Puma 13.5
Owner’s Manual
closely. Always use the same rigging and packing procedure which will help to eliminate mistakes. After
rigging, a pre-flight check should always be carried out. The following must be checked:
1. First stand back and have a good look at the glider. Have you missed anything really obvious like
forgetting to tension the glider or put the nose cone on. Does the glider look symmetrical? It should.
2. All tubes are straight and not dented. Any damage to carbon spars should be very closely inspected. A
small dent is very serious damage. (See: Error: Reference source not found page Error: Reference
source not found.)
3. Nose plates and A frame fittings OK. All bolts, nuts and screws secure.
4. Check that all washout rods are deployed and correctly positioned under the span-wise battens.
5. Check that all sail seams are intact with no frayed stitching, particularly in high stress areas. (e.g. wing
tips, junction of keel pocket and sail etc.)
6. Check that the wing looks symmetrical with the correct shape. The battens should be correctly shaped
and undamaged. The washout should appear even on each wing. If not do not fly, find out why and
correct before flight. (See TROUBLE SHOOTING page 27.)
7. All nuts and bolts secure.
8. All quick release fittings secure:
Cross tube tensioner.
Nose catch (check the clevis pin and split ring as well).
Tip compression struts correctly located on the leading edge.
Quick pins and rings secure on bottom bar.
Outboard leading edge section fully engaged. (Be especially vigilant if the L/E has been short
packed recently.)
9. Cross tube tensioner strop not frayed and twist free.
10. Batten tensions symmetrical on both sides of the glider.
11. Hang loops in good condition, connection to hang point pivot arm secure and pivot arm rotated
perpendicular to the keel.
12. Unzip the under surface and check the centre junction. With your fingers check that the cross tube centre
bolts are secure. Check that all webbing loops are in good condition. Sight down the cross tubes and
check they are undamaged.
13. Check the four nose plate bolts are secure.
14. Walking along the length of the leading edges feel with your fingers to check that they are free from
dents. Check that there is a similar leading edge curvature on both leading edges when looking down the
inside of the wing from the nose towards each wing tip.
15. Check through the inner washout rod zip to ensure that the wing wire and cross tube leading edge bolts
are secure. Looking the other way also check that the washout rod support wires are not twisted around
the washout rods. (If this is inadvertently done is will cause a bad turn.)
16. Check that the keel is straight. Check that the tensioning strop and top rear wire is secure, correctly fitted
and that the split ring is in place. As shown in the earlier diagram.
17. Check that the wires are undamaged. Look out for corrosion and fraying. Pay particular attention to
inspection of the side wires as, in normal flight, these are the most heavily loaded.
INSPECT BOTH
ENDS: THE BASE BAR END AND THE CROSS TUBE JUNCTION END. REMEMBER: IF
IN DOUBT DO NOT FLY- RETURN YOUR GLIDER FOR A THOROUGH STRIPDOWN.
18. Check operation of the VB: Pull the VB rope and check that it pulls on smoothly and releases. If it is
jammed check and release if caught. It may be necessary to unzip the centre zip and pull the cross tube
centre forwards to get the VB to release while on the ground.
Puma 13.5 hand book-Rev-02
10
Summary of Contents for PUMA 13.5
Page 1: ...PUMA 13 5...
Page 21: ...Puma 13 5 Owner s Manual Figure 4 Checking batten tension Puma 13 5 hand book Rev 02 21...
Page 38: ...Puma 13 5 Owner s Manual Section 3 Assembly Drawings Puma 13 5 hand book Rev 02 38...
Page 39: ...Puma 13 5 Owner s Manual NOSE ASSEMBLY Figure 10 Nose assembly Puma 13 5 hand book Rev 02 39...
