ARAK AIR – Tech Talk

Feb 11, 2021 | Campaigns, Paragliders, Top-News

Alex Höllwarth – Interview

A little over 2 years ago we have launched our Multitool, the ARAK. The ARAK is the most versatile glider in our product range and has been very popular to the community since its release in 2018. With the ARAK AIR we are now launching an ultralight version of the wing. We sat down with chief-designer Alex Höllwarth. He told us about the whole design-process, materials, requirements and many more things of our coming ARAK AIR.

skywalk:

Alex, what were your basic thoughts regarding the target group?

Alex:

We wanted to build a glider that would enable X-Alps-style-flying for everyone. Kind of the perfect, most versatile, ultralight wing that is easy to handle and comes with a great performance potential.

skywalk:

Cool – that brings us to our next question. What were your requirements for this glider?

Alex:

Well, basically our main topics that needed to get done absolutely were:

  • Ultra-lightweight
  • Minimum pack size
  • Easy handling
  • Very high performance potential
  • High degree of safety

Photo: (c) Tom Klocker

skywalk:

How did you finally realize the topics listed above and the whole project in general?

Alex:

With the ARAK we already have a glider that has very high performance potential and, at the same time, is easy and really fun to fly. The ARAK has been well received by pilots and has a large fan community. This confirmed that the ARAK was best suited for this new project. We then tried out a few different concepts to make the glider as light and small in pack size as possible. The difficulty was finding the perfect mix of user friendliness and lightness, while keeping the flying characteristics as close as possible to the ARAK.

skywalk:

Alex, tell us a little more of what you were thinking when you chose the materials?

Alex:

Of course! Let me start with the line set up:

It definitely would have been possible to save even more weight on the lines and to squeeze out a little more performance. However, a large part of the user-friendliness would have been lost. In the end, we adopted the ARAK lines, as this set-up has been well received by the pilots who get along well with it.

 

I’ll continue with the fabric:

At the leading edge up to the 3D shaping we rely on TX-Light, which was first used on the CAYENNE6. This material is extremely robust, has a high tear strength and is relatively light for its properties. Dominico 10D, which is very light, is used on the rest of the glider. Of course, we could have used this material in the leading edge as well. However, since the greatest forces occur at the leading edge in flight and the glider is heavily loaded if it crashes nose-first into the ground, we accepted a tiny bit more weight.

 

The risers:

 
We offer a choice of Dyneema or standard risers. The standard risers are more rigid and lie well in the hand. The disadvantage is that they increase the pack size and are about 200g heavier than the Dyneema risers. The Dyneema risers are extremely light and have a minimal pack size. However, they are not as rigid and might take a little time to get used to.

skywalk:

Last but not least we would like to know – does the ARAK AIR require more care in handling than a conventional glider?

Alex:

In general, lightweight gliders are thinner than conventional paragliders and therefore less resistant to mechanical stress. This means that when laying out the glider, more attention should be paid to sharp objects, stones and bushes, and any unnecessary contact with the ground should be avoided. To save additional weight, less edge taping is used, so more care is required when ground handling.

 

skywalk:

All right, sounds great. Thank you for your time, Alex!

Alex:

My pleasure! Have fun with the ARAK AIR.

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