APCO Bagheera - battlecruiser of the skies

This is a review based on limited flying time.

Clocked at 50km/h, the Bagheera L is fast. With an impressive history of PWC wins in the Serial Class during 1999, pilots began to sit up and take notice of Israeli manufacturer Anatoly Cohn's new creation. Nothing with such a high aspect ratio (6.1) has ever got through the rigorous DHV2 tests and passed with flying colours. I took the Bagheera for a whirl to see if it was all hype, or if APCO truly had come up with an exceptional wing.

I flew the ACPUL Version Bagheera M on a 20km xc from Sir Lowry's Pass to Jonkerhoek. The wing has a wonderfully smooth feel in the air, and absorbs a lot of turbulence before giving you mild feedback via the harness. The Bagheera just glides along in a straight line, minding its own business and chopping up the competition with its good glide angle. When it enters a thermal, there is none of the rearwards pitching of the more agile DHV2's (eg.Freex Spear) - the Bagheera remains almost directly overhead. This has a down-side, however, in that you have no energy to begin the first thermalling turn. The wing has two modes - gliding, or thermalling at a set bank angle. Nothing I did on the brakes seemed to alter the angle of bank on the wing, and it was sometimes necessary to exit the core and re-enter it at a different point to optimise my climbs. Applying the outside brake has little effect - the wing turns flat, and in a steady circle. The brake pressure is highest at 1/3 brake (after which it feels as if it diminishes towards stall point) which makes tight thermalling hard work if you have to chase moving cores. In steady lift however, the wing is so easy to fly you can fall asleep against the risers.

I stood on the ground, radio in hand while the Bagheera was sent through an SIV course. She does have fairly benign reactions to the extreme manouevres, except for accelerated asymetric collapses ( which is to be expected for a high-aspect ratio wing ). However, over the two year's since the Bagheera's release, pilots have commented that the wing doesn't like heavy turbulence, and switches over from mild behaviour to that of a wild beast. I believe it has something to do with the rigidity of the leading edge - when it does go, it goes big, so beware. The Bagheera is only recommended for experienced pilots.

There are apparently two different versions of the Bagheera - an ACPUL Performance one, and a DHV2 one. These are two different gliders, and it is important to check which one you are considering. The ACPUL version is likely to have hotter behaviour, and be more comparable to a DHV2/3. Either way, the Bagheera has earned her 'serial-class' colours.

On the same day the Spear M I tested was 1km/h slower (80-110kg weight range), and Nova Axon (85-105) was 3.5km/h slower. The speed advantage of the Bagheera L will increase with a bit more loading than my 100kg's could bring to bear. It has a very good glide, right up at the top of the its class in performance.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

* Note : Apply the correction factor to scale the results to a standardised condition of 1000m altitude, 1013.2 hPa Qnh pressure, and 15 deg.C. air.