Thank you for making this video ... especially helpful for those of us on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean that have not seen a real life Avian Puma(!).
There's actually two Puma's that I know of your side of the pond, if you message me I can put you in touch with our US importer and maybe you can meet up some time!
Hi Tim, I would suggest a topic to a future video: " What must we expect from HG developing in a decade? Performance, Safeness, Harness, Launching and landing. By the way, keep it up and hope great audience to your channel. Thanks!
Mega Tim, Marek and the legend Steve! I just can't quite believe the Puma has sweeter handling than my evo3, only a trial flight can convince me - my evo3 is epic - possibly supernatural...
Interesting video, informative. Thank you for taking the time. I have two questions regarding the wingtip design. Is it not true that if you add dihedral you are also adding more stability, that is, will make the glider more difficult to initiate a roll? On the added sweep at the tip (with the tapered leading edge), is it not true that this design, would in theory make the glider have less effective aspect ratio, and because of that less performance? Cheers.
You're right that *overall* increased dihedral does increase stability. This makes it harder to roll into a turn BUT easier to roll out (i.e. roll reversal). This is really important, I've flown gliders from other manufacturers that have initially felt really easy to turn, they drop into the turn but then you find you're having to highside and fight like hell to get it to roll out! I really don't like that tendency, I've been scared when I've been scratching close into the ridge, have been tipped towards it and then not been sure if I'll get it to roll out!! Avians are nicely balanced between turn entry and turn exit as we feel that's a really important metric in what makes a glider 'feel nice' to fly. That said, the point about tip dihedral is about the change in dihedral over the wing, not the overall level. You can keep the same overall dihedral by reducing (making more negative) further inboard. The overall dihedral on the Puma is still negative (i.e. anhedral) as on almost all hang gliders. For the point on change in sweep, same applies. This is about change in sweep along the wing, not the total amount. Yes, if you just angled the tips back and didn't change anything else you'd reduce the span and so the AR (although pretty negligibly if you do it by the amount we're talking here), but if you make other changes (e.g. straighter nose angle, slightly longer LE tubes) you can easily cancel that. The AR on the Puma is about 7.4:1 (precise value changes with VG setting and whether or not you fit the optional wing tip fairings) which is fairly high in it's class although probably not the highest. It's all about making well balanced glider that is first and foremost a joy to fly. Performance IS important in this category of glider, but it's not the be all and end end. Actually you'll find you fly further on a glider that you feel really comfortable and safe with than one that has higher numbers but scares the hell out of you! One of our customers just phoned me today from Lanzarote. It was his first ever flight on his brand new Puma and he stayed up in light scratchy conditions when most of the comp pilots on topless hot ships for next week's Canaries Open went down! One of the reasons was that he felt comfortable flying close in on the Puma even on his first flight.
We tend to design our gliders more toward club pilots than comp pilots and so they're also more popular with club pilots so aren't often entered into comps. When we lent a Puma to a young pilot for the UK Nationals in 2017 he came 2nd in the Sport class and very close to the win.
Design and technical features well explained as only a designer can. Thanks!
Thank you for making this video ... especially helpful for those of us on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean that have not seen a real life Avian Puma(!).
There's actually two Puma's that I know of your side of the pond, if you message me I can put you in touch with our US importer and maybe you can meet up some time!
Hi Tim, I would suggest a topic to a future video: " What must we expect from HG developing in a decade? Performance, Safeness, Harness, Launching and landing. By the way, keep it up and hope great audience to your channel.
Thanks!
Mega Tim, Marek and the legend Steve! I just can't quite believe the Puma has sweeter handling than my evo3, only a trial flight can convince me - my evo3 is epic - possibly supernatural...
Hope to see a Puma on the hill near me. good stuff.
Thanks Tim! Any idea where I can find some flight reviews? ta :D
Interesting video, informative. Thank you for taking the time. I have two questions regarding the wingtip design. Is it not true that if you add dihedral you are also adding more stability, that is, will make the glider more difficult to initiate a roll? On the added sweep at the tip (with the tapered leading edge), is it not true that this design, would in theory make the glider have less effective aspect ratio, and because of that less performance? Cheers.
You're right that *overall* increased dihedral does increase stability. This makes it harder to roll into a turn BUT easier to roll out (i.e. roll reversal). This is really important, I've flown gliders from other manufacturers that have initially felt really easy to turn, they drop into the turn but then you find you're having to highside and fight like hell to get it to roll out! I really don't like that tendency, I've been scared when I've been scratching close into the ridge, have been tipped towards it and then not been sure if I'll get it to roll out!!
Avians are nicely balanced between turn entry and turn exit as we feel that's a really important metric in what makes a glider 'feel nice' to fly. That said, the point about tip dihedral is about the change in dihedral over the wing, not the overall level. You can keep the same overall dihedral by reducing (making more negative) further inboard. The overall dihedral on the Puma is still negative (i.e. anhedral) as on almost all hang gliders.
For the point on change in sweep, same applies. This is about change in sweep along the wing, not the total amount. Yes, if you just angled the tips back and didn't change anything else you'd reduce the span and so the AR (although pretty negligibly if you do it by the amount we're talking here), but if you make other changes (e.g. straighter nose angle, slightly longer LE tubes) you can easily cancel that. The AR on the Puma is about 7.4:1 (precise value changes with VG setting and whether or not you fit the optional wing tip fairings) which is fairly high in it's class although probably not the highest. It's all about making well balanced glider that is first and foremost a joy to fly. Performance IS important in this category of glider, but it's not the be all and end end. Actually you'll find you fly further on a glider that you feel really comfortable and safe with than one that has higher numbers but scares the hell out of you! One of our customers just phoned me today from Lanzarote. It was his first ever flight on his brand new Puma and he stayed up in light scratchy conditions when most of the comp pilots on topless hot ships for next week's Canaries Open went down! One of the reasons was that he felt comfortable flying close in on the Puma even on his first flight.
The Hang Glideres have parachutes, but is the H.G. collapsible in an emergency?? 🎖💌🦞🦞🃏🥚🥚🥃
Like it. Nice presentation. Is Steve Elkins still working with you on design?
Yes, the Puma is Steve's design. I'm continuing to make developments on it and Steve is still about to ask questions of!
About 7min: Is this the Hadrianswall below?
No, Stanage Edge in the Peak District, it's a natural feature!
If this (your gliders) is such a great glider, how come I haven't heard of anyone winning any competition on it?
We tend to design our gliders more toward club pilots than comp pilots and so they're also more popular with club pilots so aren't often entered into comps. When we lent a Puma to a young pilot for the UK Nationals in 2017 he came 2nd in the Sport class and very close to the win.