Existing comment:
Delta Wing Phoenix VI (does not have the little seat)
Bill Bennett continuously refined his hang glider designs to make them safer and improve their performance. His work undoubtedly helped the sport to grow significantly during the 1970's. In January 1975, Bennett and his chief designer, Richard Boone, completed the Phoenix IV, which used truncate wing tips to stabilize the glider by enhancing the aircraft's wing tip vortices. However, this modification also made the glider more difficult to turn and reduced its stability in turbulent air.
Bennett and Boone solved this problem with a new model, the Phoenix VI, by installing metal tubes called battens, shaped to curve up slightly, into the wing tips. This modification lowered the glider's stall speed and helped reduce the chance that one wing tip would stall (lose lift) completely, a condition known to result in a flat spin. |