Pilots PEAK
Peak S and M by Pilots Right Stuff - complete set only 7,5kg!
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If you are going to put your modern paragliding equipment on a scale you will note with a dispassionate judgement, that this sport which in it’s early days was praised as “the lightest kind of flying” has changed a lot. The modern XC-paragliding equipment can weight 25 kg and more. Okay, for long thermal flights and far cross country flights this luxury may be justified. But for the Sunday afternoon glide or for the after work soaring flight? And what about a hike again to a take off site which is far away from the sites, that can be reached by cable car?
The “Globe Trotters Paraglider”
“When we put up the concept for a lightweight paraglider together with Ozone, we did not only think about extreme mountaineers or lightweight fetishists. Our Peak should also appeal next to mountain-lovers to the globe trotting pilots, for whom the modern paragliding equipment simply became too heavy and too voluminous. Many pilots do not only fly, but are active in other sports as well. They like to have paragliding equipment when they travel, that does not takes up too much space. Of course nobody wants to miss the harmonic flying characteristics of a modern paraglider. Therefore we made it our goal to put together a paragliding set, which had to be as light as possible and without any compromises for every day use and safety. The DHV class 1 of the Peak shows, that we have achieved our goal” says Hans Bausenwein of Pilots Right Stuff.
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The Peak was created under the leadership of PRS as a joint venture with Ozone and Pierre Bouilloux’ harness factory Sup’Air – three companies, which are linked together by their fascination for bivouac flying and lightweight equipment. After several independent PRS
prototypes the decision has been made to built a lightweight version of the Ozone entry level glider Atom. This DHV 1 glider did promise well-balanced flying characteristics, maximum safety and adequate performance.
Nothing stayed the same at the Peak, but the shape of the glider. The 49 g/m² heavy, silicone coated Gelvenor-cloth of the top and bottom surface of the Atom was replaced by a fabric which is only 34 g “heavy” and which is exclusively produced for PRS and Ozone.
The top surface has triple coating and on the bottom surface cloth even more weight has been saved. The load carrying ribs are made with 39 gram heavy material to ensure a long life of the glider and that the profiles always stay the same. Instead of Edelrid lines as used on the Atom a material mix of Dyneema and Kevlar lines covered with polyester sheaths and made by Betech are being used. Uncovered
competition lines would have only provided an additional weight saving of 110 gram, as PRS says. Short anchoring ribbons on the top surface show the destination of this glider as a mountaineers glider. They can be used on steep or snowy slopes to fix the canopy before take off. A real pleasure to look at are the Peak’s risers: very thin webbings lead to the maillons rapide, the brake handle is attached to
the risers by a tiny clip. Not only the materials are different between the otherwise identical gliders Atom and Peak, also the trim has been slightly modified. The handling of the Peak is more responsive than the one of the trainer glider Atom. Finally the flight down after the sweat-consuming way up should be fun!
Flight Impressions
I flew the two sizes S and M of the Peak with different harnesses: In the sitting and leaning back position with the harness “Giga Race” by M2 as well as with the ultralight harnesses Thin Red Line Vapor and Sup’Air Radical. In the Radical one is sitting comfortably in an ergonomically shaped easy-chair made of fabric instead of having a board. It can be adjusted to fit the pilots size and his
preferred sitting position. PRS is offering the Peak including the Radical harness and a Bump’Air 17 protector for Euro 2.550 (including sales tax), together with a comfortable – and super light – rucksack.
In combination with a front-container rescue, a bicycle helmet and a mini-variometer the whole package weighs in at below ten kilograms!
The two mountain harnesses do not have a board and therefore weight-shifting to enter a turn is
little effective. To fly a turn is almost completely done with the brakes. Therefore it takes a little longer to enter a turn or a spiral dive with these lightweight harnesses compared to a dynamic harness like the M2 Giga Race. The brake pressure is also harder to feel. If you want to thermal tight and with a high bank angle, you have to pull harder. The stall point of the Peak is in unreachable distances, so pulling the brakes far is not dangerous.
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The performance is for a DHV 1 glider astonishing: With about 36 km/h as hands up speed the Peak is already relatively fast. The accelerator is very easy to activate and allows the glider to fly at a top speed of 10 km more. The sinkrate stays within the normal frame. Important for a mountain paraglider: The canopy is very stable, even in accelerated flight. Should the wind speed increase after taking off from a high mountain, it’s no problem to push the accelerator. At top speed the top surface panels at the leading edge start to vibrate a bit – this a concession one has to make to the extremely light cloth. Very important for flights after power absorbing climbs are the take off characteristics, which are simply phenomenal. The canopy can be inflated backwards even in light tail wind, there is no tendency to overshoot at all and it lifts the pilot away already after a few steps and does not loose altitude after he is airborne.
The Peak can be flown very slowly in thermals and it is almost possible to turn it “on the spot”. When the thermals are well developed then it is possible to get the maximum out of this “ultralight aircraft”. When the thermals are displaced by wind then you have to let the Peak loose: Who is flying it too slow then, will get displaced and fall out of the backside of the core.
Safety
It goes without saying, that there is no reason to talk about the safety of this glider. This DHV 1 glider is almost undestroyable even in turbulent air: It is hardly possible to hear any noise from the sail – but to get a deflation the pilot has to steer the Peak into a a really big rotor. The Peak reacts to provoked deflations by just moving a bit to the side. The reopening happens already after a bit of a turn.
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Summary
The Peak is not only fulfilling the expectations of pilots, who have ambitions for mountaineering. But also the “chair lifters” should like this straightforward and simple type of paragliding equipment, which even finds enough space on the luggage rack of a bicycle. The performance is more than good enough for thermal flying and small cross country flights. The Peaks unique take off behaviour and it’s well balanced flying characteristics make this ultralight DHV 1 glider also
interesting for students. Provided the training hill does not have too many stones on it. In every day use rough take off sites might harm the thin fabric a bit.
Remains the question which size to use: Who is mainly hiking far away from the cable cars, should choose the smaller size – this safes weight and provides more fun on “the way down”. If a few grams more do not matter, you should choose the size in a way, that you are in the middle of
the recommended weight range. Then you have a bit of an advantage in weak thermals. By the way: In the basement of Pilots Right Stuff one can find an ultralight Peak S prototype with only 3,5 kg. Why does PRS not produce it?
“This prototype has exactly the same flying characteristics like the serial product, and I am also sure, that we could pass a DHV-load test with it. But with this ultralight fabric our expectations in
how long the glider should last would probably not be fulfilled,” says Hans Bausenwein. “But sometime in the future it may be possible, that there will be an even lighter serial paraglider...”
Christoph Kirsch