Axis Vega 6: a supernova in the Axis constellation

Peculiar! On the one hand, it's the same good old Axis that many people loved so much in the 2010s. Quite narrow tape, almost budget minimalism, nothing superfluous. On the other hand, I was surprised by the kinematics of the risers. The two outer A lines slide on dyneema loops made of relatively thin line, and spare sections of such line are included in the package. Possibly a hint that these slings will have to be replaced sooner or later?.. Brake handles are ordinary, no miracle, quite comfortable. The leash is quite long, with a nice ceramic ring. What I didn't like were the external B lines. They are very thin, and it is frankly uncomfortable to perform B-ears — the lines cut into your hands and can damage your gloves. But I liked the handles on the back rows. Printed on a 3D printer, they are very large, comfortable and unexpectedly bright. Positive! ;)

Typical of modern wings, a thoughtful mix of aramid and dyneema. Surprisingly, the lower lines are made from Vectran! Few glider manufacturers use this aramid. It has excellent length retention, but can wear out faster than other, softer aramids. It's not yet clear how it will do on the Vega, too few statistics. The lines scheme is also a bit unusual: A2A'2B4. Let me remind you that outer B lines should better have thicker inserts close to the risers.

In some ways similar to the former Axis, in some ways not. A pronounced shark-nose formed by plastic rods (not nitinol). The rods occupy the entire chord of all sections. The wing should be packoed strictly in the concertina! The shape of the wing is calm, without peculiarities, a kind of workhorse. There are 61 sections, a reasonable number. Among the interesting things that caught the eye were two internal straps in a row near the leading edge. The internal structure is quite complex, with unsupported spans of up to four sections. The wing graphics are unchanged for many years and are immediately recognizable. There are no complaints about the quality of cut and sewing, everything is made neatly. The wing surfaces are smoothed well enough.

I didn't have a chance to play with the wing for the ground, so I had to take off from scratch. Impressions are generally pleasant. Two-liner specifics is not felt almost at all! Many two-liners like to turn the trailing edge inside out in strong winds and are reluctant to get into a flying position in low winds. I haven't noticed this with the Vega. Maybe it rises a bit harder than classic three-liners, but nothing more. Creating and correcting roll is easy. Vega is not the lightest wing, but it's not heavy either. Cobra launch is possible in winds from 4-5 m/s. It takes the load on run-up not quickly, in low wind you have to really run during the takeoff.

High speed flight is something that many pilots switch to two liners for. The glide parity of the Vega 6 and the Klimber 2 P at trim speed was not surprising at all, it was much more interesting to compare these two wings in accelerated flight. And the Vega 6 did not disappoint! Parity again, maybe with a very slight difference in glide at 100% of the gas pedal stroke. At full speed, the Vega 6 flew a little faster, but it also had a little more descent, probably due to the difference in wing loads. The speed gain at 50% speed system travel was about 12 km/h, at 100% it was about +18...+20 km/h. Quite a decent result for a wing with the EN C label!

No peculiarities. I didn't notice any miracles like special "floatability" or, on the contrary, unexpectedly high rate of descent. Vega 6 stands in the lift in a reliable, confident manner, requiring minimal control inputs from the pilot. A kind of Advance style! Perhaps because of this, the Vega 6 can be more efficient in climb than some wings with higher performance level, but also with more demands for the pilot.

It's either Advance or Gin. Definitely not Niviuk or Skywalk. Calm, stable, confident turn, almost perfect for thermalling. Vega 6's control reactions are tuned very well. Yes, it's not an acro-wing or a waggas hot toy. But for XC flying, you don't need much more maneuverability than that. Another nice thing about the Vega 6 is that it sticks to the lift very tenaciously, requiring almost no pilot input to keep the turn. I managed to do some steeper spirals and a couple of wingovers — the behavior is the same: clear, predictable, calm.

The Vega 6's reactions to rear risers control deserve special praise. Niviuk-style! As you squeeze the speed pedal, the rear risers rapidly become lighter, but their efficiency does not diminish. At full speed you can literally steer with two fingers. I love it!

Pleasantly quiet, shall we say. Compared to other manufacturers, it is similar to Advance or AirDesign. The information is quite enough, and you can't expect any unnecessary movements from this Vega. Well, almost ) A couple of times in turbulent air Vega 6 jerked quite sharply in pitch, but these movements were quite predictable and expected, and their amplitude was small. The Vega 6 transmits most of its information through changes in airspeed and, consequently, in the load on the brakes. And this is just information, not chaotic kicks and jerks. The "language" in which the Vega 6 "speaks" to the pilot is not too emotional, but simple and clear. The "two-liner magic" is present in minimal quantities, and in general, the Vega 6's behavior is almost identical to classic three-liner wings.

It's nice, and so is the maneuverability. It's not too much, not too little, just right. Wingovers are very pleasant, the amplitude is easy to dose, you can go over 90 degrees of bank in 2-3 periods. The landing swoop is classical, you can't convert the excess of speed into extra 100 meters of glide (as CCC wings do), but everything is simple and clear.

Good! Not excellent only because of a slightly lower than I would like load drop on the inner arm at the moment of the start of the stall. But the side slip is very well pronounced, which allows you not to miss the entry. The stall take about 20-25% of the wing span, slightly more than the class average. Releasing the inner brake results in almost instantaneous exit with minimal oscillations.

All would be fine, but Axis didn't think about the convenience of handling thin lines. The outer back riser lines are very thin and slippery. Even when gripping them with non-slip gloves, they tend to slip out and saw through the gloves. Inserts from thicker lines (as it is done in many other paraglider manufacturers) would be very appropriate here. And the actual B-Ears mode of the Vega 6 is very nice. The load on the lines is big but tolerable, the entry is fast, B-Ears are stable, the sink rate is about -3...-4 m/s. Exit is also good — the glider shape and normal flight mode recover really fast.