PARAGLIDING IN SA  |   FLYING SITES  |   REVIEWS  |   AIRLORE  |   STORIES  |   GALLERY |   CARTOONS Do you believe in MAGIC? The Airwave Magic review by Greg Hamerton 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.  This review is also available in German and Serbian For a while there I thought Airwave had disappeared, and what a shame that would have been, with a track record of winners coming from Bruce Goldsmith's drawing board (most notable being the XXX - World Champs winner). Then Markus Villinger waved his wand, and abracadabra! Bruce Goldsmith pops out of the hat, flying something rather eyecatching - the Magic. Airwave is back in a big way. CONSTRUCTION : Three aspects which I liked in the Ozone Octane have followed with Bruce to the Airwave factory. The new Gelvinor fabric on the upper surface, which means your glider will be durable. A seam with tape along both sides of the cell openings means a tight, clean nose. And those lovely soft brake toggles, with sponge inside. The competition kevlar rigging I flew was thick for microlines, which makes lots of sense to a South African - rocks, sticks and high UV are not kind to 'dental floss'. Similar to the Advance Omega5, the Magic has utilised closed cells to increase the smoothness of the nose, and help with retaining air within the wing during collapses. The closed cells are found only on the outer half of the wing, the centre section shows the traditional V-ribbed construction. Whether the closed cells make any difference or not is hard to say, but they give a unique look. MAGIC IN THE SKY : Pure magic in flight - Airwave over Porterville valleyI found it best to use only the centre-A-risers to inflate, otherwise the tips come up too fast.  I loved the feel of the wing in the air.  Similar to the XXX in the thermals, it doesn't roll much with weight-shift. Turns are flat, feel very precise and efficient. Wingovers are smooth, and speedy. The brake fan and brake pressure are perfect on this baby - crisp brakes, very firm, but not too heavy.  Pressure increases near stall point, then the wing snaps into the stall.  Brake travel is short to average. The Magic can be 'turned on a tickie', making optimised thermalling a dream. The Magic has a well-tensioned look on the top (it's my secret how I know that), and a tight, sleek feel to the aerofoil.  Although the lower-surface is slightly puckered near the closed cells, and flutters a little at speed, the wing retains good spanwise rigidity through the bumps.  It doesn't look like a high-aspect wing from underneath, and behaves in a reassuring manner, giving light feedback with no 'spontaneous agility'. In other words, it doesn't jump around by itself.  I often let the brakes go on the glides, getting the best of the high trim speed. STABILITY : The wing stabilises well after pitches or dives.  Average collapses (40%) don't turn more than 90degrees, and were reinflating on their own. There is a bite to big collapses (more than 50%) if you don't lean away, but nothing unexpected for a high-performance glider. Countersteering is easy. Big ears reinflate on their own (must be kept in).  Even big ears on speedbar were reinflating, showing that the tips are well-designed. A passing wizard on his wingTHERMALLING : Slow-flying with very deep brake I had a sustained speed of 26km/h and the wing showed no tendancy to stall early. If you turn too heavily while thermalling it results first in a spiral turn, and the brake pressure becomes high, so you'd have to be aggressive to spin the Magic. What impressed me most while flying xc was the precise, carving turns of the Magic, and the way the wing felt like an extension of my self, ready to respond instantly to my command. SPEED : I took a few big blow-outs when racing full bar (pulley to pulley, without letting up).  Either the tips would go (one followed by the other), or a big chunk of leading edge would come in when I encountered thermic turbulence.  There was time to catch the glider before it went anywhere, but the last quarter of the full 20cm riser-travel is best left for only the peachy-smooth conditions.  However, at half speed-bar I found an impressive glide, 47km/h and reassuring stability.  What really impressed me was the standard rigged Magic - with identical wingloading, it showed no difference in speed or glide alongside. SUMMARY : After my first test flight I was already counting out the pennies from my piggy-bank. After thermalling the Magic I was singing. By the time I had flown head-to-head with the best in the serial class I was completely sold. I've been looking for that special 2/3 wing for months, and have flown too many wings to recount. At last I've found the perfect blend of handling, feedback, performance and smoothness of flight - it's all there, in the Airwave Magic. It's in the very top class of the Serial performers, with the kind of handling that I can only describe as 'perfect'. ANOTHER OPINION : Hi Greg. I flew the Magic at Groot Kanonkop on Sunday. Take off was easy, very similar to the Alto I flew before the Octane. Give the wing some time to fill and come up, and it will rise nicely and won't overshoot. I hit a good thermal in front of takeoff. Thermalling is wonderful, it carves into the lift without hanging back when entering a thermal. Turning is easy, flat or banked according to preference. Feedback is not as hard as with the Octane (there I sometimes feel like in washing machine), and things are generally smoother, including break pressure. So I made it to the top of the ridge and thermalled to the highest peak, farther away from my car I would not go (see above). I flew out a bit - very stable on half speed bar, a bit less with more, then back to the ridge and conditions were different, it felt more like a lee-side now with a lot of sink around some tiny cores of lift. In this,the wing's bite into the lift is not that good, because if it falls out it wants to dive big time and you shouldn't be fiddling around with the cellphone (which I did not!). Finally I gave up (too foehny or bergy as we say here) and flew out - fantastic speed and glide compared to the other wings around me. I had a smooth landing and stalled it when touching the ground with almost no wind - easy to feel the stall point. Generally it is a reassuring wing, apart from its tendency to dive hard. It's fast, turns well, less direct than the Octane, also less lively, feels a bit like power-steered and turbo-charged, but without the hard racing suspension and clutch. Thermalling is a dream. I enjoyed it. Thanks a lot. Andreas Diacon TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS : Airwave Gliders Many thanks to the Airwave importer for the wing :Closed cells, clean nose, tight lines Mike Kinsey mikep@icon.co.za MAGIC (DHV2/3)           Medium      Number of cells           71/107      Projected area (m2)           23.26      Flat Area (m2)           26.52      Flat Aspect Ratio           6.03      Main Lines - A/B/C/D           3/4/3/2      In-flight weight range (kg)           80 - 100      Min / Trim / Max speed (km/h)           21 / 39 / 56                         Airborne reviewer (kg)           100      Vmin in review (km/h)           22      Vtrim in review (km/h)           39      Vmax in review (km/h)           52                         Altitude of review (m above sea)           300      Air pressure Qnh (in hPa)           1016      Air temperature (degrees C)           24      Correction factor* for speeds           100%      * Note : Apply the correction factor if you would like to scale my raw data to a roughly standardised condition of 1000m altitude, 1013.2 hPa Qnh pressure, and 15 deg.C. air. I assume 6% change per 1000m, 2% per 5degC (based on practical tests). Humidity and turbulence could cause further variations from the standard. * I use a 15 second average to provide 'highest sustainable speed'. Don't miss out! Get the next paraglider test as soon as it's released, by JOINING OUR MAILING LIST. You might also like to read: Other paraglider reviews on this website.