A-I-R new website

A discussion restricted to the topic of hang gliding.
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Mike B
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Joined: Tue, Mar 11 2008, 11:31:58 pm
Location: Spokane Washington USA

A-I-R new website

Post by Mike B »

Lots of pictures of the latest Atos creations and sail materials.

http://www.air-atos.de/


And a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jddi5puQAVU
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Fabiano
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Joined: Thu, Sep 18 2003, 10:53:17 pm
Location: Rio de Janeiro

Post by Fabiano »

AIR has such pretty gliders.
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Col.r
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Joined: Sun, Jul 20 2008, 06:53:19 am
Location: Australia

Post by Col.r »

Yes, beauty and performance. I guess the gap between the have and the have nots will be increasing in the foot launched high performance hanggliding world as in all others. I feel a little sad, now my topless is nearly permanently in storage, however my sports glider gives me now, a more all round relaxed ride. Fly the hell off that Atos of yours Mike - keep posting your great videos because for this aging hanggie, a rigid wing sure looks the ultimate foot launched wing ..
We are all in the gutter,but some of us are looking at the stars. MT.

Youtube videos- Col Rushton
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Ken de Russy
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Joined: Tue, Nov 15 2005, 01:40:54 am

Post by Ken de Russy »

I am seriously out of touch. Someone tell me what that glider and accessories - harness, chute, instruments, helmet - as seen in that video would run, ballpark. More than $25,000? Am I seriously underguessing?
Ken de Russy - USHGA Dual Division, Life/Charter Member #5114, Hang Gliding Museum Collector Guy - Anacortes, WA - (360)293-8621 - Skype: ken.de.russy - Museum Images: http://tinyurl.com/zs4qto6 - Hang Gliding Museum: http://tinyurl.com/89c2n6s - Historic Movies: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=weflyuniv" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/profile_videos ... flyuniv</a> -
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Martin
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Joined: Tue, Nov 04 2003, 07:39:11 pm
Location: West Coast, Canada

Post by Martin »

Ken, yup if you walk up and buy all your stuff new, go to the cash register your going to pay $35,000 usd+ for a rigid wing, zippy do dah harness, high tech instrument, tack on another $75,000 for your 4x4 beast with some fancy chrome bling wheels… (the bill is even greater if you are trying to pay using something like the Canadian Peso…)

Or, if you buy used, you can probably re-create the same package for less than $8000.00 (mooch your rides and take a Skoda to the hill?). Which why all of us dumb smucks that pay retail should get a whole lot more respect for kiting out all the mooches ;-) .

Flex wings ain't much cheaper, even PG's can suck up a whack of cash (full kit of a comp wing, pod harness, instruments and reserves… .after all its a PG, you have got to have more than one reserve!… bet you will dole out $12,000).

There are dark times ahead… Covid-19 not only kills people and economies, its going to suck the life out of disposable income that feeds our industry. Who knows, maybe we will be going back to the old rogallo days and be looking for bamboo and plastic sheets to get our air fix on gliders like the Batso or Chandell Comp?

Levitating our fat asses into the thin air cost bucks… no bucks… no "Buck Rogers".

Martin
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Remmoore
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Joined: Wed, Feb 06 2008, 10:33:29 am

Post by Remmoore »

Dark times for HG, indeed - and not just due to the virus/economy.

I've been thinking about the future of our sport. If trends continue (I hope they don't) HG manufacturers may close entirely, to be replaced by smaller companies or individuals who make replacement parts for select gliders. I could imagine the skilled employees of the shuttered manufacturers starting up home/garage businesses, making some of the most in-demand components for the most popular beginner and intermediate gliders.

If the writing is on the wall (or at least more clearly than right now) I expect to buy 1-2 good used gliders that I can hope to get replacement parts for in the future. Wings that can use dacron sails and less sophisticated hardware. I don't have much hope that there will be replacement carbon fiber d-cells for my VR in this possible future, but perhaps a dacron sail could be made by the right people. Picking up a Sport 2 or similar would fill my HG quiver for a future with no new gliders coming off the production lines.

RM
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David Williamson
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Location: Sussex, England

Post by David Williamson »

Martin wrote: There are dark times ahead… Covid-19 not only kills people and economies, its going to suck the life out of disposable income that feeds our industry.
Martin
I don't want to sound smug but I've been astounded that business is booming, for me, under lockdown in the U.K.
I work from home all the time anyhow and I've got stacks of jobs to do. The stuff I sell is in great demand now, as lots of folk are trying to find ways of spending their time at home and are getting around to salvaging their old taped home videos by transferring them to PC.
Our ATOS VX was £5500, used. My 24-year-old saloon car is still hauling it around.
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Paragliding.........it's almost like flying.
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Christopher
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Post by Christopher »

Remmoore wrote:I don't have much hope that there will be replacement carbon fiber d-cells for my VR in this possible future, but perhaps a dacron sail could be made by the right people.
Mayhaps, consumer flight will dwindle; those not satisfied with the Earth will become builders, use the old D-cell as tooling for a replacement part. Decades on, builders will attempt to reverse engineer this moment, the lost tech of the bird-folk, magic from the likes of Pearson, like unraveling a Stradivarius.
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