it's good to be back in my office. The Altirando Lite, from Supair!
It's feeling fairly upright comfortable secure and simple really. The limitations on
this harness: the weight shift. you've got a little bit of weight shift that you
can do which is quite adequate for the more responsive gliders but you'll
definitely be kept very in a very stable position which is cool if you're
starting and if you're in really rough air but if you're wanting lots of fine
control and big weight shift this might be a bit too stable for you. it's also a
little bit of limited in your packing space well you know storage space I've
got a little pocket here on this side I'll show you there's a little pocket in
here it's very difficult to get to otherwise you could go to put your stuff
in your jacket. I've strapped my instrument on a little bit of velcro on
the chest strap that works fine with this little light Skytraxx
you can also put it on the riser if you want but that's going to be a limitation
as well. you've got nowhere for instruments. you have to find a solution
for that. usually if you're doing hike and fly you've only got a simple vario
so it shouldn't be a problem. I can feel what's going on with the air.
the harness is just transmitting enough information so that's good it's actually
a good combination of being stable when you roll over too much but still giving
the feedback through so it reminds me a little bit of the delight 3, although
probably more stable in the cornering than the delight 3 but I'm getting all
the information that I need so that's fine fine for flying cross-country and
for flying high performance gliders. I can still feel what's going on.
let's go catch some thermals!
cool so I'm in the Altirando Lite, the light reversible harness follows the
Altirando which is about 3.6 kilos I think and this is 2.8 in this size so
it's quite light but it's actually looks very durable I think the fabric at the
back the airbag the material choice has been very wise it's aimed I would say at
pilots that would be flying like a low B to mid B glider it's that kind of
period where you are an intermediate pilot you're doing lots of flying you maybe want
to travel and you want your kit to be light and compact so you don't have to carry too
much up the hill and good for getting on an aeroplane.
it definitely reduces your volume quite a lot when you've got a reversible
harness but you usually do have a little bit of a compromise to make it a
reversible system that works with a bag and a harness a little bit of comfort on
the carrying and the bag structure you usually see that in a you know
reversible but they've done a very good job with this the harness itself feels
very comfortable there doesn't feel like it's been trimmed down too much doesn't
feel lightweight when I'm flying the position is comfortable. I'll
show you now. launch and landing fairly easy you do have to wiggle a bit to get
into it but nothing extreme just a bit of a lift your knees up and wiggle in.
landing same a little bit of an effort to sort of tip yourself forward and out
but otherwise pretty easy. I found the flying position to be very
balanced and quite comfortable quite upright but let's get in the air and
I'll show you a little bit more.
so there I'm feeling a little bit of pressure in my groin areas pulling
but not uncomfortable and then wiggle your bum in a little bit like that. alright so
now I'm comfy it's got a very good position I'm fitting nicely into the
harness you do have to make sure just lift your legs a little bit in the
beginning just to fill up the air bag because your feet are kind of covering
your air intakes.
see it's a very kind of I don't know upright comfortable upright position
feel like I'm sitting in a fairly firm chair definitely not a cushioned chair
really firm and upright and it keeps you very level you'll see the harness,
if I go to there, my leg strap, this leg strap, is lifting my legs, going against
that, so that's as far as I can weightshift. so you're not going to get huge weight
shift input but what it's good for is it's got a seat board so you can
actually you don't need a lot of weight shift to get the glider to know which
way you want it to go so it's got that small range of weight shift but then
when you try and lean too far it's just gonna hold you back. let's not go into
the bushes. Woaaaa. you can set the position
while you're flying if you want to drop further back I would first sit up to
release it and you can drop back a bit. if you want to sit more upright pull
that in there. it's easy enough to do. there's no adjustment on the legs. There is an
adjustment across the chest strap which you could use here you pull that right in.
strangely enough when it's pulled in like that feels a little bit more tippy
I was expecting the opposite. the opposite. the opposite. okay that was a
thornbush test. see that's why you've got to make these things with durable
fabrics because if you just make a little mistake and you've got lightweight gear
you then scratch open your air bag and you got no more back protection. I would
combine this harness with a more agile glider, that would be the best match.
you're not going to be able to drive the glider around on the harness too much.
silly me I should have put my little Flybubble Brummel Covers on. if you've got a
stirrup you'd be in this sort of position that's fully reclined and I
think I want to be slightly up from fully reclined.
just a touch for me.
There we go. cool, light and easy, durable and stable.
hey they're! I've just packed away my full kit into the Altirando Lite.
absolutely no problem with the standard weight normal sized glider, a medium
glider. I didn't have a stuff bag or anything I just folded my
glider up rolled it over, put it inside and there's more than enough space
I've got space for more gear so the volume is quite adequate for normal
flying and it seems pretty durable. I like the bag I think it's very
well-made. It carries all right it's not the most comfortable backpack but it's
adequate it does hang a little bit down on the back. here let me try and put the
strapping on the front. there we go just strapping straps on the side
pretty good, pretty good!