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8
Development of
paragliders
Admitted; we're proud of our heritage. No
other company in the free flying world can
look back on such an expansive history as
we can. The UP story started back in 1970
when Pete Brock graduated from the Art
Center, a world famous school for design
and engineering in Pasadena, California,
and promptly created some of the most
legendary race cars ever the Daytona
Coupe from General Motors was one
and then went on to become fascinated by
the emerging sport of hanggliding at that
time probably the maddest pastime of
them all. After founding Ultralite Products
he introduces his first wing, the Dragonfly,
and soon the new company becomes
known under the UP acronym.
Pete Brocks spirit survives to this day in
everything we do at UP International we
still have our very own way of seeing
things and designing things. This entails
building paragliders that are not only as
safe as they come, they must also meet
the very high standards we set ourselves.
Among these are the continued use of the
most advanced technology available both
in the designing and manufacturing
process, but also the feel, the handling
and the performance of the finished
product. All this because we're addicted to
building wings that will fascinate you. A
good paraglider is comprised of a number
of interacting factors of which looks, feel,
handling and performance are but a few.
Only when all these come together in the
final product can we claim to have built a
wing that is homogenous and pleasurable
to fly; and only then we're happy, and
ready to introduce our new UP baby to the
free flying world.
Our gliders are developed using state-
of-the-art CAD software. Our programs
allow us to do the initial flight testing in
a virtual environment where we can
simulate a great many things before
even assembling the first prototypes.
Once we're happy with the new
prototypes' behaviour in the virtual
environment the program generates
the templates after which the glider is
sewn. When a new prototype arrives
from our proto-building experts
everyone at UP is excited about the
prospects of trying it out in real life.
The practical tests may show that
further modifications are needed
these may be carried out on the
existing wing, or a new prototype is
built with the mods already
incorporated. In exceptional cases this
may continue through several
prototypes, for only when we're 100%
satisfied do we submit our new wing to
testing by the DHV. We owe it to our
customers, and to our own heritage, to
be particular about which products
earn the UP badge.
Technical
description
The UP K2² was developed by UP to
satisfy the demand of tandem pilots for
a fast and secure tandem paraglider
with outstanding take-off attributes and
easy handling.
As with all UP products, the materials
used have been carefully chosen for
their outstanding quality and strength,
to guarantee a long and trouble-free
service life.
