Subject: First Impressions from Flying the Exxtasy

Resent-Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 01:50:15 -0600 (MDT)

Resent-From: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu

Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 03:49:38 EDT

From: RudySteve@aol.com

To: hang-gliding@lists.utah.edu

Flight Impressions from initial hours on the Exxtasy. My new Exxtasy is

living up to my expectations on several counts and at the same time presenting

me with a few unexpected negatives. I was so enthused after my test flight

Sunday August 2nd that I plunked down my money and brought the glider home.

(I had no problem cruising down the Sierra's from Slide Mountain on a day

everyone else was struggling just to stay up. I flew out and landed after 28

miles because Dave Sharp really didn't want to chase me any farther.)

Since I have been hooked on pushing for Owens Valley XC distance flights since

1985, I couldn't wait to get the Exxtasy down to Horseshoe Meadows. The

conditions looked pretty weak at 11:00 on Saturday morning, but I launched

feeling confidant of a great flight. I flew too fast and didn't feel

comfortable enough to try to turn in the minimal puffs I found very low in the

saddle by takeoff. I am pretty sure I would have scratched up had I been

flying my XC. The difference is that I was unsure of the Exxtasy's handling

super tight over what is often a violently turbulent jagged ridge.

Consequently, I was on the ground very quickly.

I don't feel the same awareness of a thermal's core in the Exxtasy that I do

on the XC. Hopefully, I will gain a better feel as my airtime increases on

the wing. But I believe the dihedral and rigidity of the Exxtasy will always

isolate me from the texture of the lift more than a flex wing. I had

outclimbed everyone else at Slide Mountain within 10 minutes of my launch the

previous week. So I believe that even doing a very poor job of maximizing a

thermal, the Exxtasy will still outclimb any of the flex wings.

After my disappointing flight Saturday, I packed up and hurried back to launch

for a second attempt. I didn't take off again until 1:40, but climbed out

without a problem. It felt great to zip along skipping many of the mountain

ridges I would normally need to thermal back up on. I felt very at ease with

the handling once I had gained some altitude and I didn't have to sweat

scratching in tight on a ridge for the rest of the flight. The thermals took

me up to 16,000' on the south side of Onion Valley and I headed directly for

Black Mountain. I got to Black with over 9,000' without making a turn along

the way (25 miles).

The Exxtasy allowed me to cruise down the Whites only stopping to thermal a

few times. My wife complained some that she barely had time to fill the gas

tank in Bishop and make a quick stop for ice cream. She spent most of the

time I was flying just trying to keep up with me. I hit a nice patch of lift

between Montgomery pass and Mina, but got my last real thermal just beyond

Luning pass. The Exxtasy maintained almost zero sink over the ridge north of

Gabbs. I landed in the Ione Valley at 7:30 frustrated to be one good thermal

short of a 200 mile flight. I got 181 miles in 5:50 minutes, giving me an

average speed about 50% better than I have managed on long flights on flex

wings. I'm still kicking myself that I bombed out when I launched 2 and half

hours earlier in the day. Nobody else flying Horseshoe Saturday got past

Bishop (65 miles). Needless to say, I am ecstatic about the glider's XC

potential.

Back to the negatives. I landed on a hard pack road, well ahead of my chase

crew, in very light wind. I assumed that I still had a minimal tail wind when

I had a minimal head wind. I flaired the glider hard and pretty much stopped

the forward motion. The glider didn't slowly settle after the flair, but

dropped immediately. I didn't get my feet under me for the landing. On a

flex wing I would have caught the keel and plopped down on the base tube with

me basically supported by the harness. However, with the Exxtasy's short

control bar and very high aspect ratio, nothing on the glider touched before

my body did a full belly flop on the hard pack. It took a while before I

decided I was only bruised. Wheels wouldn't have helped, I had negligible

forward motion and my body hangs way below the contact points of the glider

when at full arm extension. I guess I'll just be sure to get my feet under me

in the future.

After a long drive back into the Owens I got some sleep and went back up to

try it again Sunday. There were no clouds within a hundred miles and the lift

looked weaker than it had the previous morning. I waited until noon to

launch. I set the flaps to about 30 degrees for takeoff and promised myself

to fly slow and scratch my way up in the saddle. I noticed a clunk as I

launched and worried that I might have dropped my instruments or radio. The

Exxtasy took a major dive off Walt's Point and I assumed I had launched into a

rotor. I again blew through whatever lift might have been in the saddle. I

believe that the clunk I heard was the flaps releasing. Since the difference

between stall speed flaps on to stall speed flaps off is probably around 10

mph, the glider accelerated in a major dive to get adequate airspeed. I did

find a thermal much farther out the ridge and I put flaps back on and

thermaled on up. The flap cord seems small for the cleat. It doesn't catch

very securely. I will probably replace it with a slightly larger cord.

When I topped out over Winona Peak, I seemed to have a substantial drift off

the Sierras (west wind). I decided to fly directly across the valley figuring

the Inyo's would be good in the west wind. I got to the Inyos with about

9,000' but didn't find any lift. After scratching along less than a thousand

feet off the valley floor for a while I found a real thermal and headed north.

The lift wasn't as good as it had been Saturday so the going was a good bit

slower. The Whites offered lots of turbulence with minimal real lift, so I

flew from Silver Canyon past White Mountain out in the valley. Better lift at

the north end of the valley put me over Boundary and out into Nevada. I

slowly climbed back past 16,000 north of Basalt. As I approached Mina I flew

through a few patches of lift without working them because I had gotten cold.

Unfortunately, I only found sink near Mina and thought I would have to land.

At 200 - 300 AGL, I found some light lift and continued on to Luning. It

didn't look like I was going to get enough altitude to attempt crossing the

pass beyond Luning and the route home is to continue on Hwy 95 towards

Hawthorne. It was getting pretty late so I headed up Hwy 95 for about 18

miles before landing. Luning is 146 miles from Horseshoe but flying the

additional 18 miles along the road to Reno actually resulted in landing 3

miles closer to takeoff.

I again got to land in dead air conditions. My plan was to try a more

moderate flair and a run out. However, I couldn't hold the 100 pounds of

glider up while running with about 50 pounds of harness and gear. By the time

glider whacked I had very little momentum, but any whack on this carbon fiber

wing worries me. I know it is incredibly strong, but I have gotten away with

mangled nose plates on flex wings doing landings that I am sure would result

in some serious expenses on the Exxtasy. I now have two dead wind landings

and two light wind landings. The light wind landings were excellent. I'll

have to figure out the right technique for no wind landings.

Other than the bruises from Saturday evening's landing, I got home without

being overly exhausted or sore from a weekend that totaled 345 XC miles. I

hope to do better after I get dialed into the glider.

Steve Rudy RudySteve@aol.com Reno, NV