This deposit will be taken of the total of your stripdown fee.
Total fee for an Avian is £330
Total fee for a non-Avian flexwing is £370
So the amount to remaining amount to pay will be £350 or £290 less £50 = £300 or £240 + any work that you choose to have done on your hang glider.
Service or Stripdown of Flex Wing Hang Glider
A full Avian stripdown involves rigging the glider (if possible), checking the general condition of the glider and looking for areas that need repair. The pitch stability set up is also checked. (On most gliders this is checking the washout rod angles and luff liine 'heights' or both.)
The glider is then de-rigged and the sail removed to expose the airframe. Most bolts are removed and checked as well. Experience at Avian has shown that removal of the sail is the only way to 100% reliably check the airframe for damage. The sail obscures a great deal.
The pilot is then informed as to what has been found and any remedial action required to bring the glider back to an airworthy condition.
Avian are likely to recommend changing old wires since wires appear to be the single most common structural in flight failure in world wide hang gliding. (Avian are unaware of any wire failures on their gliders in 25 years of manufacture but put this down to regular wire replacment by Avian pilots.)
Finally, after repair the glider is re-rigged for a final check prior to packing in its bag.
How to get the most from a stripdown.
To get the most from a stripdown make sure that you bring all the parts of your glider so that it can be completely rigged. (We can't check the speed bar if you have left it at home.) Also please bring your pilot handbook with the glider. This should have the correct reflex and washout settings and any other set up proceedures recommended by the manufacturers.)
Also please bring your batten profile so that the profile of the battens can be checked.
Points to note:
The final decision on replacement of parts rests with the pilot. Avian reserves the right to refuse to rebuild a glider that its staff consider totally unairworthy and return the glider to the pilot in bits. Fortunately this is very unusual. Sometimes pilots do choose to 'write off' an old glider that needs more money spent on it than a realistic resale price.
Please give as much information as you can when you get to the payment module.
It is most useful to have a list of all the extra items you would like to have checked. (Eg. Please could replace a small patch of stitching that is missing on the left hand tip at batten 8.)
If you give us other information for example if you could transport a glider for somebody else we'll try and pass the message if we get another pilot from a similar area.
Reserve Parachute Re-Pack
Remember while your glider is with us it might be a perfect time to re-pack your parachute.
Harness Issues
If you have other harness issues for example you are hanging just a bit too high now migh be the perfect opportunity to get this sorted.