C-class pilots. 

The Urubu King is a 6.45 Aspect ratio 3 liner with unsheathed lines all over. Dominico  10 D is used on the glider's top and bottom. It is a light glider that can be packed very small.  The size when packed is ‘around’ half the size of an Alpina 4 for example. 

I let you see all the details of the glider here: https://www.littlecloud.fr/en/urubu-king-en/ 

The take-off in nil wind is super easy, as the glider inflates well. I tried to fly also in winds over 30km’h, and to my surprise, the inflation is quite easy while moving toward the glider to smoothen the rise. (Tom’s suggestion in winds over 35 km) 

Actually, it flies very well in windy conditions and moves forward without the feeling of being pinned by the wind! This feature on the Little Cloud Urubu King is quite impressive. 

I was able to fly in some really strong guts of wind! while pushing forward. 

I flew the size M 75-95  at 88 all up and later at 92 all up. Even at 88 all up, the glider felt quite fast and homogenous in the air. 

First turn and ….I think this is the fastest glider to get in quickly in a flat corkscrew turn! This is quite an agile and playful glider!  The brake pressure is moderate to slightly hard after 20 cm.  The linear feel and progressive agility are really good! The roll movements are present on the Urubu King, as a good pilot for that category will feel the air movements. Some C pilots commented that flying an Alpina or an Eden 5 is really smooth and filtered, and they wanted a glider with more character. So The Urubu is guaranteed to satisfy their needs.

The pitch movements are very moderate and balanced for an agile glider. There’s no bumping through the airmass, but a good surfing capability.

In weak thermals, the Urubu loaded at mid-weight, will float nicely and will catch even the tiniest thermal. The agility while having flat turns is very good even in weak thermals.    

I did some glides with some very good 3-liner C’s and the glide is very close. While the trim speed of the Urubu is slightly faster, I felt that the Urubu excelled when conditions are raw. It means that the efficiency of surfing a turbulent airmass is good. 

In strong thermals, the Urubu needs good pilot control for the C class but will deliver nicely homogenous turns and great climbing capabilities.   

Pushing on the speed bar gives you around 12 km/h over the already fast trim speed.  

Ears are stable and very efficient. 

Conclusion:

This was a nice experience for me under the Urubu King! It has a different feel compared to other C-class gliders but in a good way! 

The speed while efficiently surfing the air, the pleasure of every turn, the movements of the airmass around you.  

I will describe that glider as driving a genuine priceless muscle car…Type (Eleanor) from Gone in the 60-second movie :-) 

If you are that hard-line, uncompromising pilot looking for a light, highly pleasurable feel, very performance glider, then you ‘MUST’ try the Urubu King! 

UP SUMMIT XC 2 M

My ever first school glider 20 year ago was a UP Flash. I still remember the red cloth with multicolor design on the edge, that feeling and that smell of the tissue with this arrow logo going UP in the sky. Uli Weismeyer legend pilot ,Richard Gallon were on UP gliders at the time and the brand was very strong in the competition scene with their Katana ‘s and later on with the Gambit, escape with Oli Russell, Steiglar ,Brinkeby...

I flew quite all the UP range, from Stellar, Vision, vison classic, Soul. All the Summit range ,nearly all the Kantega range,and trango’s and targa’s and all the tandems…

The firm feeling under an UP is very familiar to my mind.
Now here’s the Summit XC2 ,and I’m just waiting to pull on the A risers.
Ballasted up to 100 ±102 on the M size with an Impress 2 harness, the launching is natural and easy, the glider comes up as a whole piece.
At first the factory settings on the brakes was long, I landed and shortened them a bit.

From the moment I was airborne, a sensation of confidence inspiring is clearly showed. I was impressed by the easiness in flight of the XC2. Very tamed with neat behavior, well-tensioned and balanced glider. Just the necessary feedback to show the thermal direction.

First turn showed a medium brake pressure, with fair agility, but doesn’t dive in turns.
Opening the chest strap a bit will make this glider very nimble and more agile. Turns are flat and the climb is its strong point. This glider is a killer in weak conditions. It can core every bubble without loosing the center of the thermal.
In strong conditions, the glider remains as a whole, and climb without any strange movements or oscillations. It is difficult to miss any thermal with this glider, unless you have some convincing excuse ;-) .

I gave the XC 2 to my friend Moni, and when he landed he told me that the XC2 is “much more” mellower and easier to fly than the Mentor 2 EN-B glider. I agree.

Big ears are easy to hold, stable and reopen by themselves. The glide ratio of the XC2 is well enough among the EN-C category.

The accelerator has medium pressure, much like the Trango 3, and the speed really increases by more than 5 km at first bar! Very usable and efficient.

Actually the overall feeling under it reminded me strongly of the UP range designs I have flown before…

Conclusion: This glider is aimed for all EN-B pilots who want to step into the EN-C category, but still having a large amount of safety and I think it could be also much easier to fly than some!!
EN-D pilots stepping down will find in the XC2 a quiet sanctuary to fly long xc’s wondering if they are on a sofa or in the air. :-)


https://picasaweb.google.com/Ziad.bassil/UPSUMMITXC2M#

VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddCbYnZWamI



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FLOW Vissta XC size M

FLOW Vissta XC  (harness) Size M. 

This harness has been in development for 3 years, with Felipe Resende and Bach le (architect and designer) with lots of ideas and development. The Vissta XC has a long fairing for aerodynamic purposes. The interesting part is that the shape of the pod, and the shape of the rear fairing are narrow. In designing that harness, Flow said: We aimed for a fully featured conventional competition harness that offers the best low drag coefficient in the market with around 5 kilos and especially for packing it small to fit in a large bag. 

The Vissta XC shape was created after working on CFD (computational fluid dynamics), to find the most optimized low-drag shape which is implanted on that harness. 

FLOW installed clips on the shoulders (see pic) and those are for future low-drag speed arm connections!  

Two rescue systems on each side, with a steerable reserve, are possible. There’s also a nice feature covering the pins of the pod to prevent them from tangling with the lines when pulling the pod. 

Two zippers for the drag chute are also reachable on each side, Two little openings for the pee system also on each side, and two lower zipper pockets (13cm width) under the seat on the rear side that can be used for the hose of the water ballast and to control damping the water in competitions, or even if you want to put inside some gloves, chocolate or else… 

The Vissta XC holds also one removable radio pocket inside and in another side a detachable pocket to insert any items of your choosing ( see pics) 

The cockpit is wide and the angle is perfect. Attached to the cockpit, is a thin but long compartment with a zipper to fit a battery pack, your cellular, Chocolate bars..etc… Easily reachable in the air! 

Perhaps FLOW will introduce a detachable cockpit with possibly a below storage? that opens from above? I wish... let's wait and see what the future brings...

As I always mention before writing a test flight of a harness, every harness is very difficult to describe just because each pilot has different body shapes and geometry. 

The FLOW Vissta XC M size fits perfectly my height of 1.81, and 75 kg weight. 

The Vissta XC pod features a split line adjustment option on each side that could make your adjustments infinite for the incline foot pad, or high lengths of the pod. This feature with those lines makes it more appropriate to adjust for many individuals. 

The Vissta XC has a seat plate but with very easy access on the seat plate to fit narrower ones if the pilot wishes to!   The seat position has also an angle front adjustment on each side that you can lower or raise the seat position. 

The back seat position has three adjustments! easily reachable in the air. Those adjustments make the back and the sitting position very comfortable and also very precise to adjust!  

The video I’m attaching also will cover all those features and will let you see that for better understanding. 

The ballast pocket under the seat holds around 4 kg of water. You can also install ballast in the back compartment. I found also that it would be possible to add a 2, or 3 L liter of ballast water ballast under the cockpit as FLOW installed two side pillars for support without letting it rest on your lap. It hangs on those points. 

The back storage bag under the fairing is bigger than the Impress 4, and a bit less than the Arrow. 

Inside the bag storage, there’s a pocket for installing the water camel for drinking during the flight.

The pod closure has two magnetic pieces to close tightly. In the air, no wind comes in. 

Getting inside the pod requires placing the already installed strap on the edge of the pod and also it has a red ball to insert it into your shoe laces. That is the most efficient way to get inside the pod, otherwise, without that strap, it would be difficult to enter after take-off.  

When setting the shoelace strap, make sure also that your main chest strap connections to the seat plate ( also adjustable red, and green stripes going to the seat plate ) are not too loose to prevent you from slipping forward too much when you take off, because it will require more knee bent to catch the pod if you are too way forward. (I’ll explain it in the video) 

My usual harnesses are the Impress 4 L size pod M and the Arrow L size. I found that the Vissta XC M size fits me like a glove after my adjustments. 

The comfort for the back is quite high resembles the Impress 4 for that matter, knowing that the Impress 4 offers one of the most comfortable rides.  I found myself inside the Vissta XC sitting in my preferred chair! The legs are naturally supported, and there’s no pressure on the body whatsoever! FLOW installed a 35 X 15 cushion on the lower back which provides good back support. It can be moved by a few centimeters to your taste. 

The weight shift capabilities are slightly above the Impress 4 and close to the Arrow with slightly more weight shift capabilities! For an XC/Comp harness, it has an excellent balance. 

The roll movements can be described as balanced.  More stable than the X-rated 6/ WV GTO 2. Close to the Impress 4 and Arrow in that matter. 

The chest strap has an adjustment, is flat on the upper side for sure, and is reachable easily in the air. ( Resembles the Genie race 4 chest adjustments)  

The shape of the harness and pod stays streamlined with the air with difficulty in getting the pod lower down or higher up unless it has been badly adjusted. So the pod stays streamlined. The rear fairing is big, and the take-off reminded me of when I test-flew the Submarine. I had to put the rear fairing on windy days under my arm to keep my vision clear.  The rear fairing stays well inflated in the air and doesn’t move if you have secured both zippers at their max edge. That way the rear fairing is pressurized. 

There’s a foam protector of 15 cm on the Vissta XC.  https://para-test.com/storage/app/media/certificates/flow-paragliders/harne/visstaxc-l/PH_438-2024_IP_VisstaXC_L.pdf

Conclusion:

The Vissta XC checked all the boxes for me. The very high comfort for long flights, the excellent weight shift capabilities, the aerodynamic shape, two side rescues,! All that with slightly less weight than my Impress 4 L.  

The construction is very neat and it seems to resemble the Niviuk Arrow construction details.  

It can be folded like the Impress 4 to fit in a large bag, which is difficult to find these days… 

I had some nice and comfortable flights with the Vissta XC. landed with a good feel, and relaxed body. 

I think from the conventional harnesses in the market (except Submarine types) The FLOW Vissta XC could be one of the most interesting harnesses as it joins the Useful and pleasant in a foldable harness. Business and pleasure at the same time :-)

An interesting tool for test flying if you aim for that type of XC/comp harnesses.