Fusion wing freeflying

At last I had the pleasure of freeflying my Fusion wing at my local cliffs on Sunday and i must say it performed admirably.

I managed to get about 3.5 hours soarring off Mappleton in east Yorkshire on a stretch of beach that is 10 miles long there were 3 other pilots there all flying paragliding wings and the Fusion maintained the same height as the others but did seem to fly faster.

The wind speed was around 14 to 16 mph and the weather was glorious, I fly my 29 slightly on the heavy side at around 120kg anybody thinking of freeflying there Fusion wings and in doubt i would give it a big thumbs up cheers Alan.

Nice one Alan.

I am going to take my Fusion to the Long Mynd next time I go.

Cheers

Mike

Curious Alan, what trim setting(s) did you use?

The Fusion free flies as well as it does under power, and I've found that even in a lightweight harness (launching in light conditions) it still has plenty of trim room to outfly any conventional wing, without speedbar as conditions pick up to Hang glider strength.

I especially like the min-sink full slow trim.

I think it's just groovy the range of flying conditions it opens up.

Yes, groovy.

Curious Alan, what trim setting(s) did you use?

I've found that even in a lightweight harness (launching in light conditions) it still has plenty of trim room to outfly any conventional wing, without speedbar as conditions pick up to Hang glider strength.

I appreciate that the Fusion is a step in the right direction but 'Outfly a conventional wing in light conditions', are you sure?? I suppose it depends what you mean by outfly.

I have tried free flying a few relex and semi reflex wings (not the Fusion) and found them to be OK in strong conditions , but in light conditions it is just not possible to stay up with conventional wings.

A few times I have seen Fusions free flying at our site, but I have only ever seen them from the top, as I look down on them. The glide angle is a good clue: The Fusion is supposed to be about 8.5:1 whereas I fly a B rated (Windtech Zentih) wing with a glide of around 10:1

I do think that it is possible to have one wing for both paramotoring and free flying, but if you choose a PPG reflex wing as a dual purpose wing you will struggle free flying in light conditions, if you choose conventional wing you will sometimes get a rough ride when flying with the motor. So which you choose, really depends on what you do the most.

Paul D

By outfly I mean the Fusion has such a trim range it remains in the air when other wings have long since bailed due to strength.

As you note, it's great in the strong stuff, and that's it's strength, but in adjustability to conditions it offers more then a conventional wing can. As I noted, in the light stuff it needs full slow to stick the scratchy stuff out, but does it as well as the wings I flew with.

Admittedly the skilled among the last to leave were surfing the edge of the envelope, but my envelope was legal size in comparison to their postcard

Wing loading dependant of course, which is why you may need to dump some ballast to scratch with the better glides. But staying in the air and enjoying it long after those good glides have been scared off makes it a preference here for sure. Even without bar, when it picks up you can keep flying. Safely.

Is it best at everything? Of course not.

Does it do everything well? Ya, it does.

I certainly admit to some bias here as I've not had cause to pull the conventional wing from the bag since the Fusion was inflated, and that quickly evolved to free flying preference as well simply due to the range of conditions it can readily absorb and keep me comfortably flying.

I concede there are purists out there, and to each their own, but I simply don't see a reason to go back.

inflate/Launch in 40km/hr? Crazy talk! - well, used to be...

Hello tandrews,

I was flying in full slow and ready to let the trimmers out should the wind speed pick but at that speed it did not happen.

I think Paul will be right about the lighter wind days when a full paragliding wing will out perform the fusion but I did not want to buy two wings.

The fact I live right on the coast so cliff soaring is readily available to me makes having the fusion a bonus as on the days it is blown out for paramotoring i can pop along to the beach (wind direction permitting).

I bet you have to wrap up warm over there our winters will be like spring to you cheers Alan.

I flew my Fusion off the cliffs this year, as the wind increased I just let the trims out little by little. I hadn't even reached neutral and all other paragliders were on the ground and only hangliders were up. I am 87kg flying the 29. Wind was gusting silly strengths on the cliff edge.

One of my flight goals with the fusion was to fly with (only) the hang gliders.

Last year this was realized, and on post flight beer swillage I learned that the friend on a hang glider that had been flying beside me had been yelling "I'm parked!". So (for his COG setting) the Fusion 29 at max certified load (105kg) has all the penetration of a hang glider. I landed with a large grin - a couple times.

I'm not saying a conventional wing can't do the same, but if it does it is nowhere near as easy as dumping trimmers.

I was flying @ 105kg in a sky mountain harness with no bar. I wish I had landed to swap to the free flight harness and added that ballast and bar, but hindsight and all that.

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I think Paul will be right about the lighter wind days when a full paragliding wing will out perform the fusion but I did not want to buy two wings.

Which is exactly as was intended by the designer. There are LOADS of people in France free flying with Fusions.

I only flew PG for a couple of years before moving onto a Paramotor and a remember that

a) there is either not enough wind ( get the Paramotor out)

b) there is too much wind ( let your trimmers out)

SW

T_Andrews, how do you find your 2 to 1 ratio tip steering pulley works? Does it feel more responsive or alot heavier?

Vince

2-1 is the way to go. Still plenty of feedback pressure. Inputs still higher then brake pressures at neutral trim, perhaps by 20-30%, but the resultant turn isn't the same anyway so apples and oranges.

I've been ranting about it as much as possible without coming off as a flake.

I'm glad someone's listening

A few of the maritime reflex squadron has converted from the stock setup and they all say they will never go back.

Once again for the stragglers:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5151&p=34083&hilit=advance+ears#p34083

and pictures:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3389&p=23650&hilit=advance+ears#p23650