– Pat Dower falls in love with Niviuk’s Artik 3, EN C
– Marcus King takes 777’s first EN B, The Rook, out to play in the Alps
– We review the Ava Sport Tanto Light
“To paraphrase one much respected pilot, ‘Wow, it climbs like a cork!’ I have to agree.”
Pat Dower can’t get enough of the Artik 3, the latest EN C class glider to re-write the rulebook about what pilots can expect from what used to be fairly standard gliders.
“I have yet to find anyone with a bad thing to say about the way the Artik 3 flies,” he writes. “In fact everyone I asked was positively glowing with praise. The handling is direct, linear and instant. I felt very much in command of the glider in all types of air.
“The brakes are a bit heavier and load up more than some but this contributes to you feeling really in touch with the wing, really in control.”
Meanwhile Marcus King takes the first EN B glider from new company 777 out to play in the French Alps. He didn’t get on with it at first, but that didn’t stop him from making a 100km flight through the southern French Alps on it in early June.
“Dolphining along it’s hard to put a finger on a glide performance, but it’s soon obvious that it leaves little to the higher-class wing, especially at trim,” he writes. “I seem to be able to match the glide angle of Ant’s EN D wing but not the speed.”
And it’s not only gliders that have seen big changes. The pod harness revolution continues: we want light, streamlined and comfortable in one package. The Advance Impress 3 is the one everyone has been talking about, but the Ava Sport Tanto Light differs because it has a seat plate. It also weighs just 5kg.
Our reviewer says: “Put simply there isn’t a compromise in the air between this harness and the heavier versions. The seating position is the same and it’s just as comfortable even after a few hours in the air.
“Ava have found a great compromise, creating a harness that is slippery through the air without having to be in a very supine position.”
These in-depth reviews are spread across 11 pages of the new-look Cross Country magazine, issue 142. To get a copy either subscribe online, or download it to your laptop or iPad through Zinio or the Zinio app.
Download issue 142 through Zinio.com
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