Swing have re-lined their high-performance EN C wing, the Agera RS, after temporarily suspending its sales at the end of last year.
Issues experienced by some pilots soon after the glider was released prompted Swing to recall some of the gliders.
Eight pilots out of about 80 wings sold, “found handling to be difficult”, Swing said in a statement on their website.
Swing found that some of the wings had a problem with line stretch.
In their statement Swing said: “With some of the Agera RS gliders we inspected, the AI and AII lines had stretched more than we would have expected after the first few flights. With some of them the CIII had also shrunk.”
They said that “taken in isolation” the line stretch was not a safety issue in itself, but when combined with other factors like harness setting or using “a lot of outside brake” the handling was “unacceptable”, with a few pilots reporting an issue with sensitivity of spin entry.
Following their investigation Swing re-trimmed the model and changed the length of the some of the lines. They also changed the brake fan. They say the testing body agree it is still within the original certification.
“This has allowed a significant improvement to be made to climb performance in weak conditions, with a simultaneous reduction in control pressure,” the statement said.
The result is the updated Agera RS has “noticeably improved” handling and is less sensitive towards other factors like harness choice and outside brake.
Agera RS pilots who bought their wing before 2019 have been offered a free “upgrade pack” which includes a modified brake fan and some new A-lines. All new Agera RS wings are already equipped with this new line set.
The Agera is a high-performance wing for experienced cross country pilots that is EN C certified. It is not aimed at pilots new to the C class.
Swing’s full statement is online here, Agera RS Upgrade 2019.
