Ozone Electron

A review from Skywings

Ozone needs little introduction to the UK flying community; their notable lineup of British design and flying talent has, within a year of startup, made a significant impact with the top end Proton. It's rumored that they have abandoned the projected DHV1 Atom to work on a DHV2 design a move which makes a lot of sense. The XL is the last of the Electron series to achieve certification, and a lot of pilots have been waiting for this size to come through. I was perfectly in the middle of the weight range; it goes to 135kg all up and the glider feels as if it will happily take this. I'll say again that max. weights of 120kg are not going to be good enough for some pilots with the heavier harnesses and reserves. Advice used to be that 15kg above pilot weight should be allowed for clothing and equipment, but 20kg+ may now be more realistic (next year's designers take note and see what 31sqm looks like!).

Construction

Flying

There are five risers on each side and you can bring the canopy up with either the front middle ones or take in the Big Ears risers too. Either way the glider comes up neatly. You can get it to float at about 80% of the way up but the slightest pull bangs it above you.

Alpine or forward launching is just a matter of push, hold and wart if you are out of line the wing still comes above you and if it comes up in a mess due to shabby laying out it will still centre above you. Then just push off and fly! 

Turns on brake alone are wide and stable, but once confidence is established it is better to roll in hard and (for the progressing pilot) work the weight shift a little looser. The brake pressure is firm if you do one arm down turns, the wing swinging to a stable position which is easily felt. This characteristic is one of the most attractive features of the Electron in flight. Whatever the pilot position or control input it is hard to become unbalanced and lose touch with what is happening. For the low airtime pilot this means trusting the wing: centre your hands at ear level and let it take control it's smarter that you are! No paraglider is bombproof, but in sensible conditions this type of wing is a friend trying to make life easy for you. 

I know everyone is pretty bored with my patent beginners thermal test but I believe it is a valid approximation to the kind of treatment a DHV I-2 glider can receive. Flying straight into lift I put on a lot of brake and go up, pitching back, before flying out the front of and pitching forward again. Immediately I let the brake off and turn 180' to chase back through till I get shoved out again, pitching down the other way, this time without any brake on, It's not the Sanderson method of thermalling (and I don't recommend it either!), but it is a pretty good simulation of what most thermal virgins do. The Electron shows a lot of control over pitching, and if a wingtip goes the turn will be slight. The last part of the counter the turn and pump out the deflation technique will probably be unnecessary as there's unlikely to be one valid. 

The two pulley speed system gives a 3.1 push so depressing it is easy. The bar takes a pier of large boots side by side but not much else so there's no sliding about. There's nothing scary just plenty of speed, tight risers and good, stiff feel to the whole exercise B-lining is heavy as usual, and Big Ears flip in generously off the single riser and sort of stay in, but think this may he a very individual response. 

The brake travel is long. The manual mentions flying with a wrap and felt I had  about 6cm round my fingers. The feel is good and any tendency to overbrake is soon felt. During a good, hard ten minute scratch was conscious of the exercise but felt very secure there was no problem flying without a wrap and any low airtime pilot would be comfortable doing this. 

During glides everything went up to take advantage of the high speed stability and my arms got plenty of rest. It was nice lust to bang along, feeling everything wandering over and through the wing and daring t to do its worst. I'd been advised of the Electron's slow speed capacity but didn't pay much attention to it as the majority of flying is done in turns or gliding at speed, However it does add to the safety factor and I compliment Ozone on it. We've waited a long time for this one, but it's a good, large, well balanced, well made and stable glider.

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