Skywalk X-Alps 6

Skywalk X-Alps 6 – First impression

I flew the X-Alps 6 size 95 loaded at 95-97kg. The outline looks similar to the X-Alps 5, but they don’t have that much in common i think. The 6 is clearly more a racing machine. It’s got more aspect ratio, much more topspeed and is also more demanding to fly than the 5 was. I measured 22-23km/h above trim speed going fullbar at 1800m above sealevel. The pressure on the B handles is harder and it doesn’t get soft when flying fullbar. It feels like there is less reflex or no reflex. A lot of reflex limits the topspeed and costs performance. I didn’t compare much with other wings, so i have no idea about the performance. But i can say it climbs well like other do, even 1-2 kg above max weight i could keep up with other gliders.

When you look a the wing it looks like a Sage with more Aspect ratio. The risers look the same, the wing also very similar. But it’s clearly different. The X-Alps 5, the Mint, the Sage they all have very short brake travel and a high stall point, they are rather easy to stall or spin. The X-Alps 6 feels more like an Ozone, it doesn’t wanna stall. You need to pull very hard and deep to stall it. I like that a lot!

The wing is rather one block and doesn’t move much in itself compared to the Zeolight or the Klimber 3. It still does some snaking of course, but less than expected. Turning is a dream, it’s so agile. I doesn’t need much input to turn and it likes to keep on turning. As all other Skywalk gliders this one also turns nicer than most gliders out there. When you enter the turn a little fast it starts to grab and dive a bit, so you need to stop it with the outside brake. It’s clearly a playful glider. I my way home i went proxy flying over the glacier fullspeed, that was good fun. In weak to moderate conditions the X-Alps 6 is very easy to pilot, it doesn’t need much work to keep it open. It has a good brake authority, if you pull it doesn’t collapse. It does what you want him to do, it feels good. When you fly it strong conditions, you need some quicker reaction and it remembers you that it’s a EN-D, which you might forget otherwise.

Flying on bar works well, you can feel whats going on and you can control the wing well on the Bs. The faster you fly, the quicker you need to react, the X-Alps 5 gave you more time to react when flying on Bar. Here you need to be faster with your inputs to not get a collapse. More reflex clearly makes flying on bar easier, i guess that’s why the 6 is more demanding flying ob bar than the 5 was. You can fly it well on bar, but some pilots might miss this very high passive stability the X-Alps 5, the Mint and the Sage have.

At home over the lake i made about 10 asymmetric collapses over the lake. I push fullbar and pulled one toggle. Boom 50-60% closed. I never had a cravat or anything else sketchy. I even stayed on bar and just countersteered on the B handles, no problem. If you pull the brake hard down as the wing collapses (same side) it opened each time with a bang (Schnalzklapper). If i didn’t pump the collapsed side it just stayed collapsed and waited for some brake to gently reopen. Very good behavior i think. It goes straight even without weightshift. (i anyway always lean into the collapse to not get twisted)

X-ALPS