Gecko

GECKO – the new beginner glider from Airwave

“THE TICKET TO THE FREEDOM OF THE SKIES”

The early days in the sport are for every pilot in many ways the most
important. This is why dedicated so much time to developing a new better
beginner glider incorporating all the paraglider design technology available
today. Even features we learned and built into the World Champion gliders
were used in the Gecko. This makes the Gecko to a extremely safe and easy to
fly wing which performs nicely and is always fun to fly. Also only the best
and highest quality materials which are available today were used. The Gecko
has a hybrid sail which is stronger, more UV resistant but also lighter then
other gliders of its class. The Gecko has passed the new stringent CEN
tests, the strictest level of certification currently in existence (23A,1B).

DESIGNER NOTES

We know that one of the most important attributes of a wing of this level is
the ease of launch. With this in mind we’ve spent a long time working on
building in exceptionally forgiving launch and ground handling
characteristics into this wing - the Gecko climbs overhead with a very
smooth motion and has no tendency to overshoot, no matter how hard and
aggressive you are with it. Even if the glider comes up off to one side it’s
very easy to correct and continue with the launch. The most important
attribute in a wing of this class has to be security and stability. By
bringing the centre lines together and reducing the amount of roll we’ve
made the Gecko feel incredibly secure, even to a novice. Internally we used
an unusual box construction within the wing to give greater stability at the
front of the wing. The A’s and B’s are closer together than normal so the
profile is thicker and more stable than usual. This make the leading edge
feel like a rigid box and makes the wing more stable and resistant to
collapse. Even if you pull too hard on the A’s during the launch the glider
won’t collapse, and if you hang on the B-lines the glider just carries on
flying, it won’t stall because of this feature. Finally we increased the
brake range, so pilots can fly with their hands locked down without
stalling, to make the Gecko almost bombproof.

Many years of design experience has enabled us to develop Open Class wings
with an aspect ratio as high as 8.0 with great handling. We have used the
same knowledge to give the Gecko the same smooth and forgiving handling.
As well as being a new step in entry level paragliders the Gecko also is an
excellent paramotor wing when used with our optional paramotor risers.

Testflight