Handbuch / Manuel d’utilisation / Owners Manuel - Airwave Magic 5 – rev 1.0 – 20.09.08 Page 29 / 29
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Maintaining contact with the glider through pressure on the brakes is essential and allows the pilot to feel
the loss of internal pressure which often proceeds a collapse. The Magic 5 is highly resistant to collapse
without any pilot action at all, but learning how to fly actively will increase this safety margin even further.
Harness
The Magic 5 is tested with a ‘GH’ type harness. The GH category includes weight shift harnesses as well
as ABS style (semi-stable) harnesses.
Take-off
The Magic 5 is easy to inflate in light or stronger winds and will quickly rise overhead to the flying position.
The best inflation technique is to hold one A riser in each hand. The glider will launch well just using the
main A risers, it is not necessay to pull on the tip A risers.
a)
Nil Wind
– In nil or very light wind, stand with all the A lines taut behind you, then take one or two steps
back (do not walk all the way back to the canopy) and then begin your launch run pulling gently and
smoothly on the A risers. As soon as the canopy starts to rise off the ground stop pulling so hard on the A
risers and load up the glider smoothly through the harness. Maintaining gentle pressure on the A risers
always helps in very calm conditions. Have your hands ready to slow up the canopy with the brakes if it
starts to overshoot.
b)
Reverse Launch
– In winds over 10 km/h it is probably better to do a reverse launch and inflate the
canopy whilst facing it using the A risers.
The Magic 5 has little tendency to overshoot but releasing pressure on the A risers when the canopy has
risen about 45° will help to reduce this. In stronger winds it is good practice to run towards the canopy as
you inflate it. This stops the canopy overshooting. It is not advisable to use an anchor man as this stops
you running towards the canopy, thus causing the canopy to shoot more.
Turning
The Magic 5 does not require a strong handed approach to manoeuvering. For a fast turn smoothly apply
the brake on the side to which the turn is intended. The speed with which the brake is applied is very
important. If a brake is applied fairly quickly the canopy will do a faster banking turn, but care must be
taken not to bank too sharply. To attain a more efficient turn at minimum sink, apply some brake to the
accelerating wing to slow the turn and prevent the wing from banking. The Magic 5 flies very well like this,
but care must be taken not to over-apply the brakes as a spin could result even though the Magic 5 has a
low spin tendency. The Magic 5 will turn far more efficiently if the pilot weight-shifts into the turn in the
harness. Remember that violent brake application is dangerous and should always be avoided.
Straight Flight
The Magic 5 will fly smoothly in a straight line without any input from the pilot. With a pilot weight of 70 kg
on the medium without the accelerator the flying speed will be approximately 39 km/h at 1000m altitude
and 20C.
Thermaling
To attain the best climb rate the Magic 5 should be thermalled using a mild turn, as described above,
keeping the wing´s banking to a minimum. In strong thermals a tighter banking turn can be used to stay
closer to the thermal´s core. Remember that weight shifting in the harness will aid the efficiency of the turn
and reduce the amount of brake required.
Care must be taken not to apply so much brake as to stall, this is however very easy to avoid as the brake
pressure increases greatly as you approach the stall point. Only fly near the stall point if you have enough
height to recover (at least100 m).
Wing Tip Area Reduction (Big Ears)
The spanwise line layout allows the Magic 5 to be „big eared“ without modification. The big ear facility
does not allow you to fly in stronger winds, but is a facility which allows the pilot to descend quickly without
substantially reducing the forward speed of the canopy (as is the case with B lining). To engage big ears
