RESEARCH AND DESIGN
When you are hiking up a hill, or pushing your bag into the back of a ride to launch you rarely stop to think about the research and design process that has gone into making your wing light enough to carry or compact enough to squeeze into the trunk. And you very, very rarely start to think, “I hope those seams are strong enough” while looking up at the glider in flight. No, the research and design process that goes into our equipment, the innumerable calculations, thousands of computer iterations and sometimes dozens of real-world prototypes rarely enter our heads. As pilots we just want an easy launch, beautiful handling, excellent performance, and safe landings. It’s not much to ask for, is it? Turns out there’s a whole lot more to it…
