Wing Servicing

Most of us think we have a good idea about the general condition of our kit, but the truth is that we usually see it only from several metres away or while packing the wing. That makes holes, tears and abrasion damage easy to miss.

We undertake a full cell-by-cell inspection of wing surfaces, identifying any issues with the material and providing a condition report.

If any damage is found, we will contact you to discuss the repair options available.

Riser inspection covers all aspects of the attachment point between your harness and your wing.

This includes checking the general condition, inspecting the webbing stitching and maillon gates, and ensuring the lines have O-rings where necessary.

Compression knots, line wear, abrasion and sheath damage all happen regularly when we ground handle and fly our wings.

A careful line inspection allows us to identify nicks in protective sheaths, twisted brake lines, friction knots and field replacements that may be affecting the performance of your wing.

The Paragliding Manufacturers Association (PMA) guidelines define porosity as one of the key safety metrics.

We use a Porozit porosity tester – we believe this is one of the most accurate porosity devices on the market.

Different manufacturers have their own definitions of what constitutes a safe wing – we use a simple traffic light system to make it easy for pilots to understand how much life remains in their paraglider’s fabric.

The fabric tear-strength test may be the best indicator of the condition of a paraglider’s fabric – this is an important measure of how likely your wing is to survive a violent reinflation after a big collapse.

Most newish wings pass this test easily, but as fabric breaks down under UV and mechanical strain, we must pay attention to the tear resistance.

We carry out a symmetry check as part of every Standard Service. It’s not as comprehensive as a full line trim, but it gives us a good idea of the wing’s trim state. (We can usually tell if you habitually thermal left or right, too!)

If the symmetry check indicates that a full trim is needed, we’ll let you know.

The Paragliding Manufacturers Association (PMA) recommends testing the strength of lines from each cascade. Because each tested line must be replaced, a full test can become expensive. We therefore usually test and replace one line, although we can carry out a full PMA strength test on request.

This testing is done using a highly accurate load testing cell, which allows us to measure the exact load a line took before it failed.

Unfortunately, line strength testing requires us to test to destruction, so we sew a new line of the correct length and replace it on your wing.

The new line is sewn after the wing is trimmed, so we get a perfect match for your newly trimmed glider.

Most of us think of wing trimming as a dark art, and there are many subtleties to the job. However, at its core, this is simply the process of taking highly accurate measurements of every line on your wing and then adjusting the lines using a variety of techniques to bring the wing back into trim.

We provide a trim measurement spreadsheet showing the length of each line when the wing was initially measured, along with the resulting profile and measurements after trimming.