Nicole's first Magic4 flightI had a chance to fly my new Magic4 at Woodside just before Xmas. The first flight was only a sled ride, and the second flight I got to thermal a bit over the clearcuts before heading out. Although I can't get a lot of info from those 2 very short flights, I can tell you a little bit.

First impression is of a very fast glider, and more twitchy than my UP Trango 2. The biggest difference is the speedbar and how light it is to use...the first time I pressed it, I pressed too hard (I'm used to having to press a lot in order for it to engage), and went from 0-100% speedbar in about 1 second, which of course resulted in a massive assymetric :)

Fortunately Alex wasn't too close (he was flying next to me taking pics) but he got to see an impressive display of the glider diving and turning while I got the assym out. It took a while and there was a cravatte I had to get out, but in the end I got it out OK. So, I learned not to press the speedbar too much too quickly, unless I feel like doing some impromptu SIV.

Next flight I did some thermalling over the clearcuts, and the glider is much more talkative than my Trango 2 in that I was able to feel the thermals much better than usual. The M4 is also a bit flatter to turn than the T2 so thermalling should be more efficient for me (on my T2 I always had to make sure not to make the glider dive too much in the turns since it liked to do that). I also tried the trimmers on that flight during the glide out. Very easy to use, and a big speed range between slowed-down and sped-up. But when it's on full sped-up trimmers I can feel the leading edge shuddering and thinking about frontalling; I think I'll only use full sped-up trimmers for the final glide to goal, and only if I'm high enough to deal with any frontals or assyms that may result.

So overall first impressions are of a very fast glider that will tell me a lot when I'm flying (which I like), and I have to be careful about the full bar aspect (or at least be more progressive about using it, and not jamming it on all of a sudden). I'll need some more flights to become more comfortable on it and be able to give a better review, and that will likely happen in Oz since the weather here is not very conducive for flying. I'll be in Oz for a while before the Worlds comp (I'll be at at the XC comp which is a best 4-out-of-8 event, so I'll be able to pick which days I want to fly and have count for my score), and I'll be able to use that time to get more comfy on the glider and find out what I can and can't do with it.