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13/11/2007 |
Le Space 16 est une aile double surface à 75%. Elle possède 12 lattes d'extrados et 2 lattes d'intrados.
3 velcros intérieurs maintiennent le profil à hautes vitesses.
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19/11/2007 |
Commentaires (issus du forum) de Stéphane Keck, propriétaire d'un Space 16 :
"J’ai le plaisir de vous informer que je suis un heureux propriétaire d’un Space 16 et j’ai réalisé 2 vols. Mes premières impressions sont positives. Le décollage et d’une facilité déconcertante notamment dû à son faible poids. En vole, il est très stable mais un peu dur au déclenchement de virage style des nouvelles ailes sans mât. Il est important de réaliser une petite prise de vitesse, de décaler tout en poussant légèrement. Pour l’atterrissage, pas de problème, la marge pour le poussé final est très grande. Je pense que j’ai trouvé une aile idéale pour moi. Je vole depuis 1994 mais avais stoppé en 2000. J'ai recommencé fin Août de cette année. Avec le Space j’ai une aile facile et ne suis pas de cette manière stressé avant le déco. "
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Søren Ladegaard
27/04/2009 |
I have just ordered a brand new Seedwings Space 16. I mainly do towing and flat land flying. I have approx. 70 tows and 14 hours of airtime. I'll let you all know what I think about the glider once I have flown it.
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Soren Ladegaard
01/07/2009 |
Ok. Here are my initial thoughts of the Seedwings (Europe) Space 16 (170 squarefeet).
I have around 19 hours of airtime and I've done almost 100 static tows. This is my first double surface wing. Until now I have been flying an Aeros Target 16 (175 squarefeet).
The build quality is excellent. And so is the sail. Absolutely top notch. The glider comes in a nice bag and has lots of different padding to cover different parts of the glider. The single most difficult padding to fit is the cover for the bottom of the kingpost and the cover for the upper part of the uprights. For some reason these two are sewn together. I took a scissor and cut the two apart :) The first few times you pack it seems impossible to roll up the sail nicely. After a few times it gets easier but I still need to find out how to do it perfectly. The wing cord is very deep and one of the luff lines tends to tighten when you lay down the king post. And a new sail is so crisp that it tends to unfold itself. But that's going to change obviously :)
Compared to the earlier versions of the Space the newer ones - mine included - has been improved slightly. The VG system now has an extra pulley to make pulling easier. And the sidewires have been shortened by approx. 1.5 centimeters to make the roll response easier / faster.
I have flown the glider 10 times in light conditions. A few of the flights were in the evening in dead still air. All flights were static towing. I'm comparing it with my experience with the Aeros Target. For those of you not familiar with the Aeros Target it probably compares to a Wills Wing Falcon 3).
I've been towing a 25% VG as per recommendation from an experienced pilot. It tows easily and keeps a straight line. It dampens bumps and its comfortable on tow. Maybe even easier with 0% VG?
In still air I have a sink rate of 1.2 meters in my Aeros Target. I get the exact same at 0% VG on the Space. Just pulling 25% VG decreased this to 0.9 meters!
At 0% VG the glider handles like the Target. It has the same relatively high bar pressure telling you that the glider wants to stabilize itself all the time. At just 25% VG this becomes significantly lighter and the glide improves. At 100% I was able to penetrate headwind in a way I never experienced before. Big improvement compared to a single surface wing.
You can hear the stall of the glider. When the glider stalls you can hear the wing "buzzing". I have even expericed this during a flare.
The glider lands incredibly easy. Just before it's time to flare it feels like the glider's nose "pops up" quite noticealby telling you it's time to flare. I've done nil wind landings and I swear they are easier than on the Aeros Target. I tried ground handling the glider just running against the wind wearing no harness. If you do this with the Aeros Target you can easily get it to lift of your shoulders but as you reach stall speed the glider immediately gets heavy and drops down. This doesn't happen with the Space. You can simply stop running and the glider will gently float down onto your shoulders.
A local instructor who has more than 1000 hours logged and also flies more than 100 tandem flights every year tried the glider. He had never flown a Seedwings (Europe) before. He was very impressed by the handling qualities of the glider and said it was very well designed. He was impressed of how stable it was at high speeds with no tendency to yaw.
When I ordered the glider the Austrian manufacturer advised me to buy the large version (there's also a 14.0 m2 version). I'm light on the large version and a bit heavy on the smaller version. The manufacturer said that if I was to fly in the Austrian alps with lots of powerful thermals I should go for the smaller version, But if I was to do flatland flying / towing in a nordic country I should go for the big one.
The local instructor had been afraid that the glider would be too big for me (82 kg + gear). According to him the manufacturer hadn't taken the higher winds in Denmark into account. But after flying the glider he said that wouldn't be a problem. He weighs 70 kg and said it wouldn't even be a problem for him. He also said the Space was the perfect step up from a single surface.
All in all I like the glider very much and am sure it will satisfy me as a realtively new / recreational pilot for quite some time.
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