EN D* WHY? THE XXLITE EN CLASSIFICATION

How does a glider with mostly EN A results end up being classified as EN D? The answer stems from a strange political battle that arose after OZONE introduced collapse lines on modern wings such as the popular Delta series, which were opposed by competing companies who had not yet tested this technology. Instead of investigating this new method of glider development, some of our competitors lobbied to “ban” the use of collapse lines. The end result was that any wing using collapse lines to affect the required EN folding methods was given a D rating, even if all tests exhibited EN A behavior.

The XXLite uses a combined A/B line attachment point on the chord. Due to this, it is impossible to pull the correctly sized EN folds (collapses) without collapse lines. With collapse lines the tests are completed properly and the reopening of the collapse occurs in less than one second (EN A result).

Importantly, it must be noted that EN certification does not measure how a collapse is made. It only measures the wing’s recovery from collapse.

Many single-skin wings require additional (non-flying) collapse lines to properly execute the EN tests. These testing lines automatically register the wing as EN D even if the resulting recovery from the collapse is “A”. Although other test houses appear to have ignored this rule (automatic EN D with use of collapse lines) and were given an overall result below D, we have no intention to mislead pilots, and trust that our customers will understand the flawed test regulations.

The mild character and excellent passive safety of the XXLite can only be understood by reading our description of the wing, not by looking at a misleading EN D classification.