Quote:
"To my knowledge, no cable leading edge hang glider ever passed this test."
The British built Hiway Explorer would have been tested on the BHPA rig and went into production.
The British built Hiway Explorer would have been tested on the BHPA rig and went into production.
Mike Orr claims the Hiway Explorer "had pitch problems when wire flipped at low angles of attack..."
http://www.delta-club-82.com/bible/381-hang-glider-explorer.htm
That is exactly what I was talking about.
It does not instill much confidence in BHGA testing.
(By coincidence, I think I was a BHGA member that year: 1983-1984)
see https://www.flickr.com/photos/8330061@N03/sets/72157625997617270/
and this video https://www.flickr.com/photos/donliddard/5536389135
Joe Faust's discussion of the Hiway Explorer.
http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/2010/2010novLIFTpage4.html
I don't think one can make a meaningful comparison between Eddie's Whitney Port-A-Wing and the Hiway Explorer.
The fact that Hiway discontinued the Explorer and that it may have been the last model they produced in meaningful numbers leads me to ask Tony:
Was the Explorer regarded with suspicion by British pilots?
Was there an accident record that seemed in any way peculiar?
I assume decreased sales of the Explorer played a role in Hiway's demise - correct?
I ask because I ran across this quote "from a book" on Facebook - no source:
https://www.facebook.com/191430910892099/photos/a.191432997558557.37627.191430910892099/977905875577928/?type=3&theater
"Hiway having made the initial great leap to power, it seemed the company heart had returned to soaring , the marketing and detail development of the skytrike, were neglected and the Hiway resources concentrated on a radical new hang glider called the "Explorer" when this was received less than rapturously by the hang gliding world , it spelt the end of the company. Hiway is now in liquidation"
Of course, years later, one of Hiway's greatest hang glider designers, Bob England, was killed right there at Torrey Pines on a paraglider.
