Advance acoustic EPSILON 8 Series User manual

Edition 1 / 02_2016
User manual

Contents
Thank you for flying ADVANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
About ADVANCE .......................................4
The EPSILON 8 ........................................6
Outstanding features ............................6
All the details ..................................7
Piloting Requirements ...................................8
General advice about paragliding...................8
Using the paraglider.................................... 10
Delivery .....................................10
Basic settings.................................10
Adjusting the brake lines ........................10
Speed system with SPI .........................11
Setting up the speed system .....................12
Suitable harnesses.............................13
Weight range .................................14
Flight characteristics ................................... 16
Takeoff ......................................16
Normal flight..................................18
Turning flight..................................18
Accelerated flight ..............................19
Collapses ....................................20
Rapid descents ...............................21
Stalling ......................................23
Landing .....................................24
Flying with a wet paraglider (risk of deep stall) ........26
Winching ....................................26
Paramotoring .................................27
Acrobatics ...................................27
Maintenance, repairs and care............................29
Packing .....................................29
Care and maintenance ..........................29
Check.......................................30
Repairs......................................30
Disposal .....................................31
Technical details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Materials used ................................33
Certification ..................................34
ADVANCE Service Centres ..................36
The ADVANCE website .........................36
Warranty.....................................36
Wing parts ...........................................38
Line plan ............................................39
Risers...............................................40
Bowline ............................................. 41
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Congratulations on your choice of an EPSILON 8 - a quality product
from ADVANCE. We hope that you will spend many rewarding hours in
the air with it.
This user manual is an important part of the glider. Here you will find
instructions and important information about safety, care and main-
tenance, and that’s why we recommend that you read this document
carefully before your first flight
Register your EPSILON 8 online on www.advance.ch/warranty; you
will then receive product updates or safety-related bulletins about the
EPSILON 8 direct from us. This information will also be available to
download from our website at www.advance.ch, as will the latest ver-
sion of this manual and further updated information.
If you have any further questions or problems please contact your
dealer or get in touch directly with ADVANCE.
Now we wish you a lot of enjoyment with your EPSILON 8, and always
«happy landings».
Team ADVANCE
Thank you for flying ADVANCE
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ADVANCE, based in Switzerland, is one of the world’s leading para-
glider manufacturers. Since it was founded in 1988, the company has
consistently pursued its own directions and concepts, both in develop-
ment and production. The results are quality products with distinctive
characteristics.
Behind the ADVANCE brand name is a team of specialists who share
the passion and trust in the company’s products. At home in the air
themselves, they contribute their valuable personal experience and
dedication to the working processes.
Total control of the production process and supervision of the working
practices at the ADVANCE factory in Vietnam ensure a high standard
of workmanship. Long term relationships with fabric and line manufac-
turers means that ADVANCE knowledge and expertise also finds its
way directly into the development of new materials.
ADVANCE attaches great importance to after-sales customer support,
and has built up a worldwide service network for this purpose. An
on-going interaction with its customers brings in a steady flow of new
knowledge that finds its way into ADVANCE products, thus completing
the «Circle of Service».
About ADVANCE
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True Friendship
Perfectly balanced with unmistakeable looks. The new EPSILON 8
conveys a distinctive feel-good factor and glows with an ideal mix of
precision, performance and safety. Unique quality and an innovative in-
ner life transform this ADVANCE classic into a robust lightweight. Enjoy
the spellbinding experience of flying the EPSILON 8 – true friendship
awaits.
Outstanding features
Relax and enjoy the thermals
The EPSILON 8 demonstrates a very successful combination of pitch
and turn behaviour. Steering demands are answered directly and pre-
cisely. The EPSILON 8’s compact and stable canopy invites plenty of
confidence from the beginning. Even in challenging conditions pilots
feel calm and content, able to enjoy the thermals in a relaxed frame of
mind.
Long life thanks to a unique high quality light structure
Not just very light, but downright robust as well: the EPSILON 8 gets
attention with its unique choice of materials. Upper and lower surfaces
are made of the normal strong European Porcher cloth. Inside the wing
the latest technology from the OMEGA XALPS comes into play. Thus
the EPSILON 8 weighs almost as little as a light wing, and even so has
a long lifespan.
Modern technology delivers great performance
Many performance-enhancing new technologies are featured in the
EPSILON 8. It was designed as a three-liner but has only one gallery
level. This skimps on line metres and reduces drag. Precisely compu-
ted double-3D-shaping provides a super-smooth surface in the critical
nose area, and supports the correct shape of the real-life profile.
The EPSILON 8
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All the details
«Easy Connect System»
The risers have a new «Easy Connect System» which makes it simple
and quick to connect them to the harness. Concept and colour mini-
mize the risk of clipping in with risers twisted or on the wrong side.
«Quick Snap»
The EPSILON 8 has split A-risers for trouble-free big ears. Before take-
off the divided A-risers are held together by magnets. This simplifies
takeoff handling, and during takeoff they separate themselves for nor-
mal flight.
«Smart Sail System»
The «Smart Sail System» aligns the weave of the fabric around the air
intakes with the local tension vector. Specially impregnated robust
cloth at this highly loaded place extends the glider’s life.
Extended weight range
On top of its recommended weight range the EPSILON 8 has another
15 kg added on, but at these weights the wing remains in the EN/LTF B
category. This significantly widens the glider’s area of use.
ADVANCE Standards
Distinctive winglets have been reducing induced drag (vortex-ef-
fect) on ADVANCE wings for 25 years. Like all ADVANCE models the
EPSILON 8 has swivels on the brake lines and comes with different
sized brake handles, to suit the glider size. At the risers the brake lines
run through ceramic rings.
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Right from the start the EPSILON 8 gives the beginner or leisure pilot
the safety they need when they lift off into the third dimension. A sense
of achievement is guaranteed from the beginner’s first flights, en-
couraged by the knowledge that you can always trust the EPSILON 8
completely. The EPSILON 8 is perfect for schools, but it also provides
improving pilots with continued flying enjoyment, with maximum pas-
sive safety, long after they have finished their training.
General advice about paragliding
Flying a paraglider calls for appropriate training and a sound knowl-
edge of the subject, as well as, of course, the necessary insurance
cover and licence. A pilot must be able to correctly assess the weather
conditions before taking off. His or her capabilities must be adequate
for the actual paraglider.
Wearing an adequate helmet, suitable boots and clothing, and carrying
an emergency parachute (a ‘reserve’) are essential. Before every flight
all items of equipment should be checked for damage and airworthi-
ness. A proper pre-takeoff check must also be carried out.
Every pilot bears sole responsibility for all risks, including injury or
death, when participating in the sport of paragliding. Neither the manu-
facturer nor the seller of a paraglider can guarantee or be held respon-
sible for the pilot’s safety.
Piloting Requirements
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Using the paraglider
Delivery
Before delivery every ADVANCE paraglider has to be flown by the deal-
er and checked for correct settings and trim. When this has been done
the dealer enters the date of the first flight on the label attached to a
centre rib. This entry, together with a completed warranty card, will
ensure that defects in the product attributable to manufacturing faults
are covered by the ADVANCE warranty. See ‘Warranty’ in the section
«Service».
Within 10 days of purchasing your glider we ask you to fill in the regis-
tration form on the internet, to be found under “Warranty”.
The EPSILON 8 comes with an COMFORTPACK rucksack, an inner
bag, a compression strap, a repair kit, carbon speed bar with lines, a
mini windsock in the canopy colours and a ‘Getting Started’ booklet.
Basic settings
The length of the brake lines is set at the factory so that the trailing
edge is not braked (is crease-free) when brakes are fully released
in fully accelerated flight. This setting should be kept as a matter of
principle.
Adjusting the brake lines
The brake handle positions have been set at the factory to allow free
brake line travel of approximately 8 cm between the brakes free posi-
tion and the point where brake application first affects the wing trail-
ing edge in unaccelerated flight. This free run makes sure, among oth-
er things, that the trailing edge remains unbraked with brakes released,
both at takeoff and during accelerated flight, thus implying that the
brake line length should not be altered.
We recommend the bowline knot for fastening the brake handles. See
illustration at the end of the manual.
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