| PARAGLIDING IN SA | FLYING SITES | REVIEWS | AIRLORE | STORIES | GALLERY | CARTOONS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AIRCROSS
TRIALP by Greg Hamerton (www.greghamerton.com). Greg has been flying since 1992 and has flown over 100 wings. He prefers responsive handling and agility but rates passive stability highly as he enjoys taking photographs and snoozing whilst gliding. You might also like to read: Other paraglider reviews on this website. |
 Unique handling |
 Swept-back tips |
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| Introduction Aircross is a small French company that rose to fame with the success of their competition wing, the U3. Although this wing was designed some time ago, it took a while for the world to realise just how good it was. In 2005 Aircross released the Trialp, a safer version of the U3, intended for cross-country pilots. Construction The wing has a standard look about it, normal fabric, normal lines, nothing fancy. The brake loops are great for acro, and are made from soft fabric and with a clever half-twist which keeps them open. Launching On the ground, the wing is a bit tricky to ground-handle, the tips like to bend the wing when you apply brakes, even though they take towards the centre of the wing before engaging the tips. The brakes have a long travel so you need fairly big inputs. The wing I used had come from the factory with the incorrect brake settings and needed to be shortened by 28cm before they were in the correct position. In the air, my first impression (and that of another reviewer) was 'my god this wing is active'. It shakes around, flexes, rustles. It tightens up once the brakes are on, so I began to fly actively and held the wing back on the brakes. |
 Feels very active but really is quite stable |
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| Trimmers The wing I was on had long trim risers, with the ability to pull 4cm of negative trim (C's shorter than A's) or positive trim (A's shorter than C's by 4cm) which takes a little getting used to. The wing flew best at level trim so I used the trims mainly for easy glides. I find the best speed to fly during cross country flying is always a bit accelerated on the glides, so it suited me well. It takes the strain off your legs. I used the negative trims occasionally when I wanted to fly slowly, but the handling gets a bit dead and the turns are sluggish, so it's not recommended. I tested it's resistance to spin and spin recovery in this slowed position, and there were no obvious problems. But do be aware that trimmers do sometimes slip accidentally, so they aren't recommended for anyone that isn't highly experienced. |
 Only three risers. Nice brake loops. Long trims. |
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| Safety The 50% asymetric collapses I did reinflated violently, before the glider had rotated through 90degrees. Although this is reassuring to have such positive reinflation behaviour, it will be a bit unnerving for inexperienced pilots. But I must add that the wing is very resistant to turbulence, and the only collapses I had were those I induced. That's after 3 hours of flying in strong thermic spring conditions. Speed On speedbar the cells pucker as the wing compresses – this is rare to see on a modern glider. The wing oscillates a bit and yet .. here's the strange thing .. it is very stable. After a while I learned to release the brakes and just let the wing fly through the bumps, the shakes, even through a few screaming big thermals. It doesn't pitch much at all, and you rarely need to do anything, because even with all the movement in the wing, it doesn't collapse. It seems to absorb a lot of turbulence because it flexes. And so you get a very good glide out of it because you can stay off the brakes. Summary It's great! From what I could see it doesn't have any significant advantage in glide over other top wings in its class, but it is easier to fly than many, particularly when accelerated. It is also a geniune three-liner (only A, B, C lines, with only one bifurcation) which means a lot less line drag and great performance. This means you can enjoy 'laid-back' cross country flying and still keep up with the leaders. Climbs are good, they seem better than the U3 who I flew against. Unfortunately only the XS and S sizes have been certified (AFNOR Performance). Now 'Performance' is a broad category, I'd equate this wing to a DHV2/3 – it is best suited to experienced cross country pilots, although it is very undemanding to fly. However, the M and L have no certification, and so will be treated as 'competition' class (DHV3) wings by most paragliding associations (a wing restricted to advanced pilots only). This is a short-sighted approach by Aircross. |
 Long brake travel to keep it overhead. |
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Technical
specs : TRIALP M (2005)
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