First XC on the Phi Allegro
I’ve been demoing various C wings recently while waiting for my Maestro XAlps to be repaired (another story!). I had some really good flights on the amazing Alpina 3 and the fantastic Flow Fusion Light but what I was really looking forward to flying is the new C wing from Phi, the Allegro. Having flown its siblings the Maestro and the lighter Maestro XAlps over the last year (about 50hrs each), I was very curious about how they compared. The Allegro has a modest aspect ratio of 6.03 (vs Maestro’s 5.56) which is on the low end for C wings so it seemed like a logical step up from a high B glider.
So I jumped at the opportunity to try the Allegro when it arrived at my local dealer Fly2Base. The weather for the next two weeks wasn’t ideal for XC flying but I still managed a few short flights to get a feel for the glider.
TLDR; watch the video below
I created a video of the unwrapping and initial impressions of the wing (link at bottom) earlier. This article is my impressions after some soaring flights and one proper XC flight in thermic conditions. It’s not really a review; more of a story about the XC flight and how the wing handled.
Living in Queensland, Australia, we’re blessed with great flying conditions throughout the year. Our site at Mt Widgee is a treat during the winter. The forecast was for strongish winds and moderate instability and the local pilot had announced the annual winter solstice ‘Shortest Day Longest Flight’ event. So we got a group together to make the trek up to this scenic launch that’s only accessible by 4x4.
It was soarable from just after sunrise but we waited for the sun to warm us up before flying. Widgee is a tiny launch allowing only a single glider to take off at a time. We had a big group including some new pilots and I launched near the end. This turned out to be in my favour since the early launchers had a hard time getting started on their XCs.
I flew the Allegro size 20 (M 75–95kg) at 94.5kg.
After a year of dealing with tangles in unsheathed lines, the sheathed lines in the Allegro make for a quicker setup with less frustration. All lower lines are sheathed and the colour coding is a nice change.
I really enjoy pulling the wing up and letting it inflate in the air rather than building a wall. I find that this reduces line snags on rocky hike-n-fly launches, plus it’s really fun! This type of launch is really easy on my light Maestro XAlps which seems to levitate in the slightest puff of air while it inflates. Despite being over a kilo heavier (4.6kg vs 3.45kg), the Allegro is also easy to launch and control in this type of launch.
The steep lip of the Widgee launch requires quick attention to brakes otherwise the wing flies ahead of the pilot to bite into the airflow coming up the hill. I didn’t have to modify my technique to launch here. A quick jab of the brakes as the wing came overhead was all that was needed.
The first thing you notice in the air is the precision and authority of the steering. The wind was strong enough to allow ridge soaring and there was a lot of traffic in the bowl in front of launch. The quick, precise steering made avoiding others a breeze. The Maestro is amazing at carving but the Allegro feels smoother doing it. The lighter brake pressure feels just right and the wing responds to it really well. Doesn’t feel like you’re forcing it to turn — it seems to know what you’re trying to do and just does it.
The wing is less damped than the Maestro. You feel the air more. This is very apparent when another glider passes in front — you feel the bump from the wake turbulence. I’m used to that on my Gradient Freestyle 3 which I fly on the coast but I don’t remember feeling it on the Maestro. Having a better idea of the air you’re flying through is great but it also makes the air feel rougher than it would on a damped glider. An advantage is that I could better feel the side of wing the thermal was on when searching in light lift.
The weaker thermals earlier in the day were a bit hard to find and hold on to in the wind so there was a lot of ridge soaring while we waited. When turning in front of the ridge, the turn back into wind seemed quicker. The wing cuts better into the wind which makes for tighter turns without slowing the wing.
I was flying with Nick Neynens of XAlps fame flying an Ozone Enzo and ‘Milky’ of coffee drinking and strudel eating fame flying a Maestro XAlps and the resident pilot Kevin flying another Maestro. Milky found the first thermal and quickly climbed up with Nick. I fell out of the bottom and headed towards a nice cloud approaching the hill.
In usual fashion, Nick chose the unusual route and flew towards some serious tiger country that none of us would dare fly over. I took the more sane route and headed north along the range after topping up at cloud-base.
The wind was from the East and the crux of the flight came near the point on the range where I intended to jump over towards the town of Kilkivan in the west. I was almost at ridge height when I reached a small hill with a gap separating it from the next one. The strong venturi pinned me low against the hill and I had to creep forward slowly gaining valuable meters until I had enough height to turn and follow a thermal back over the hill. The wind here was quite rough which made me a bit nervous but the wing felt solid.
The Allegro doesn’t seem to get bullied by thermals and entered them with authority without rocking back. Approaching the next hill, the air was rougher still and suddenly I felt the wing yank me up by the harness and the vario jumped up a few tones. Looking down I saw the instrument showing 5.5m/s! A sharp, strong thermal yet the wing got right into it without a fuss. Maybe I just happened to enter the thermal at the right angle or maybe the wing is just very efficient :)
The wing responds well to weight shift and in my Advance Lightness 3 harness without a seatboard it was easy to crank into tight cores with weight shift plus inside brake and stay in the climb.
The next little while was some lifty glides and sniffing around for thermals. Once in lifting air I’d sometimes let the brakes up and allowed the wing to find the core. I love it when the wing flies better than me and finds the thermal for me and the Allegro is quite adept at this trick.
I played with the speedbar on a couple of sinky glides and the instruments showed up to 70km/hr with the tail wind. The wing seemed very solid at speed and control with the C riser controls is effective and lighter than I expected. There are no dedicated C riser handle loops or toggles.
After a fairly low save at the end of a long sinky glide, I tried to figure out which direction to fly in next while climbing. I’d never flown in this direction before and only had a cursory look at the map. Looking up Google Maps while gliding between clouds, I still wasn’t sure which direction to go. A sunny range of hills to the left looked promising but the road I needed to follow to Gayndah passed through a shaded region to the right.
Nick had just recently announced on the radio that he’d landed so I only needed to get past that point to win the day. Feeling a bit cocky about flying past an ‘XAlps pilot’ I relaxed a bit and did some live-streaming on Facebook. Not long after I found myself landing in the shaded area that I had wanted to avoid. Looking at the map on the ground I realised I would’ve intercepted the road had I followed the sunny range. Lesson learnt to be familiar with the area you’re flying in.
After landing I realised that I’ve had really good flights every time I’ve flown a demo wing. I had a nice flight past Woodenbong (any excuse to use that word) on the first day I flew the Maestro, a great flight when I flew my friend’s Alpina 3 and my first triangle when I flew the Flow Fusion Light. I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t own my own wing and just demo them.
I’ve been enjoying my Maestro and I wasn’t really thinking of upgrading it but I was very curious about all the new C wings on the market. All three wings that I’ve flown so far are really nice and I don’t think you’d go wrong buying any of them. I was personally most comfortable with the Allegro because it felt familiar and doesn’t seem like too big a step up from the Maestro. It just feels like a souped up Maestro; you really can feel that it shares its DNA with that wing.
After the flight, the local wing aesthetic critic G-Star, commented that the bright orange of the wing I was flying is incredibly visible and was very easy to spot in a crowded sky.
“This is the best looking Phi wing design I’ve seen so far. The little skewed ends on the stripes give it a distinctive flair.” — GStar
Should you step up to this wing?
The first day I flew the Allegro wasn’t a great day for XC unless you’re Jonny Durand, a world champion hangie who recently started flying paragliders. He flew his A wing 40+km while everyone else ended up in the bombout. I mention this because I think skills development is more important that wing progression. You’ll only get the max out of this wing if you’re already pretty comfortable with your current wing. If you’re not yet consistently staying in the air for long flights then there’s probably more room for pilot development and a hotter wing may hinder that progression. I don’t know that I’ve out grown my Maestro but having flown the Allegro I feel just as comfortable and the even nicer handling and performance is very enticing.
Is this wing a big enough step up in performance?
When I was thinking of moving up from my low/mid B wing (Gradient Golden 4), I was actually considering a C wing because I thought a high B was not a big enough step up and I’d outgrow too quickly. I’m glad I got a chance to fly a high B because I was immediately comfortable on it and yet saw the increased performance. I’ll leave the detailed and more informed performance comparisons to Ziad at dustoftheuniverse.com but my feeling is that Hannes and Phi have created the perfect progression wing for pilots stepping up from a Maestro — there’s a significant step up in performance from the Maestro without a significant increase in pilot demands. In my opinion a typical pilot with 75–100hrs on a high B wing and comfortable on it would find the transition to the Allegro quite manageable.
Coastal Flying
A couple of days after the XC flight, local gun pilot Andrew Dobinson and I had a chance to fly at a very small local coastal site. Video coming soon but until then some impressions from that flight:
- Stall point is very low. Holding the hands down at the seat level didn’t stall the wing. Recovers quickly if you release as soon as you feel the stall.
- Really nice flat turns using negative steering — in light lift hold both brakes at min sink and relax the opposite brake to turn while holding the inner brake at the same point.
- This is an agile wing and can be quite dynamic and fun on the coast. We had a lot of fun with it!
< Coastal flying video coming. I promise it’s really fun :D >
Convergence Flying
I’ve been having some amazing luck with flights recently. Since the first flight and the coastal flight, I’ve enjoyed another great XC flight. This time an out-and-back flight with friends flying the Ozone Zeno, Flow Fusion, Ozone Alpina and a secret Flow 2-Liner wing. The most interesting observation from this flight:
- I had a big blowout while approaching a thermal on full bar. I quickly came off the bar and the wing recovered with just some weight shift and about 45deg change in direction. I pumped the tip out with a tug on the brake.
- I was really surprised at how well the wing flew into headwind. Instruments indicated 11–15km slightly cross head wind flew at just a few km below trim speed.
- On the way back I had a very long buoyant glide with the Flow Fusion and the secret two liner wing from Flow. The Allegro matched the glide with the Fusion and the two liner wasn’t a lot faster.
Related Videos
Unwrapping the Allegro and my initial impressions after the first short flight:
