Avian PUMA 13.5, Owner'S Manual

Page: 34 / 43

Puma 13.5 Owner’s Manual
The symmetry of batten tension is important. E.g. if you tension No 10 batten more on one side than the
other it will give the glider a turn.
CHECKING VELCRO LENGTHS
Setting Velcro Lengths in wing of Puma 13.5
Vertical cloth ‘baffles’ join the top and bottom surface of the wing. These baffles (or rib cloths) help to
control the under-surface of the glider in flight by providing a limit to how far the bottom surface can move
away from the top surface. Unrestricted this movement is often associated with yaw in flight. ] The baffles
are located at many battens especially towards the wing tips. Velcro tabs help in a similar way and are used
between top and bottom surface battens and also where part of a baffle is missing (e.g due to washout rod
loaction).
It is
strongly advised not to alter the set up of the Velcro ties. However if you have disconnected the ties
(e.g. for short packing) the set up lengths could be useful.
The set-up of the Velcro tie lengths is important:
1.
If they are not done up then when the glider is packed they can catch each other and become set at
random lengths. (DO NOT DO THIS)
2.
If they are too tight it makes the handling stiffer.
3. Too long gives lighter handling but the glider is likely to yaw more easily in flight.
Figure 6: Velcro tab lengths
Below is a chart of the recommended heights measured in mm. (Note span position is top surface batten
number. No 1 is batten closest to keel.)
Table 3: Velcro Tab lengths
Nose Span Position
(batten number) 2 4 5 6 7 8 9
Front Baffle Baffle Baffle 140mm Baffle
Middle 150mm 150mm Baffle Baffle Baffle Baffle Baffle
Rear Baffle Baffle Baffle Baffle Baffle
Note: It may appear that pulling the VB. fully tight on the ground and then setting the Velcro so that they are
just tight would be a good method. However this can result in Velcro tabs that are too tight. DO NOT make
large adjustments.
STANDARD TIP CAP SETTINGS
The tip caps can easily be adjusted with a 5mm Allen key. (See Tuning out turns on page 18.) (Note there
are two sizes of allen key on this glider. A 4mm allen key is required to remove the sail but a 5mm to adjust
the tip caps.)
Puma 13.5 hand book-Rev-02 34