PARAGLIDING IN SA  |   FLYING SITES  |   REVIEWS  |   AIRLORE  |   STORIES  |   GALLERY |   CARTOONS Gin OASIS Reviewed Feb 2002 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.  Gin Seouk Song designed gliders for Edel for many years, before establishing his own brand in 1998. Gin quickly established a reputation for excellent high-performance gliders - the Boomerang has been setting the standard in top-level competitions for over three years. Gin's new intermediate glider was DHV 1/2 certified in Dec 2001. When I took the Oasis for some test-flights, the Porterville mountains lay bare and fire-scarred. I prepared myself for some rough flying in grumpy thermic conditions under a low inversion layer. CONSTRUCTION : The Oasis sports Porcher Marine's New Skytex (S092 44g/m2) fabric in the characteristic recurved-bow colour scheme, and has a standard three-cell V-rib design. One bifurcation in the lines close to the wing keeps the Oasis looking clean. Soft 2cm webbing makes up a neat riser set. The speedbar system (only 14cm riser travel) keeps the B's very close to the A's during accelerated flight. The Oasis features 'big-ears tabs' - a pulley attached to the outer A-lines on a rubber cord with a velcro keeper. This is a neat innovation to avoid the need for split-A risers. LAUNCHING : Fills beautifully, and generates a steady arc with the right amount of forward momentum for me. The Oasis doesn't seem to overshoot, yet it returns slowly overhead if knocked back by a gust, making light wind launches and groundhandling easy. HANDLING : If racing around at full speed and touching only one brake is your idea of efficiency, then you'll find the Oasis easy to turn in a fairly flat circle. If you prefer to slow the wing down to minimum sink, and to weightshift turn to 'crank up in those little boomers' you'll have to work a lot with the outside brake to prevent the Oasis from dropping the inside wing. I found it difficult to induce a quick reaction in the wing to catch the 'small rockets' which fired off a burned slope. The Oasis needs a bit of space to turn, or it loses height. During glides through irritable air, I found the Oasis fairly responsive to passing thermals, giving feedback and reaction on the roll axis. However, the wing compensates for this activity by being rock-solid on the pitch axis, never threatening to front tuck. Even on full speedbar I enjoyed the steadiness - you can accelerate without a worry in any conditions. PERFORMANCE : When flying near the top of the weight range, at 99kg, the trim speed of 36km/h and top speed of 45km/h (recorded again at a smoother coastal site) confirmed what I experienced when flying beside other pilots. The Oasis seems a little slower than the fastest 1/2's like the Apco Allegra and Airwave Sport, probably due to the short but stable speedsystem. The Oasis is more likely to excel at gliding, due to its tendancy to cut through the air without much movement in the pitch axis. I won a competition task at Porterville on it, so the Oasis must do the job right! Mild behaviour in manic conditionsSAFETY : The Oasis has a rather unremarkable DHV test, and maybe that is remarkable of itself. The 'big ears' tabs are very easy to use, and bring in a good third of the wing area. The tabs are perfectly positioned and are very easy to use during a panicked situation. Released, the ears slowly and gently reinflate on their own. The Oasis has no tendency to stall during big ears. Although I have heard reports of a delayed opening of front tuck (echoed on the DHV test) I found the frontal recovery to be quick instead, with a healthy dive which generated airspeed almost at once. The full-stall exit is just as positive. I yanked on the brakes during the dive-out, and found an adequate resistance to recurrent stalls. B-line stalls require a bit of strength and co-ordination, but recovery is simple. Brake travel is short for an intermediate, similar to the Airwave Sport (if quarter-brakes is at your ears, then the stall point is at your hips, just above the seatboard). Brake pressure is moderate throughout the travel, then increases near the stall point. The Oasis takes some time to react to deep-brakes abuse before tipping back and stalling. It pitches nicely out of deep stall without any noticeable delay. You can spin the Oasis if you try, but only if you're prepared to fight high brake pressure. Overall I was impressed with the Oasis's low-speed behaviour. Collapses smaller than 50% result in less than 90 degrees of rotation, and a very calm reinflation. 'Big whoppers' result in a turn and dive, which increases the airspeed and thereby inflates the wing before 180 degrees of rotation. If you do any kind of counter-steering you'll be able to hold your course or turn away without any tendancy to stall. While fighting the intemperate air beneath Porterville's worst inversion layer, I had the feeling that the Oasis has a high resistance to collapses, provided that the wing is in trim position (not off-balanced due to a tight turn or wingover). The Oasis thus does not require a high amount of active flying. SUMMARY : Gin offers the Oasis for "a talented beginner wanting top performance" which sums it up nicely. Raw beginners might be caught out by the agility and roll freedom during big turns or wingovers. Talented intermediate or advanced pilots might decide that the Oasis lacks tight-turning responsiveness. But if you want a 'no fuss' kind of glider that behaves well in bad air, the Oasis will satisfy your needs, and probably outglide a lot of the competition without you even feeling that it's doing anything special. The Oasis is simple, neat, keen to reinflate, and, in a word, gentle. TECHNICAL SPECS : For more information visit Gin on the web www.gingliders.com Many thanks to the GIN importer for the wing : Gunter Hunsdorf - +27 (0)11 8027072 or email gunth@worldonline.co.za and to the GIN agent for her kind assistance : Marijke Ball - + 27 (0)83 454 3058 or email kball@mweb.co.za OASIS (DHV 1/2)           M       Projected area (m2)           24.5       Flat Area (m2)           26.87       Flat aspect ratio           5.02       In-flight weight range (kg)           85-105       Claimed Trim / Max speed (km/h)           37 / 48                           Airborne reviewer (kg)           99       Vmin in review (km/h)           22       Vtrim in review (km/h)           36       Vmax in review (km/h)           45                           Altitude of review (m above sea)           600       Air pressure Qnh (in hPa)           ---       Air temperature (degrees C)           21       Correction factor* for speeds           1.02       * Note : Multiply by the correction factor to scale the results to a standardised condition of 1000m altitude, 15 deg.C air and a pilot at the maximum certified weight limit (assumed roughly 3% increase in speed per 500m, 2% increase per 5 deg. C and 2% increase per 5kg extra weight). Humidity and turbulence could cause further variations from the standard. I use a fifteen-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.