New brand: Vril-Wings

December 31, 2020

A single skin as a speed flyer or just science fiction? With his brand Vril-Wings, Johannes Tschofen relies on new umbrella concepts as interesting crossover variants. The Thing Between - the Vrilone is supposed to add flavor to flying after hiking or to make speedflying family-friendly. // Source: Vril-Wings The Austrian Johannes Tschofen has been a test pilot for Skyman and Independence for years. It was not necessarily planned that he would now also launch his own brand with Vril-Wings at the same time. But sometimes projects grow out of whims. And Johannes' mood took off when he tested the first prototype of a slightly different single skin concept by Skyman designer Anupe in 2019. He says: "I've been working with Anupe and Skysport in Sri Lanka for 13 years now. At the end of winter 2019 I received a new prototype, full pink and only twelve square meters in size. I knew it was a total New development acted. Broader cells, no ballooning in the leading edge area and canopy tension of an RC paraglider (note: remote-controlled model construction paraglider). So several innovations at once. I was accordingly a bit nervous during the first flight. But this nervousness turned into after the first turns pure euphoria. The gliding performance and the flying fun were new to me for a 12 m² singleskin. This euphoria was also shared by Markus Gründhammer and my flying ski freeride colleagues, who immediately made a few new descents. And when it was no further with the skis they flew long distances back to the valley station to start the next lap, and no one wanted to give me the glider back. Everyone wanted to keep him. Then I knew all the more: The part flies great! "The company Flymarket, to which Skyman and Independence belong as brands, saw no market for such small single skins at that time. Johannes was convinced, however. He took matters into his own hands, financed the development of further prototypes and worked on the details with his friends and Anupe. The Vril logo was also developed by Anupe. "Anupe - this man is worth gold. It often only takes a week from an idea to implementation and the finished prototype. In addition to his talent at the computer, he is also directly in production and has an extreme overview of materials and production. He is also a pilot himself and comes to me in Montafon every year to fly. "The Vrilone will be the first wing from Vril-Wings to come onto the market in 2021. Made of Dokdo D10 fabric in sizes of 12 and 14 m², with a weight of 1.1 or 1.2 kg, an unusually high speed of 45-49 km / h for single skins (without trimmer or accelerator) and some special flight characteristics. Perhaps a new wing category will emerge from this. "We are all already fathers and married. In addition to the small pack size and the easy take-off and landing behavior, a big advantage over many doubleskin speed flyers is the great passive safety during spirals, hook turns, etc. The Vrilone is much more manageable than a conventional 12-speed flyer. Due to its small pack size and the low weight of just over a kilo, it is also suitable as a hike-and-fly umbrella. For pilots who wear little but want a little more pepper when gliding. Or for speed riders and wild socks who want to shift down a gear. I classify the glider between paragliding and speed flying. 'The Thing Between' - that hits it well, I think. "Landing Booster The Vrilone is trimmed at almost 50 km / h. // Source: Vril-Wings Some structural details are interesting: The Vrilone has particularly wide" cells " and is more stretched than other single skins. This on the one hand reduces ballooning and makes the profile thinner and faster. On the other hand, fewer ribs mean that fewer lines are needed to tension the glider. There is only an A and a B on the riser Level, even if the galleries on the canopy still have a C, D and E level. A development that Johannes Tschofen calls "landing booster" is unique: singleskins cannot normally be flared out as easily as classic paragliders The landings can sometimes be quite hard. The Vrilone uses a special system to be able to significantly increase the lift just before touchdown. There is an additional connection between the brake and the lie in front of it low line levels, which are only activated progressively from a lower braking position. "When the connecting line comes under tension, first the E-level is set in the middle of the paraglider, where the main buoyancy is, then after another eight centimeters of braking distance the D-level and then again after eight centimeters the C-level This is achieved by a special suspension in this area, which also saves two main lines. With this solution, the lines are even easier to sort. With normal flying, wingovers, spirals etc. the landing booster is not activated. " The distribution of the Vrilone, which only has a load test but no classic certification with maneuvers in accordance with the EN standard, is to run through flight schools. "It is important to us that the glider is passed on to the right pilots. Despite its great and safe flight characteristics, the Vrilone is not a beginner's glider. For pilots with mini wing experience or acro pilots, it should be easy to fly a Vrilone. For climbers From the conventional paragliding area, an assessment by a flight instructor and training is recommended, depending on experience. " Finally, there remains the question of how Johannes Tschofen came up with the brand name "Vril". "Vril stands for the primal force, the vital energy that flows through everything. In India it is called Prana, in China it is Chi, in Hawaii it is called Oro and Star Wars is about 'The Power'. The term Vril was taken from the novel -Author Edward Bulwer-Lytton. His 1871 work 'The Coming Race' is considered the first science fiction novel. In this story, the peaceful, sophisticated inhabitants have wings to strap on. And then they can with help the Vril-Energy. I liked this book very much, hence the name Vril-Wings. "

This article has been translated for your convenience and was originally written in German.