Flight Design A7
Giddy up!

After reading Mike Masterson's comment I became excited. 'Some wings feel as if they are stumbling through rough air, while others, like the A7 feel graceful and sure-footed'. The latest release from the respected manufacturer Flight Design was sure to be a winner. But the A7, like a young horse, seems to have a different temperament depending on the weather, and when I took the glider out for a gallop through the woods, I found a rather different animal.

CONSTRUCTION
The A7 has a good, clean look in the air, and a simple, pleasing colour scheme. The lower lines are very long, only branching into two bifurcations close to the wing. An inner-A riser (2lines), outer-A (2lines), B(4lines), C(4lines), D(3lines) and Brake risers make the riser set bulky. The risers are made from very long, sturdy webbing. The speedbar has a long travel, necessitating a step-ladder system for the shorter pilots. There is a fair amount of span-wise reinforcement in the wing, with Flight Design's 'V-tape' technology, similar to Swing's construction. This reduces the weight of the conventional V-ribs, by only inserting the diagonal bracing above the line attachment points in the wing. There is a D-tape tensioning the wing near the trailing edge. Peeking inside, I was pleased to see well-placed semi-circles of stiff fabric to reinforce the line attachment points. The stuffbag scored minus points for being too small - a tight pack was essential every time.

LAUNCH
When laying the glider out for the first time, Keith Pickersgill (the local Flight Design agent) warned me that it was essential to pull up only on the centre A's, and to leave the outer A-risers well alone. If you use both risers, the wingtips collapse on the way up. When I did pull up with just the centre A's, the nose collapsed during the arc, from being pulled too hard. I tried again, with the lightest of pressure, and she came up slowly. The difference between pulling too hard, and pulling too soft is very small, and takes some getting used to. I found the glider difficult to forward-start in zero wind. as the pressure on the A's is so critical.

FLIGHT
In the air I immediately felt that I was flying a sensitive wing. I was towards the top end of the weight-range. Weight-shift had moderate effect, though I found the turns to be a bit measured, and could not crank it really tight in the small thermals I was faced with. On the way down, I tested the speedbar, which has a long travel. The wing felt reasonably solid on full bar. Wingovers were easy to build up, and I was soon swinging way over the wing in smooth arcs. Recovering from a dramatic roll is smooth and well-measured.

SAFETY
Asymmetric collapses, when no input is applied, turn and dive rather rapidly, losing a fair amount of height. The wing reinflates of its own accord, but only after a full 360degree turn. With a moderate amount of countersteering and opposite weight-shift, the wing can be held straight. It felt a little hot for a DHV2 for my mind, but it seemed to be well-behaved enough not to do anything wild. The collapsed wing did take a long time to pump out, though, due to the fact that the fabric catches on the stiff extended brake tabs which are sewn along the trailing edge.

Tucking big ears to escape the clutches of cloud and lift on the ridge, I was alarmed to find the glider dropping into a parachutal stall. Being close to the ridge, and not having my speedbar handy, I had to resort to pumping out the ears, hoping that this would not induce a deeper stall. After some hefty pumps, the wingtips reluctantly reinflated. The glider remained 'parachutal' for a while, and the glider slipped gently in a negative spin for 45degrees, before biting into the air and flying me away from the (much closer) rocks below. This should not have happened on a DHV2 wing - I tested it again over the landing field, just to be sure, and many times during a later cross-country flight. Pulling 2-line big ears brings the glider close to parachutal stall, and without also applying speedbar, the wing is prone to gust stalling. Rolling the glider from side to side with big ears in leads to a stall as well.

Flight Design was questioned about this tendancy, and admitted that only single-line big-ears are advised. Apparently the glider I tested had been incorrectly rigged with two A-lines on the outer riser, and two on the inner. Kinsley Wong agreed that 2-line big ears (that's 4lines in total) were cumbersome and not easy to reinflate, and he found the single line technique adequate.

The front tuck yielded the same parachutal tendancy. Some front tucks would reinflate completely (which mirrors the DHV tests) but in the others the glider would drop back, reinflate only partially, leaving the big ears in, and stay in a parachutal stall. I timed one for 8 seconds before I lost patience and stamped on the speedbar. After another second, the glider began to fly again.

THERMALLING
Turning in thermals felt smooth and measured, though when I tried to really tighten up the turn, the wing inched itself very close to stall point. It was easy for me to spin the wing, though other reviewers (Mike Masterson, Kinsley Wong) did not find this tendancy on the wings they flew. On the plus side, though, the spin it would enter was mild, and became a spiral if not responded to, which is a fairly safe configuration for a wing, having lots of speed and pressure. A little more brake, though, and the wing spun properly, in a measured, uncomplicated way. So what's on the other side of the spin is not too scary, but I was disappointed in the lack of scope for tighter thermalling turns. The A7 seemed to have adequate roll feedback while it passed through the air, allowing you to feel where the lift was hitting the wing. There was no noticeable yaw movement, and no pitch forward at all, which is reassuring in thermic conditions. The glider will pitch back upon entering a thermal, but recovers smoothly without a forward pitch.

In four hours of flying in fairly rough conditions, I did not suffer any asymmetric collapses, which says something good about the wing. I fly very actively, preventing a lot of nasties before they happen, but I do feel that the wing has good resistance to collapses, probably due to its high angle of attack.

SUMMARY
Flight Design's website (www.flightdesign.com.) claims : "Flight Design´s new team has made a wing, that that is absolut different from the former known Flight Design´s gliders. Really, this is an intermediate: the A-7vt." I feel that the A7 is beyond the reach of most intermediate pilots, better suited to experienced pilots with more than 200 flights. With "the ability to be launched easy" I disagree - there is a knack to be learned. "The great safety range and stability is reminiscent of the beginners-class" is misleading - it is a solid wing, and does not collapse much, but it is for the more natural and sensitive pilots. In summary, I feel the A7 is too skittish for a hobby-horse, and needs the guidance of an experienced rider to tap in to the benefits of the performance. The glider rolled its eyes at me as I packed it away in its stable, and I feel it was just waiting for a clear shot to kick me in the ribs.

This is my subjective opinion, and differs from others in the industry (Mike Masterson, Kinsley Wong).

TEST CONDITIONS
Porterville, Cape Town, SA - 700m ASL launch, flight to 1000m, 5hours total in strong thermic conditions (>4m/s), 70km distance flown.
Lions Head - 500m ASL, 1 hour total, in light thermic (<1m/s) conditions in coastal air.

REVIEWER'S SPECS - Greg Hamerton
I have been involved in paragliding training for the past six years, having flown everything I could get my hands on - especially good sports class gliders. I have run SIV courses in Cape Town, and specialise in advanced training (winching, thermalling, aerobatics, cross country). In '97 I competed in the PWC circuit on a Freex Spark Pro, a very twitchy, sensitive glider with incredibly light handling. By the end of '98 I chose to fly DHV2 gliders again. I currently fly a Freex Spear (also has sensitive handling) and prefer bivouac cross- country flying to competitions. I have over 1000 hours airtime, and have to date flown over 70 wings.

SPECIFICATIONS
A7-vt medium
Area flat [m2] 28,5
Span flat [m] 12,7
Aspect ratio 5,7
Chambers 50
Vmax [km/h] 50 (though the DHV only recorded 46km/h)
Min. sinkrate [m/s] 1,05
Best L/D 8,1
Take off weight [kg] 80-100
REVIEWER'S FLYING WEIGHT : 93kg
Certification : DHV 2

THANKS
To Keith Pickersgill, Cape Town's Flight Design agent, for the use of the A7 during the review.