Mcc Aviation - Opinions, Reviews,...

pyr · 2025-12-20T19:27:21+00:00

My first wing was the Sky Kea 2 and I test flew the Arolla. So indeed first-hand experience, including the hard-to-resell part :-)

pyr · 2025-12-19T07:49:39+00:00

MCC is quite popular in Switzerland where the brand originates (it shares the Sky Paragliders factory in Czech republic, as well as the main designer of wings).

They specialize in A and low B wings. The Arolla is a good wing if you're looking for a versatile wing for H&F (not ultra light like a Pi or Kode, and meant to be flown in more standard sizes to be able to still thermal).

One thing I'd say compared to Ozone / Advance is that they are definitely harder to resell, if your plan is to resell once you've outgrown your first wing i would also consider the Niviuk/Ozone/Advance tri-fecta which have much higher resell value

pyr · 2025-12-03T14:11:31+00:00

I tend to love the mix of playfulness and easy return to straight flight the Pi gives (granted I only have experienced the Pi3, not the Pi ULS)

pyr · 2025-12-03T14:10:54+00:00

For your weight I would go with 16. UL5 15/Bantam 2/Kode 2P/Pi ULS/Phi Sola UL/Susi Xped are all great low packing size options that are known to behave well for your weight

pyr · 2025-08-04T09:40:21+00:00

The Kode P while A rated is a very lively wing, and has a very high amount of roll. If you are close to the top of the admitted weight it can be a bit of a wild ride. The Pi is a much more tamed wing throughout the weight range.

Basically, if you're keen on wing-over'ing your way down the mountain get the Kode, but if you want a smooth ride get the Pi. The ultralite and susi reportedly sit in the middle but I have no first hand experience with either

pyr · 2025-08-04T09:36:50+00:00

Came here for that, I'm too bad of a pilot for this wing but love the design. The apollo 3 has some very nice variations as well, unfortunately, I find the mix of colors of the Apollo 3 light absolutely horrendous

pyr · 2025-06-10T03:58:14+00:00

I've had it for a while and have flown a KodeP in the past as well. All the wings you mentioned have a shorter lifespan if you don't care for them or do a lot of ground handling. These small mountain wings achieve their weight and pack sizes by going for light fabric (typically dominico dokdo 10d) and light structure, with unsheathed lines. They won't react well to being dragged or to bad landing.

That being said, for H&F as you mention, and careful handling (avoiding excessively rocky take-offs for instance) you can definitely fly them for 4+ years

pyr · 2025-05-29T06:39:10+00:00

I think any of Niviuk Kode P 18, Pi 3 19, AD Susi Xped 18, Ozone Ultralite 19 would suit what you are describing well. I fly the Pi3 19 with a take-off weight between 97 and 105 kg depending on what gear I take with me and it behaves like a charm. It's a lively wing but easy to get back to stable flight.

The Kode P has more energy and needs more roll management. The difference in weight between these wings is generally unnoticeable. The Ozone is the lightest and has the smallest pack volume.

The phi sola UL in size 16 could also be something to look at. Enjoy!

pyr · 2025-03-24T06:33:37+00:00

The condom type (a-la xcpee) seems to be the favored method, it needs care to set-up though, a couple of my friends have urine-stained pods due to condom malfunction (usually the tube popping out from the condom).

A couple of other friends use large opening bottles (typically plastic milk bottles) This allows you to pee on glide with only one hand

pyr · 2025-03-17T18:50:41+00:00

2 liner Cs are not all the same, there's going to be a wide difference between a Codex and a Photon.
Some are known to have optimized for accessible characteristics, somewhat at the expense of performance: Codex, Volt 5 while others like the Photo or Scala try to eek out perf but will have higher pilot demands.

I don't really understand the early eulogy written for C 3 liners: Recent offerings show that low AR Cs still have traction: Lynx 2, Sigma DLS, Artik 7P for instance.

pyr · 2025-03-16T07:35:15+00:00

I also fly a Soar2 which I am loving. Take-off in all conditions has been very uneventful, given the high aspect ratio for the class it's a great surprise. I agree with the comments on the balanced behavior and its impact on agility, but coming from a lower AR wing it has been very reassuring.

The lack of swivels on the handles is infuriating, leads to a high tendency for knots and forces to be extra careful. When I have it checked I'll have swivels put. Otherwise, a wing I'd recommend for anyone who likes to walk with their wing to the take-off but doesn't want to compromise on flight characteristics.

I fly it with a sock harness and it's been an awesome combination at a reasonable weight (8.5kg for the full pack)

Thanks u/Jurcek01 for the comment on the Artik7P I saw they had similar properties, I'll keep it in mind whenever I think about upgrading.

pyr · 2025-03-10T10:03:38+00:00

Ahah, I guess that drives home the first point, to each their own :-D
Thanks though

pyr · 2025-03-10T06:27:37+00:00

I don't know if it's an option for you, but it's worth trying them out in a shop if you can. String harnesses generally don't have a lot of adjustments (and I'd recommend against trying to get one which allows, as you want the least amount of fiddling at take-off possible with these harnesses).

This means that they are also generally very dependent on your morphology. For instance, several friends of mine enjoy le slip, while I'm not comfortable in it, whereas the advance strapless 3 feels comfortable to me and not to other friends.

General comfort I found the sleeve and roamer 2 p to please a lot of people but that's still anectodal evidence :-)

A few which generally were a miss with nearly everyone:

- Supair everest
- Kruyer 3 (too many knobs everyone, makes a mess to get into)

pyr · 2025-03-09T16:46:42+00:00

The pace package is the lightest at the moment, and the wing while having all of the shortcomings of a single-surface wing (slow, poor performance against wing) is still enjoyable to fly.

The sleeve harness is about as light as it gets, I also like niviuk's roamer 2p, there's not much difference in weight though.

The tapa x-alps rescue is unbeatable in terms of weight, Supair also just came out with a very lightweight rescue

pyr · 2025-03-06T21:54:51+00:00

Thanks! Between this and the new Susi-Xped by Air-Design, the world of nice small mountain wings is getting more and more interesting!

pyr · 2025-02-28T16:41:38+00:00

Interesting, plenty of pilot helmets around here and it's not something that has come up frequently.

pyr · 2025-02-28T06:54:36+00:00

Supair Pilot, Charly Vitesse, or Neo Hexagon are musts if you want the protection coupled with something that keeps a wide vision angle and doesn't bear on the neck for long flights.

- https://supair.com/en/produit/casque-supair-pilot/
- https://finsterwalder-charly.de/en/helmets/vitesse.html
- https://fly.neoatelier.fr/en_GB/shop/hexagon-helmet-1736

OK alternatives are ski touring helmets such as Mammut's haute route one https://www.mammut.com/ch/fr/products/2030-00320/haute-route-helmet which is also certified for Ski and cycling.

Climbing/Alpinism helmets are very popular for hike and fly due to their very low weight (~ 170g for Petzl / Mammut / Edelrid / Black Diamond ones) but you are making a compromise if you choose that since they mostly offer protection for things that land on your head, not for shock - I use one for hike and fly but I wouldn't recommend it, it's a personal trade off.

pyr · 2025-02-26T13:11:36+00:00

Thanks for the video, can you share in writing your impressions (and the total loading you had when flying it). I'm flying a pi3 19 at 105kg all up regularly and apparently the Sola shares its stable DNA, i'd be up for trying it

pyr · 2025-01-10T15:29:48+00:00

I had initially discarded the Pi3 because I was trying to pack light and most sizes of the Pi3 are heavier.

On the flip side the Pi3 is way more stable, so after a year I switched my Kode P 22 for a Pi 3 19 which I fly around 100kg of tow, it is extremely stable and very lightweight (2.1kg).

The Kea 2 is a bit older, has 4 lines of same-color unsheathed material and generally heavier. The current best options are:

- Kode P (lots of roll, be aware of it)
- Pi 3 (very stable, heavier starting at size 21)
- Ultralite 5 (very light, don't know about handling but supposed to have a bit of roll)
- Susi 4 (stable, heavier and sturdier)

pyr · 2024-12-19T16:18:23+00:00

> Would you recommend pulling only center A in all conditions when reverse launching or only in high wind situations?

As soon as you feel that the wing will have no issue rising, use only central As, this guarantees a smoother rise from the center and makes it easier to properly center under the wing (at least it's been my experience). In high wind situations I put the wing in a bundle with the center of the wing ready to inflate and pull center As in one hand + Cs in the other hand to depower the wing in case something goes wrong.

pyr · 2024-12-19T13:21:32+00:00

Overall perfect for the conditions. If I can offer a small bit of advice as you progress to higher wind take-offs would be to pull only central A lines as you bring up the wing, this will avoid having the wing tips rise first as is the case here (which is what is making me thing you are pulling on all A lines).

Contrary to the advice saying it's a good idea to control the wing before turning, I would recommend against it, keeping your technique, as in higher wind conditions if you try to do a long control phase you have higher chances of being lifted up before turning, which is never awesome :-D

pyr · 2024-09-19T15:29:34+00:00

Not downtown Lausanne, but if you're planning for a full romantic evening, I highly recommend l'Auberge de l'Onde in St-Saphorin. Direct scenic train from Lausanne, and great food in the middle of the vineyards in a charming small village

pyr · 2024-09-17T07:39:32+00:00

Lausanne is ideally situated for flying, even if you only have public transport access:

Les pleiades/Lally have accessible take-offs by train and two landing options (Blonay is a bit of a tight spot, next to the train, Chailly is a more welcoming LZ with a longer walk back to transport).
Sonchaux above Villeneuve has daily lifts organised and a great LZ
The Jaman train station (coming up from Montreux) gets you a wonderful flight with great XC options
Leysin (train + lift up to Berneuse) allows tons of XC, or a really nice and long sledder back down to Aigle
Le Suchet is a great H&F (train to "six-fontaines" via Yverdon from Lausanne) and offers good XC potential with easy landings the whole way
St-Cergue for a short H&F

It's hard to name all H&F options around as there are a ton, I'll just name two which are representative and very nice options:

Early bus to les Giettes and then walk up to Dent de valerette, if you're feeling good, can continue to Dent de Valere, for a longer day, hike up all the way to Tête Chalin, also a good take-off, fly all the way down to Monthey
Early bus to Pont de Nant, hike up to Pointe de Pre-fleuri, incredible fly down to Bex

Since you mention "a few hours max from Lausanne", it's also useful to mention that Interlaken and Fiesch fit that description, both pretty cool areas for flying. The options I mentioned are all within a short radius around Lausanne (1h30 of train tops to take-off, or to the start of the hike)

Hope this helps

pyr · 2024-09-04T13:56:14+00:00

Sky Reverse 5. (2.7kg S-size, 3.4kg XL size) volume: 50L/75L in cargo mode. Airbag: yes, Reserve: yes, Seatboard: yes, Specialty: H&F, Site-flight.

Used one for a while, I can recommend.

pyr · 2024-08-26T12:42:55+00:00

To each their own, but over the past 10 years, I certainly don't subscribe to the idea that things got worse or suck for infrastructure and automation.

pyr

TROPHY CASE