I flew the first one, which was actually the very first prototype
version of the REV, not a production model, at Forbes. I flew Scott Barrett's REV at the
Bogong Cup. I had a great time flying them and very much appreciate the
opportunity that Airborne afforded me to get on their latest creation. As I do
every year I trade use of a hang glider during the two competitions in Australia
in January for ad space in the Oz Report. I switch between Airborne and Moyes
each year.

I have little to say about the comparative glide performance of the REV. It
seemed to glide just fine with other gliders, including Moyes Litespeeds, but I
wouldn't call any of the glide comparisons that I did as any where near
definitive. I am sorry if I disappoint the reader by not coming to a strong
conclusion regarding this aspect of the glider's performance. Scott Barrett, one
the designers, claims better glide (compared to the Moyes Litespeed), but I'm
sure that that is open to significant dispute.

I found the REVs that I flew to be stiff in roll (at first) and steady on glide.
That is it was somewhat difficult to initiate roll in a turn, and it was easy to
keep the glider flying straight when gliding throughout the speed range. It
turns out that the REV is very easy to tune (if you know what you are doing),
having many tuning options, and that the pilot can easily change the response of
the glider to roll inputs.

I mentioned to Rohan Holtkamp that the REV was stiff in roll (and that every REV
pilot that I had spoken with mentioned this) and he said that he could easily
change the glider configuration to change this characteristic of the glider.
Within five minutes the changes were made.

He swapped the hole positions on the tip wand lever to reduce sail tension. He
unwound the last battens two turns, the second to last batten one turn, and the
fifth batten in one turn, on both sides. I had early unwound the third batten in
on the right one turn as Jonny had mentioned to me that it looked bowed.

After Rohan made these adjustments I had no more problem with initiating rolls
in a timely fashion and with the appropriate input. Yes, it flew great, and was
still steady on glide.

I had had an opportunity earlier to fly a Moyes Litespeed (Jonny's glider) on
the ninth (and it turned out to be the last) day of the Forbes Flatlands (more
on why in a minute). I noticed right away that it was much easier to initiate a
turn with Jonny's glider but it was also quite a bit different on glide and that
it took me an hour to retrain myself to make the proper pilot inputs to keep it
straight on glide. The timing required for pilot inputs to keep the glider
straight was just a lot sooner than I had grown accustomed do on the REV (and
which apparently was similar to the Wills Wing T2C 144, which I had been flying
before I got on the REV).

Rohan and later Scott and Ricky told me about the many ways that the REV can be
tuned. Scott's REV that I got to fly in the Bogong Cup had come straight from
the Airborne factory and Scott had not changed it in any way. He liked it the
way it came. It is also a prototype with lighter weight sail cloth.

The crescents at the leading edge junction can be rotated to change the amount
of anhedral in the glider. This affects its roll rate as well as its response
when gliding. The sail tension can be adjusted as Rohan did by the tip wand
lever, also by the bolt at the end of the leading edge (same as on the T2C).
This adjustment determines how much the sail tension is held by the leading edge
and how much by the tip wand at different VG settings. By having the leading
edge hold the sail tension at high VG settings, the tip wands aren't pulled up,
which would increase bar pressure at higher speeds.

Obviously, the battens can be tightened or loosened, as Rohan did in conjunction
with the sail tension adjustment at the tip wand, to change roll response. The
position of the tip wand can be changed, moving it up and down, using the bolt
six inches in from the end of the outboard leading edge. The end of the leading
edge can also be rotated to change the position of the tip wands. Hopefully all
these adjustments will be fully explained when the REV manual is available.

I get the impression that the factory adjustment up to this point leads to REVs
that are a bit too stiff in roll. This may be because this is where the factory
pilots who have test flown the gliders like it, or it may be because they have
mainly flown them in Newcastle and in the cooler air there the sail cloth has
not shrunk a bit like it would inland. Ricky and Rohan flew the first REVs at
the Canungra Classic in October, so there was inland experience with the gliders
there, but I don't know how that would have affected their stiffness there as I
don't know what the temperature conditions there were. You'd think that high in
the air, the sails would not have shrunk at all.

I noticed that it was difficult to put the last quarter inch of the undersurface
battens in at Forbes and on Mount Emu, in the heat. This was easy to do at
Stanwell. This is a pretty good indication of the difference in sail dimensions
between these two temperature regimes, but it doesn't say much about how the
sail should be reacting at altitude.

Ricky mentioned to me that when Francesco Rinadli brought his REV into the
Airborne factory a few days ago, the battens were five turns too tight. No one
had a good explanation for this. I would suggest that pilots carefully monitor
their battens to determine if they are too tight and maybe Ricky will provide
guidance to pilots so that they can be clear about what they should be looking
for.

I found on my one flight on it, the Litespeed to be very responsive in roll and
it was easy to thermal with other pilots and make quick turns. It was a handful
on glide, but easy as pie in thermals. As I wrote above, I did fairly quickly
learn how to adjust to the Litespeed glide characteristics.

I mentioned earlier that I had a problem with the first prototype REV that I
flew at Forbes. On the ninth day I discovered as I reported in the Oz Report
earlier, that the tip of the leading edge on the right side had broken off at
the location of the bolt that adjusts the tip wand up and down. I didn't recall
any landing issues, as I found the REV remarkably easy to land, so I wondered
what had caused this problem. I sent that REV back to the Airborne factory the
next day.

Ricky inspected it and found out the Shane Duncan had tightened down the bolts
that adjust the tip wands when he was flying at the Gulgong Classic. He had
tightened them too much and delaminated the carbon fiber. Once the carbon fiber
was delaminated any stress on it was likely to caused it to break. Apparently
there was enough stress that on the eighth day at Forbes, it did separate.

The problem was the flange that the bolt head sunk into was too small and the
point pressures therefore too high. The left leading edge was inspected and
stress fractures were revealed there also, although it had not broken. I got to
see both leading edges at the factory a few days ago.

Ricky immediately came up with a couple of fixes which have been incorporated in
all existing and new REV's. The flange area has been doubled, and an aluminum
sleeve bonded into the mix in the area of the bolt hole.