8.26 / 10

ParAAvis Fun: More Than Joy

Joy is a pretty self-explanatory paraglider name. Fun... It's kind of close, but different. A joke. Sometimes a provocation. It's about the difference between ParAAvis Fun and ParAAvis Joy wings.

2023-07-15
OverviewSpecsConclusion

You'd think, why bother? ParAAvis' first Joy (an after school intermediate) was very successful. The second one wasn't bad. The third one was again an outright success. What is the point of creating competition to themselves, throwing in the already overpopulated niche of after-school intermediates another "hot bash" ...? Actually, it makes a lot of sense. Because Fun bears little resemblance to Joy. The only thing it has in common is the joy of flying.

9 / 10

Construction


9 / 10

Risers




9 / 10

Lines


9 / 10

Canopy





9 / 10

Build quality

9 / 10

Surface smoothness


8 / 10

Takeoff and groundhandling


8 / 10

Groundhandling


8 / 10

Takeoff



8.39 / 10

Flight




9 / 10

Glide


8 / 10

Accelerated flight



8 / 10

Speed gain

8 / 10

Speed system effort

8 / 10

Speed system travel

8 / 10

Soaring and sink rate



8 / 10

Sink rate in straight flight

8 / 10

Sink rate in spiral

8.33 / 10

Turn ability



9 / 10

Brakes efficiency

8 / 10

Weight shift efficiency

8 / 10

Rear risers control

8 / 10

Comfort and feedback



7 / 10

Comfort

9 / 10

Feedback

9 / 10

Dynamics and energy retention



9 / 10

Dynamics

9 / 10

Energy retention


7.17 / 10

Dangerous flight regimes


7.5 / 10

Asymmetric collapse


7 / 10

Frontal collapse


7 / 10

Spin out of thermal spiral



8.75 / 10

Quick descent techniques


8.5 / 10

Ears



9 / 10

Stability

8 / 10

Sink rate

9 / 10

Deep spiral



What is the dream of a typical graduate of a typical flight school? Of course, to fly high and far and not be too afraid. And not falling if possible. A slightly more advanced graduate who knows such words as bridges and nitinol will probably dream of them. I'm happy to tell you both: Fan has it all! In my opinion, Fan is another (and very strong) counterargument in the eternal disputes between fans of "foreign cars" and adherents of native, domestic crafted paragliders. In my opinion, if Fan is inferior to its foreign competitors in any way, it is the price. Its price is noticeably lower than the world market average, even despite the very expensive nitinol. And yes, technologically Fan is far and noticeably ahead of the famous Joes from the same ParAavis. And not only technologically. The Fan is noticeably better flying and handling. But — let's face it — it's a bit more demanding on the pilot.

Are there drawbacks? Well, there are. In heavy weather, the Fang can be a bit harsh — a natural payback for its excellent flying ability and impressive maneuverability. But there are no problems with passive safety (at least, if you don't do anything unnatural with the Fan, such as retained frontal collapses). In general, ParAavis has got a rather ambitious toy for not very experienced, but already ambitious enough pilots. Like all wings having great performance and maneuverability, the Fan has no specific area of application. It will be good both on the flat and in the mountains. However, if the mountains are quite serious — like Chegem at the peak of the flying season — one should be ready to catch some movements that Fan can make in such conditions. An adequately ambitious wing for adequately ambitious pilots!

Pros

  • Excellent performance
  • High maneuverability
  • Modern design

Peculiarities

  • Tendency to sudden sharp movements in bumpy weather

Thanks

My thanks to Andrew for providing the wing for the tests.

Copyright

  • Photo: Leonid Savintsev

Model

Year2022
BrandParAAvis
HomologationEN C
Positioningmid EN C

Conditions

Flight sites
Harnesses
Total flight weight

Technical data

Flat area, sq. m.25,8
Flat A.R.5,84
Flat span, m12,3
Projected area, sq. m.20,52
Projected A.R.4,3
Projected span, m9,41
Cells, total64
Cells, closed16
Lines schemeA2A'1B3C3
Takeoff weight, kg90-105
Glider weight, kg5,0
SizeM

Materials and components

Upper surface, leading edgeDominico202432 PS
Upper surface except leading edgeDominico202432 PS
Bottom surfaceDominico202432 PS
Ribs, supportedDominico30D FM
Ribs, unsupportedDominico30D FM
Diagonal ribsDominico30D FM
Lines, upper cascadesLirosPPSL 160
Lines, middle cascadesLirosPPSL 200
Lines, main (lower) cascadesEdelridDFLS 200
Risers, pulleysVectorB20

Links

OverviewSpecsConclusion