La F1 se veut être la vitrine du savoir-faire d’Apco. Par rapport aux autres ailes du constructeur israélien, la F1 se place en haut du panier, au-dessus des mo- dèles NGR PRO et XC. Elle est encore plus orientée…
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New Apco Ground Handling Wing – The Adama
For several years I have been using various small wings to allow trainees in my paramotor school the chance to learn ground handling skills. The smaller size reduces the physical effort compared to handling a standard size wing, and I have more training days when the wind strength makes it impossible to control anything bigger than 16 metres.
Apco have also recently realised that a small wing would be a useful training aid and I recently had the chance to ground handle Apco’s little ground handling wing called the Adama.
Unpacking the wing the quality materials are normal for Apco, but I have never seen this bright multi colour scheme before. There isn’t too much to say about the simple Adama risers and the simple riser system with trimmers is so simple it allows a beginner to quickly get started. Apco seemed to have developed a wing that is basic, but requires a reasonable level of ground handling technique to be a little challenging. The Adama can be quickly opened up so forward and reverse launch techniques can be practiced in small areas in a wide range of wind speeds. I found it great fun to practice in gusty conditions in sometimes small and difficult areas. The wing has a really small pack down size that is really quick to open in a small space, practice and quickly pack it away again.
The Adama is a perfect combination of a low cost, basic design allowing anyone to practice the essential skills that make take offs easier, safer, therefore reducing the risks to more expensive equipment. The Adama is also an opportunity for paraglider and paramotor schools the use of a low cost training wing reducing wear and tear on a larger flying school wings. Paraglider and paramotor schools may also have more ground handling training days when wind strength becomes a problem.
So I think the Apco Adama will become an important part of paramotor or paraglider training with trainee pilots becoming more skilful with ground handling techniques while practising with this fantastic little training wing.
Paul Haxby
Thomas Mistretta of Dragonfly Paragliding – Florida, USA, goes live on his first flight on the Apco Hybrid, and gives his first impressions of the wing.
“Hi Sally, Yes, I received the Hybrid and have a couple of students this weekend. Going to try and use the Hybrid and promote it more for new students. I have flown it and it’s the easiest inflating glider I’ve ever tried. I posted a first time free flight review / impressions and liked it a lot.
Hope you had a happy New year as it’s been a while but we are getting into our flying season soon.
Best wishes
Tom”
Yugo ARAI Reviews the Apco F1 for ParaWorld Magazine (Japanese)
Hey Jonathan –
I think Kyle (P2F) was already going to send this to you but wanted to send too. I took one of the other team pilots’ F1 up and did a review.
Really love the wing man. Good job. Here’s a video and some photos
I flew the F1 in Israel.
First, I was really surprised with the high aspect ratio, the glider looks beautiful and efficient.
Then I inflated it – Amazing. You just think and the glider inflates right away, even with no wind.
I thought for the first flight that I will need many ground handling to manage such a great wing, but instead, I flew immediately, and had fun instantly. The take off is smooth, lift is great and manageability incredible. The flight part is really comfortable, the wing follows your wishes, turns and gives you good feeling of the weather.
Trims and speed bar are so easy to use. I was really impressed with the speed. One of the fastest wings in my opinion. Probably the fastest.
The feeling while flying is safe, clear, and nice. I liked also the landing, huge flare, nice precision.
I loved it.
I will get one as soon as possible!
Aurelia Halle
“I’ve flown them all, and this wing, beats them all, in every aspect…
I could not stop smiling, and didn’t want to land nor return the prototype I had the opportunity to test fly…
Order for mine is in…”
My regular wing is the Hadron XX so thats my comparison mark. I was flying the F1 for less than an hour, but can definitely say its lighter, easier to inflate and to ground handle which is very important to heavy weight and limited space takeoffs. In the air it is very agile and the brakes need significantly less force to have input on the wing which makes you less fatigued in long flights, and really improves the handling and make it very accurate, especially in very steep turns. I really enjoyed flying it and would be happy to continue exploring this wing and take it to its limits.
For decades the perpetual question in paraglider design has been whether or not the art has reached a pinnacle, leaving nowhere else for innovation or performance to go. Yet, despite naysayers proposing that there is nothing original left to achieve, there are still surprises …
Read the full review here:
I’m happy to give you my review notes on the wing in this email. Jeff Hamann let me use the his new Force 2 wing for the trip in Chile for photos. For your reference, I fly ~300 paramotor hours per year (~100 paragliding) and travel around the world for flying adventures. I have owned many wings in the past 10 years and I am intrigued and impressed by the Force 2 as a good “do everything” wing.
