Mac Para ICON

Mac Para Icon 24

The last Mac Para EN-D glider I test flew in February 2011 was the Magus XC2. I still remember a comfortable glider, with very good climb rate at the time, inside the D category.

After five years, Mac Para launched the ICON, with 7 aspect ratio, and with a clean 3 line configuration.
The Icon has a strong shark nose, and full unsheathed lines.

I flew the Icon 24 from 93 till 98 all up.
Launching the Icon 24 is very easy and smooth. The glider inflates as a block without any structure movement. In 5 km/h  wind, a gentle and steady pull will place it quickly overhead. In strong wind, the pilot must control the surge, which is really easy for the D cat.

Flew the Icon in different conditions, from smooth thermals to turbulent ones, and surprisingly, the Icon strongly remind me of the feeling I got when I flew the Elan !
Of course the Icon needs more active piloting, but this ‘shock absorbent’ feel is present !

The Icon 24 has a similar comfort of the Mantra 6 but with a slightly softer feel in turbulent bumps!
Actually I found it best to fly the Icon 24 near the top weight for a more compact feel and enhanced homogeneity.

The trim speed is around 39 km/h and the top speed is at 57 km/h taken at 1000 ASL fully usable!

Applying bar, from the first half, to top speed, the Icon has a very good glide angle and an efficient usable speed range.

The handles on the C have lots of pressure and slightly harder to pull than the M6, even at full speed, but usable to dump some surges if the pilot is used to that method.

The glide angle at trim and especially accelerated is competitive in the middle of this very competitive D category.

The strong point of the Icon, is the float ability and the climb rate especially in weak conditions.
A good pilot can stay endlessly in weak cores waiting for a stronger lift !
The Icon doesn't dive in turns. The brake pressure is moderate, with 25 cm to steer the glider and nice agility in smooth cores. It gives the D pilot an efficient flat turn, with smoothness and efficiency.

The Icon 24 has moderate to good agility in disorganized thermals, slowing the turning ability a bit, and giving the impression of a solid homogenous glider.

Entering the moderate thermals the Icon 24 slows a bit and enters smoothly with a positive vario without any excess in pitching.
Strong thermals and bumps needs a loaded Icon, with some bumping and back pitch presence, but fairly small and quite manageable.

Big ears are stable and stays tucked, in smooth air. In turbulence they have tendency to reopen. The structure stays solid, with no wobbling or shaking. They are efficient and applying bar during ears give a better sink rate.

Conclusion: Any pilot who flew the Elan for Mac para, will find that same pillow feel under the Icon, with of course more pilot control.
The performance over the Elan is obvious, logical and well targeted. The Icon will inspire confidence to any D pilot, and has enough overall performance to keep him well satisfied.
It seems again that the “fly in peace” motto, of Mac Para is not just some marketing words, rather than a true commitment towards the pilots in our small, but magical flying community.    :-)


Update: After later attempts on glide with an M6 SM, I think the Icon 24 has the edge in head wind efficiency with a slightly faster trim speed.

Air Design VOLT 2 SM

Air Design VOLT 2 SM

After test flying the Volt 1 and the Rise 2 from AD, here’s the Volt 2 in SM size .

The Volt 2 has lots of features, a shark nose profile, all unsheathed lines, vortex holes, adjustable brake handle, there’s 2 lines per side, and on each line level there are(2A, 2B, 2C) . The C lines are split into a fork for a C and D attachment on the glider.
The construction is very neat, and it looked very tough to the last detail.

Launching the Volt 2 is as easy as any moderate aspect ratio C glider, with no tendency to overshoot and an immediate take off.

The Volt 2 SM at 92 all up, has a moderate brake pressure, coupled with a direct, precise steering power. The Volt 2 has a superior agility over the Rise 2 and the Volt 1and can be described as fairly agile. Coring thermals are really pleasant as precise turns can be adjusted with each pulled centimeter.
I believe the Volt 2 is the first improvement in Air Design gliders, that goes in the right way concerning agility and pleasurable feel.

The second feel-able improvement flying the VOLT 2 is the climb rate !
Well, I can tell you, that team Air Design outdone themselves this time with a glider that can climb in weak conditions very efficiently, putting it next to best climbing ones in the C category !

Stephan Stiegler's gliders for the B and C class have a reputation of being comfortable to fly. And flying the Volt 2 in moderate conditions felt quite comfortable, resembling the Elan, Sigma 9, and other moderate aspect ratio C glider.

The trim speed is around 39 km/h at my loading and the top speed in the first part of the 50’s .
The glide ratio is good and on par with those C gliders mentioned above.

Big ears are efficient , stable, and a good way to get down. They open smoothly .

The Speed bar has a moderate pressure and the speed is fully usable in moderate turbulence.
The handles on the C to control the pitch in accelerated flight is very efficient. In fact AD has the most efficient C steering capability among many gliders i have tested. If you have flown a Rise 2 you will know what i mean, and the Volt 2 C steering is as efficient and usable !

Conclusion:
I always favor climb capability over glide capability.
It is always better to arrive "comfortably" 10 m lower and still flying, rather than 10 m higher and not being able to catch that low save.

For me the VOLT 2 SM will be an Air Design success by the amount of coring pleasure, comfort, and climb capabilities.
It gave me a feeling of a tough, well built, reliable C glider any good pilot coming to the C category would be satisfied flying it !

 

Triple Seven KING ! S & M

Triple Seven KING 

Triple Seven KING

Triple Seven gliders was founded by two PWC flying brothers, that used to work with several manufacturers and their reputation at the time was the fast flying ability and the competition at the highest level.

Triple Seven was born and their first products in the B and C category were the Rook 1 and the amazing Queen which still has the best glide at full speed for a C glider !
Then came the Rook 2 which sits on the top places with the best performers in the B category with a very good accessibility.
The gliders made by the Valic brothers, seems to inherit a high performance aim with a relatively comfortable handling each in their respective category.

Now the King EN-D is here…
The King has a strong shark nose with a 3 line layout. The lower lines are small but sheathed, the mid and upper ones are thin and unsheathed, and the extremities + the brake line geometry are very thin micro lines.
I have the S size (75-95) which i flew from 90 all up till 95, and the M size (90-110) flown at 107.5 all up.
My recent D gliders for this comparison are: The Mantra 6 SM and ML, the Peak 4 21 and 23 , the Avax XC 5 26, the IP 6 23 .

Launching the King S and M in, 5 km/h to + 15 km/h , needs a steady pull to accompany the glider. It’s a slightly slower than an M6 to reach overhead, but it’s surely very easy for a D glider as it goes up in one compact piece !

Flying the King S with the same X-Rated 6 harness i used for all the mentioned gliders, showed me at 93 all up, a moderate to agile glider and could be similar to the Mantra 6 SM agility flown at the same weight also.
The brake travel is short to moderate, resembling also the M6 SM brake travel .
The differences in thermal entry is that the King S pitches slightly back a little before entering.
The King M flown at 108 doesn’t have that pronounced pitch back movement and gives a neutral one instead.
The King could be described as a comfortable D glider when flown in moderate turbulence.
Flying the glider is some nasty ‘winter’ turbulent air, the King needs more active piloting than a Mantra 6 MS and slightly less piloting than a Peak 4 21 i was test flying at the same time.
The glider movements in some lee side thermals are sharp with always a marked back pitch on the S rather than a forward pitch. The M size showed me a more neutral pitch.
Of course sometimes it pulls you to the thermals, but in the relatively “moderate” turbulence conditions i flew it in, (only the summer conditions will give a better idea) , i found it easy to control the forward pitch, and in some macaroni stuff, i wished for a more neutral pitch on the S size.

The climb rate performance for both the S and the M size in very weak thermals (0.3m/s) is moderate to good resembling the Peak 4 one.
Once the thermals are steady and homogenous the very good maneuverability of the King doesn’t loose any weak thermal, and the flat turning ability, helps immensely to stay in the core. It has much better climb than the Queen in small conditions even loaded.
In those very weak conditions the M6 could still have a slight insignificant edge in float-ability…But i’m being too picky…as you already know

Now comes the glide part.
Doing some glides with the M6, Peak 4, IP 6, showed me for several times a superiority in gliding power for the King S and for sure the M size !
For instance the M6, MS (80-95) at 93 compared to the King M (90-110) flown at 108, gave the King a full + 2 km/h trim speed and for sure an impressive glide angle, like from another dimension ! It looked like chasing a full CCC competition glider !
Flying the King S (75-95) at 93 all up next to a Peak 4 23 (85-105), gave me the same big visual advantage in glide for the King S and as we both used the speed bar, the differences became larger to my favor !
The top speed of the Peak 4 23 is still around +3 km/h more similarly loaded versus the King S size.
I found it that especially around 45- 47 km/h the king glide angle is remarkably better !
I was never expecting a clear visual glide difference ! Usually there’s a small glide difference between newly tested gliders.But not this time !
The King does have indeed an amazing glide…or should i say:
The glide angle is worthy of a King !
The IP 6 23, still has also more top speed (+ 6 km/h) , over the King S, followed by the M6 (+ 2 km/h) .
I measured the King S top speed at 1000 ASL with 93 all up around 56 km/h with overlapping pulleys.
The glide at that speed is very nice, but i felt that the best glide is around ± 46 km/h for the S size which many XC pilots use frequently.
I found that racing at that speed through moderate turbulent air is quite usable as i was able to keep my feet on the pedal.

Big ears are easy to induce with a stable behavior and efficient descent rate at -3m/s with full bar.
They open smoothly !

Conclusion:
The King is the new reference in gliding power in the D category .
It seems that Triple Seven has built a powerful, fairly accessible, agile, gliding machine for “experienced” D pilots.
Upgrading from the Queen is logical if it was already flown easily for two seasons in strong conditions.
I’m sure that any C or D pilot test flying the King, will be shocked by this superb gliding Albatros  

UPDATE: After flying over 30 hours on the S size from 90 to 94 all up, i realized a change in trim speed .After email exchange with 777, it was obvious that the A's are slightly stretching by 0.5 cm and maybe the B's slightly...
I found the best way to re-trim this S size is by releasing the two (inner) C loops .The outside C loop stays . (confirmed by 777). Bearing in mind that the S size has no loops on the A's and B's .
You will be impressed that by releasing this loop (0.7 cm) on the inner C loops you will have a completely different glider ! In this configuration, the S size is more dynamic but still very compact, faster trim speed +1km/h , direct and beautiful handling...! Still solid and usable on full bar !
The M and L size are trimmed differently...There are simple loops 0.7 cm and cowboy loops 1 cm .Please contact your 777 dealer before any change.