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By Oakley
#403494
Hi all

I am checking what would be the minimum requirments be to get up to a level to fly an ATOS glider?

I am a competitive Paraglider pilot competing at top level with CCC gliders(competition class) as well as PG instructor and tandem pilot. I fly every day(commercial tandem flips)

Hangliding has appealed to me but in all honesty only the fixed wing and especially the ATOS gliders so I am putting my feelers out there to see what is required to fly these beautiful aircrafts? Anyone with some rough guidelines as to the basic requirments to get me up to speed will be appreciated.
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By remmoore
#403496
There's no "requirements" around flying a rigid wing, but I would suggest getting your H3 before purchasing one. Based on my own experiences of working on flying a flexwing after decades flying rigids, the ATOS is so stupid-easy to fly, it could stunt any flexwing skills you may want to develop. And I'm not kidding!

RM
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By Lucky_Chevy
#403497
Hey Oakley,

The first steps would be to get your H1 and H2 ratings on traditional hang gliders before beginning your transition to rigid wings. The H1/H2 process will give you the fundamentals of hang gliding and its equipment including proper weight shift technique, initiating and correcting turns and launch/land technique. I'm not aware of anyone who teaches on rigid wings although ATOS does make a tandem wing...so maybe.

You PG experience will serve you well once you get in the air. Rigid wings are quite a bit easier to fly than standard hang gliders since they are controlled more with control surfaces that with weight shift.

Fred Kramer is the US distributor for AIR and is on this board from time to time, maybe he can help point you in the right direction.


Dan
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By remmoore
#403499
The weight really varies. In the beginning, the B/N models were reasonably close to high perf flexwings in weight. This stayed roughly the same through the V, but then the VX was developed, which was suddenly a real heavyweight. The subsequent VR was about the same, but they've been getting lighter again over the years. I think the VQ is back to the weight range of the latest topless flexwings, for example.

Ground handling a wide-span rigid is somewhat different than the typical flex. Parts of it are easier, while other aspects are more difficult. Weight itself changes through the various models.

RM
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By remmoore
#403506
Oakley wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 2:27 am Thanks so much guys. In terms of getting up to speed with the B/C license how much flight time (or flights) should I account for roughly?
I’m not familiar with your “B/C license “ reference but it often takes a couple of years for a pilot to reach H3 certification - some take less time, others more.
RM
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By remmoore
#403507
ddreg wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 10:15 am About how much do Atoses run in the US?
You can find good used older models for $3500 and up. There was (is ?) a used VR for $3500 in this site's Classifieds. New ones are $20,000 +.

RM