we had some lovely conditions actually quite varied conditions in Tenerife.
scratchy high-pressure days and a bit of cliff soaring and then really
good thermic conditions as well. so we had some really good fun
playing around. the Arak I think felt very good. Skywalk
pitch it as being between their Tequila 5 and their Chili 4 and it really does
feel like a true mid B, so it really does give you nice easy handling. the fun
factor is still there but you do feel like you've got the performance as well.
I think I could notice the climb, a good climb rate, good
sink rate and so yeah, thermaling well. I was often chasing Carlo who's
flying a C rated wing so did notice a difference when you go on glide on that
but definitely it was similar to other B level gliders. I was able to have a good glide
[Carlo] you seemed to be performing really well
I had not so much opportunity to do ground handling in Tenerife but I have here
[Carlo] not a good place for ground handling
A lot of dust! we had a bit of play since we've come back
to try and de-dust and I got a very good opportunity
there to do quite a lot of ground handling with it as well and that was
the little bit that I was missing, to feel what's
it like on the ground, to pop it up and down and put it on its side, run around
after it. That was very easy, the launching. I found the
launching very easy and in Tenerife I did a couple of forward launches
the majority were reverse launches. In the forward launch it was just 'okay,
all good, let's go!' very easy
[Carlo] and then how was it in thermals?agile handling?
yeah it climbs it does climb well and
the thermaling is very easy. I found that I could get quite a nice bank on
the glider without it feeling like it was really sort of digging in so it felt
like it had energy it felt like it had a good flow I felt like I could turn it
quite tightly to stay in the punchy little thermals that we had on some days
and equally boat around quite nicely as well doing nice big wide and floaty
turns so yeah I think the thermaling was good and noticeably I was able to
climb very well.
[Carlo] what sort of brake pressure is it?
it's not light so I could certainly feel
the pressure of it. it's not heavy. It's quite a
positive feeling but I'd say on more on the heavier side than the lighter side.
I wouldn't say it was too too heavy but I did I could notice the
pressure with it so that's sort of firm. [Carlo] direct handling?
yeah it's got more of a direct feeling. it's not a glider that gives you a lot of feedback so
if you're somebody who wants a little bit more of a reassuring feel
it's got a comfortable feel it does give you good feedback but it's not chatty
it's not busy. [Carlo] at one point we got quite high yeah and we were breaking
through the inversion you can tell the wind was coming strongly over the back
so it was a good test but the glider seemed to be behaving really well
keeping nice and stable and it had that nice reassuring feel I didn't
ever sort of have to feel like ooh okay
what's the wing doing? it was quite a nice nice feeling certainly when
you're a bit rusty in winter conditions (what we've had in the UK) less
flying going on so flying a glider like that
it's ideal for somebody who's wanting that reassuring feel but still wants to
have the performance might be stepping up from a safe B it would be a nice
progression on for somebody who's been on the Tequila 5 who wants a
little bit more from their glider but doesn't want to step up fully to the
high B Chili 4
[Carlo] and did you get to use the speed bar very much?
[Nancy] I did particularly as we got the
long glides out while we were also trying to
do a bit of filming as well. I was able to use a speed bar. I was flying it
with the Advance Lightness 3 and it certainly felt very light and easy and
gave a noticeable progression as well so when you put the speed bar on you actually
feel like you've made a difference and you're getting somewhere.
I don't actually know what the difference is ...
[Carlo] it's about 10 kilometers an hour or something like that
The Skywalk Jetflaps (you can see Carlo's hands poking through)
This is for improved braking when you're coming into land and actually
it does give a very nice smooth flare when you're landing.
It does suit you if you're somebody that has a little bit of 'brake creep' ...
so you're coming in to land and you're sort of bringing the brakes down
and down to feel like you're slowing yourself down, it does
help with that it helps with somebody who does that because
you're coming in and you've just got a nice soft progression as you come
in and then it just slows the whole stall down. did you find the same thing?
[Carlo] Yeah it's interesting it's hard to be completely sure. you do feel
like just that last bit of the brake you've just got a little bit more
brake that you can use. it just slows down just a little bit
more and then the stall just seems a little smoother with the Jetflaps.
but it's hard to be sure whether it's really doing that.
but it does seem to be very good. for me it's just a little something that
makes a bit of a difference. and it doesn't seem to be a problem when you're
flying in stronger winds to then stall it down to get the glider down, it still comes
down. I had a landing, it wasn't a strong wind but it was a stronger wind
than we had had on other days and I felt like I had to give the glider a bit more
of a full stall down to really get the glider down but it
came down and responded well. it was the punch to the ground,
the glider responded and stalled nicely so that's good.
[Carlo] did you try big ears?
[Nancy] Yes they were lovely they just slotted in, lovely ears they were!
they popped in and they are just that nice stable ear that comes in with no flapping about and
material being messy.
[Carlo] big ears without the flap.
[Nancy] yes they needed a little bit of a pump to clear.
really easy comfortable and effective
yes, well summarised.
[Greg] is it a tequila 4?
Is it a Tequila 4? Now there's an interesting question.
I would say, not quite. I would say it is reminiscent of
the tequila 4 in that it's got that mid B feeling so the tequila 4
seemed a little bit too agile and a bit too nice and responsive in its class.
which is for more experienced pilots it
is lovely but for the pilots who it was aimed at I always thought this is a
little bit too agile. The Arak is definitely reminiscent of
that but it feels like to me, I don't know if you agree, but I felt like the
Arak turns a little bit flatter it's actually a little bit more docile,
it's not quite as playful as the Tequila 4 but definitely
reminiscent of the tequila 4. [Nancy] Those flatter turns were
definitely noticeable. it does have that fun feeling and it does
have the energy about it. it certainly it has more energy than Tequila 5.
it's got flavours of the Tequila 4
and has more energy than the 5 and more feedback than the 5.
[Carlo] I think it's really great that skywalk have brought out a glider in between the tequila 5
and the Chili 4 I think that's a great thing. I think more
manufacturers should do that. the B class has just got too wide and so
pilots are often stuck with this choice of either a low B
which can be suitable out of the school or they then jump up to a high B which can
be quite hot. The Arak sits really nicely between the two that's Tequila 5
and the Chili 4 and the Cumeo you know it sort of sits in between those. it felt to
me like the Arak was a little bit more towards the direction of the Tequila 5
They could have made it
a bit more playful and a bit more agile perhaps but some pilots are
going to really like that and the fact that it's more reassuring
and in the middle of the B class
it's a very versatile glider but it can't be all things to all pilots I
don't think. [Nancy] it's nice that it's a little bit lighter weight and it is
noticeable you can feel the glider on the ground feeling a little bit lighter
and the materials are lighter and it certainly is quite compact. with the
Arak it's got those soft rods that you can really squish down and
compress so you can make it into a very small package. skywalk actually
deliver the Arak with a hike backpack which is pretty small so
you can see here the 55, this is the rucksack that came with it
[Nancy] this one comes with the exta small in the 55 litre. [Carlo] yeah you can see it's a pretty
small rucksack I mean you need a pretty compact harness in there but the idea is
that the glider can be used for hike and fly, it can that you're straight out of
the school, for cross-country flying for just for Wagga, playing around.
in that way it's very versatile. A nice fun reassuring wing to play around on.
so the pilot that's gonna be super happy with the Arak is likely to be a pilot
stepping up from a high A, so it could be from their first glider and I
think they make a nice progression up if they're feeling more adventurous so they
don't want to just stay in the safe end of the B, they want to be moving up the
B class, they're feeling a bit more adventurous and perhaps they've got
aspirations, they're wanting to do perhaps more hike and fly so they've got
something a little bit lighter.
[Carlo] yeah I think the Arak is suitable for a
very wide spectrum of pilots from talented beginners who just want a wing for
normal recreational flying through to pilots who want to get into hike and fly
but want something that's durable it's not really light fragile
construction and then through to pilots who are in getting into cross-country
flying and want something that's versatile and that's got a good performance
for climbing and going cross-country so it's suited to a pretty wide spectrum
of pilots. Quite a few gliders tend to be either they're full fat sort of
durable, made to last or they're very lightweight. so for example one good
example of that is the Tenor from Phi and the Tenor Light
so the Arak is a little bit lighter than the Tenor, the standard Tenor
but the Tenor Light is quite a lot lighter it's like about a kilo lighter
than that but of course a much lighter construction. so I can see Skywalk have
drawn a graph of where pilots want to be and then boomf! right in
the middle of it ... I think that's the reason you go for the Arak, maybe
a little bit of I can't decide what I want to get so you get something that's in
the middle of everything.
[Nancy] and because you want something that's reassuring and
comfortable but still giving you the performance but you're not having to be
totally on it like you would be for a high B.
[Carlo] you have total confidence launching it and flying in turbulent conditions.
[Nancy] so I really enjoyed flying
the Skywalk Arak: if you want a comfortable reassuring glider that is
going to give you great confidence then choose the Arak.