Some information ( Philosophy, Certification, FAQ
LittleCloud Philosophy
It all started in 2008… with Tom’s vision of being able to enjoy flying as much as possible, all year long, and with maximum pleasure, LittleCloud was born. Pleasure, it seems, is something that is often lost in flying… because of the never-ending quest for performance and maximum distance. It has become their mission and philosophy at LittleCloud to deny this quest and focus their efforts on creating products for a community of pilots that pursue the pleasure of flight.
Products
LittleCloud creates products that are simple, easy to fly, and offer maximum possibilities to enjoy being in the sky. Research and development is key at LittleCloud. They love that this gives us excuses to go out fly! There is no miracle here, you only have to spend some time in the sky to find true inspiration. They don’t focus on what the others are doing. They believe that if they are having fun with their products, other pilots will as well. This makes their products pretty special.
Testing
There can be a big difference between inducing a collapse in calm air and getting one in harsh conditions. Because of this, LittleCloud believe that official certification is not proof of security. It’s a statement made by an independent center according to a defined protocol. This allows only for comparing gliders but not much more. LittleCloud made the decision to only certify the gliders that need to be used by schools or commercial pilots (tandems). In doing so, they assume 100% of the responsibility for their products and to whom they are dedicated.
All gliders go through a rigorous test protocol, at various weights, including all “EN” maneuvers. They test them in all conditions, pushing them as hard as possible to get a real understanding of their safety. LittleCloud also publish video clips of some “EN-type” maneuvers to give pilots an idea of how they perform.
Company
Since the beginning, LittleCloud wanted to avoid being forced sell gliders for high profit. That might sound a bit silly from a company selling products, but that’s for us the key to an honest and fair business. Prices are only high enough to keep the company healthy and able to keep moving forward. They push to keep our retail price respected in order to keep the second hand market high. The company itself is small and highly optimized. This allows them to spend more time in the air flying and testing, and of course looking after pilots requests.
Family
LittleCloud says that they are not just a brand, it’s a family of special pilots all over the world, sharing the “fly happy” lifestyle!
Certification and LittleCloud
LittleCloud decided a long time ago to no play the “certification game” (except for some exceptions).
Tom wants to summarize it simply, so that you can make your own idea about this. It’s definitely not the easiest path, Tom chooses to sell wings but this is the one that he believes in! He respect every point of view (and obviously he follow his), but he's not saying it’s the one to follow!
1. What is the Certification process?
The certification process is list of procedures that defines the behavior/safety of a glider under some human actions and its structural resistance.
These procedures are defined according to an EN norm defining:
- 926-1 for the resistance tests.
- 926-2 for the flying tests.
Germans do not follow the EN requirement (even though they stand in the EU) and have their certification process (LFT), which has very similar base to the EN standard. These procedures are carried out on new wings.
The norm describes how to perform specific maneuvers and what class is assigned based on the wing's reaction. It involves assessing angles of pitch, angles of rotation, control movement distances, recovery to normal flight timing, with or without input, etc. The glider is marked with tape to define the angles and depths of these induced collapses. These angles are precisely defined according to the text but not in relation to the glider’s shape, planform, airfoil, or other technical characteristics.
The brake range is determined by finding the stall point, which allows for setting marks on the brake line to perform certain maneuvers (1/4, 1/2, 3/4). These marks are only related to the stall point, not to the wing’s handling characteristics. The seats used for the tests have strictly defined hang point heights and carabiner width distances.
In no case are air temperature or air pressure taken into account for the tests. These norm procedures are defined by a group of people, mainly manufacturers, test centers, and experts. The tests are performed by test centers and paid for by the manufacturer. The angle of pitch, rotation measurements, and timing are evaluated by test pilots (not sensors) and filmed from below. To make this possible, the characteristics of the air mass (pressure, temperature, and humidity) are obviously not considered.
2. Why LittleCloud doesn’t follow up with this EN norm (Test flying one)?
As a responsible manufacturer, LittleCloud aim to offer wings with maximum safety for pilots. LittleCloud are very careful about whom they dedicate each model to, thoroughly checking and testing each wing's reaction in varied real-life conditions.
Improvements made in understanding wing mechanisms over the last few years have helped them design gliders with mellow reactions. There is a significant gap between pilot-induced maneuvers and real-life situations. The dynamics are very different; recovery in still air versus messy air that can collapse a wing is a world apart, and pilot inputs are not considered in the EN evaluation.
LittleCloud new airfoil has produced incredible results in real-life conditions, maintaining high pressure throughout the collapse process. It’s nearly impossible to produce an EN-type front collapse with their new Kagoo2/The Spiruline. The skin tension and shaping are major features that provide outstanding results in reducing the propagation and magnitude of collapses, making the 45° angle required by EN on large asymmetric collapses very difficult to achieve.
Does this make the wings more dangerous? Experience and tests show that it’s actually a real benefit for pilot safety.
LittleCloud would have to step away from their latest findings regarding collapse resistance and collapse mechanisms to perform the EN tests according to its description. This is why they chose to do long-term testing in a wide range of flying conditions to truly understand how the wing will react. This is, of course, time-consuming and sometimes tricky, but in their opinion, it’s the only way to genuinely discover the true characteristics of their wings.
Time has demonstrated that their approach is just as valuable as the “normal” EN process. None of their products have exhibited dangerous behavior, nor have any been mis-targeted to the wrong pilot group because they define and aim their wings to the appropriate audience with a very honest approach.
LittleCloud believe that it’s not the induced maneuver reactions that classify a glider but its overall capability and performance. A wing that compensates for a pilot’s lack of skill to fly higher and farther only delays the moment when trouble will occur. Moreover, thinking that a glider will save pilots from the consequences of poor decisions is a dangerous approach to safety.
The current sharp rise in accident rates highlights these facts. Most accidents happen on EN-rated or certified wings. In the end, it’s important to remember that the EN process is very detailed and strict on paper but more approximate in its actual realization (considering air mass and the evaluation of glider reactions).
3. What consequences does this have for your daily life?
Let’s face it, it can be problematic in certain country to get an insurance to cover you. Anyway, in most of the case, solutions always exist. Bear in mind that Paragliding is considered as a high risk activity. Therefore, with a certified glider or not, you won’t be covered in certain cases (Travel Insurance, Mortgage insurance…).
Quality
At LittleCloud, they say they only use premium quality materials. Their gliders are produced mostly with Dominico Tex fabrics, and for some parts we also use Porcher/NCV fabrics. The bridle are made out of Edlerid line (Sheathed Kelvar and Dyneema) or Liros (unsheathed dyneema).
LittleCloud Gliders are produced in Sri Lanka where established a great cooperation there since 2013. They produce gliders since several decades for some of the most established companies of this paragliding world.
Their skills, experience and knowledge are key in the quality of our gliders. Each glider is inspected, measured before being shipped to our office in France. A control sheet is supplied with each glider. On a regular base, here at the office, LittleCloud randomly pickup some wings to check conformity (and tthey never managed to get one wrong thing out of this check). The very low after-sale event rate we have to deal with is showing that we are standing very high on the quality side!
Recommendations for SIVs
Here are the recommendations for SIVs from LittleCloud:
The SIV can be a learning tool in the pilot’s career. It is not a compulsory step either, there are other ways to progress in terms of handling feelings. You must never forget that these exercises are there to educate the pilots, not to put them in danger during these exercises.
This work takes time and practice and must be progressive and absolutely adapted to the level of the pilot. It must be understood that in real situations, when the aerology is such that our wings can experience flight incidents, the necessary actions are much more specific and demanding to perform! It is therefore very easy to turn a situation worse by trying to solve it, as in training where the conditions are optimal. In short, do everything you can to avoid finding yourself in a critical situation by anticipating, by flying with a wing adapted to your level in conditions also adapted to your level.
Because LittleCloud work to make their wings as safe as possible, they have chosen certain characteristics specifi to all LittleCloud wings:
- Strong pitch damping. The pitch stability reduces the consequences of flight incidents (loss of altitude, resumption of flight, less dynamic incident, etc.).
- Very high stall resistance , with long brake ranges and a wing that try strongly to get back to fly mode.
- A distribution of tensions which reduces the propagation of collapses.
- Less G force in 360.
- A usually rapid reopening of the collapses without pilot action, with little rotation in most cases and poor energy (be careful, this does not mean that it never happens!).
- Lines and design greatly limiting the risk of a cravat!
Their wings are designed to fly and resume flight as soon as possible, so they are not very suitable for Freestyle. For traditional SIV manoeuvres, below is the list of specificities:
- The stalls must be done in 2 stages, the strong resistance leads to a horseshoe in classic stall, with all the negative consequences that go with it.
- Stable backfly is not easy to find and perform.
- “Autorotations” are extremely difficult to implement.
- Frontal and asymmetrical closures are very physical to perform. Pay attention to the timing of large collapses (too slow = reactions that can be very dynamic – asymmetrical > 50% and frontal > 35%). A cross line is often necessary to make large EN type collapses (75%).
- B stalls are almost impossible and above all prohibited in the flight manuals.
- In 360, it is easy to reach high descent speeds due to the low G force. Be aware of this and act accordingly (normally your SIV instructor should take this into account).
- The shorter lines do not pose any problems of interaction with the rescue. Experience shows that there are no more worries than with any other paragliding wings.
In any case, do not hesitate to contact LittleCLoud (or your SIV instructor). You will find on this link, a large part of the flight test videos on classic manoeuvres.
LittleCloud Technology
They use a lot of invisible technologies at LittleCloud. They don’t have special names or logos for them, but they are here for emphasing your flying experience…
Light by essence
Since the birth of LittleCloud, they are focus on optimisation. Smart design allows us to keep their gliders simple. No material is lighter than any light material available.
Lines drag reduction
Always using optimised line plans on their gliders, especially with a shorter distance between the canopy and the pilot. For the same aspect ratio/size they use up to 25% less lines than their competitors. This way, they keep good efficiency upwind, even with lower aspect ratio/lower class gliders. Free extra performance without any cost on the safety side.
Since 2012, they use a floating cell on the tips
This unsupported tip is helping to keep intrados and extrados meeting flux more optimized. Again, this helps efficiency on upwind courses.
Tom kite design experience showed real benefit in terms of stability by having a linear lines distribution. It helps reducing the line consumption too. And don’t worry, it doesn’t affect the capacity to get rid of a cravat in the case you managed to get one (other methods are available- not only full-stall! ).
Since 2012 they have developed specific high-pressure airfoil hold in shape a single rod
The principal is very different from the original shark nose which requires 2 rods to get in shape. They use a venturi effect on the air intakes, allowing higher internal pressure, a wider variation of angle of attack (especially at high AOA).
During a collapse, the air intakes are still feeding the canopy, offering a bigger resistance. Since 2018, these inhouse airfoils are combined with very reduce air intake area, giving a great increase of efficiency on the performance side without altering the recovery in flying incidents or stalls.
Skin tensions balance
Using the internal pressure to keep a better 3D shape of the canopy offers a direct gain in efficiency and a very intuitive and progressive control of the canopies, even at higher wingloads. The complex ballooning control of their gliders is one invisible technology that affect the most their behaviours.
They have a low leading edge tension that help stopping the collapses spread. It might not look as tight as some competitors, but the loss in performance is insignificant compared to the benefit in terms of safety! When the wingload is increasing rapidly (during a collapse for example), they manage to temporally reduce the performance of their airfoil to reduce the power therefore the shooting.
The legendary LittleCloud pitch stability!
Again, an invisible technology that is changing the whole the game on the safety side. On all LittleCloud gliders since day one! Easier in flight, in stronger wind take off, safer during flying incidents in reducing the hight loss drastically. Thanks to their great understand of airfoil development they have the capacity to define a very pitch stability at low angle of attack and still keep a bitey behaviour, essential to have a great feeling in thermals.
FAQ
What makes LittleCloud so unique, so singular and why buy a LC?
1-Legendary Pitch Stability!
The pitch stability of any LC wing is unlike anything pilots have experienced. Unless flying acrobatics, pitch only makes a glider more demanding to control and more dramatic in flying incidents. Pitch stability doesn’t prevent a wing from being responsive in thermals.
2-Large Brake Travel!
At LC, they find ways to keep handling precise and direct while maintaining large brake travel. They believe brake travel should be as long as possible to prevent over-piloting the wing. This makes the wing less demanding and safer!
3-Inflation/Rise.
A LC wing doesn’t pull, even in strong winds during inflation. The technique is slightly different from the “pull and catch” of most wings on the market. LC gliders react precisely and instantly to pilot inputs, from the ground to the top. Fast or slow—the pilot decides. This ensures smoother, less stressful takeoffs, even in strong winds.
4-Light by Essence!
LC wings have been light from the start. They focus on optimizing the design by understanding the root of problems and solving them without complicated solutions like mini ribs or 3D shaping. Their knowledge of internal pressure control allows them to manage skin tension without added structure. This results in gliders with a simple, lighter, and more affordable construction by essence.
5-Fair Prices!
With no certification, reduced marketing costs, and efficient management, LC keeps prices fair without compromising quality or safety. They don’t spend thousands of Euros on certification papers stating wing class. Instead, they dedicate significant time to testing in real conditions, ensuring each wing is perfectly suited to its pilot and behaves as expected in various situations
6-HappyFlying!
LC loves flying and wants pilots to enjoy every opportunity to fly! They design gliders that are extremely fun, intuitive, and safe to fly, allowing you to focus solely on having a great time. From miniwings to full-sized paragliders, they offer something for every flying style and skill level.
7-Family!
When you buy a LC, you enter a big family of super enthusiastic pilots, all over the world sharing the same flying philosophy!
8-A company with a real soul!
LC has maintained a solid and clear vision since the beginning. Their philosophy isn’t about creating products to win competitions but maximizing the enjoyment of flying. They produce gear with real, singular character that reflects their core values: safety, fun, straightforward use, and performance as far as safety allows.
See all current LittleCloud Wings.
This page provides information about the LittleCloud brand, their wings, products, philosophy, technical aspects, certification, and answers to frequently asked questions. While we strive to be helpful, we cannot guarantee the accuracy, so it's advisable to verify the information.
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