Avian hang gliders

19/07/2026

Another week and another win! A bigger Sports Class in the French and Spanish Nationals and Open, but still managed two tall wins and to win the Class overall. The new Puma is a lovely glider to fly while having blistering performance. I really enjoyed these two weeks, flying in two comps with great people.
https://civlcomps.org/event/french-spanish-championships-and-open-2026/results

15/07/2026

Not had much time for social media, been flying 9 out of the last 11 days! So far, so good though! The Puma is flying beautifully, I won the British and Czech combined championships and Open, last week. It was also an honour to be the first recipient of a new award in memory of Steve Penfold, a dear friend and sadly missed.
This week is the French-Spanish combined championship and Open and a much bigger Sport Class so should be highly competitive. Still I won the first day being 1 of only 2 in goal (well done Scott McMeekin for 2nd). Today is a fairly short ridge race, but with a strong wind and low thermal height it could still be quite challenging.
Follow the action here:
https://lt.flymaster.net/bs.php?grp=7786

10/06/2026

Great news, Anthony Smith's Red Kite hang gliding school is now fully operational and able to take people at any level (from complete beginners who have never touched a hang glider before). There's more about it in this video; it's an interesting method of teaching which combines the benefits of aerotow training (having an instructor next to you in the glider and getting lots of airtime) with the benefits of winch training (to make the transition to flying solo and launching and landing on your feet as safe as possible). Also in a highly accessible part of the country (close to Cambridge) that also tends to get better weather than the rest of the UK.
All the best Tony!!
To get in touch with the school, please follow this link: https://www.bhpa.co.uk/schools/schools.php?map=1&first=PE8&ref=425
And as always, for more information on the sport and links to other schools in the UK and further afield go to https://hanggliding.co.uk
https://youtu.be/NtxiW0jgwfQ

Exciting news, not only has a new hang gliding school opened in the...

31/05/2026

Winglets are really great! I love the way the glider handles with them and especially how it looks with them. They also (when designed properly, which ours our, both by analysis and by testing) add a bit to performance, particularly low speed and min sink. However they also have some downsides. We've come up with something that gives a lot of the benefit, but simpler, more practical and lower cost. We also have great fun testing it!

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06/03/2026

A lot of engineering design is about trade offs. Sometimes it is just possible to do things differently and better. We're pleased to announce the new DXL system, please check out our YouTube channel for a full explanation, the video will premiere tomorrow morning.

06/03/2026

A lot of engineering design is about trade-offs, and hang gliders are no exception. Sometimes though, it is possible to do things differently and better. We're really pleased to announce the Dynamic Cross Link (DXL) concept, the Puma is set to be the first glider to benefit, but more will follow. There's a full video which will Premiere on YouTube tomorrow morning (Saturday 7th, 11am UK time), please tune in for that, in the meantime here's a quick trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGanSCcUdk4

30/01/2026

Continuing my series of posts on the development work we've been doing so far, this one is about the frame and how it works to give good handling:

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15/01/2026

Looks beautiful!

STORM BUGGY SUB70 Eos Engine four stroke Avian hang gliders RIO2 15