If you have additional information (ex: specificity of piloting, various characteristics...) on the hang glider Eclipse by Airwave, you can supplement his card by adding your comment or write to us :
I have some 200 flights on an Eclipse and really enjoy flying it. The handling is alittle "loose" due to the keel strap configuration but it is otherwise a great glider.
12/05/2010
One of the most easy handling ever. When I first took it off I overcontrolled, I had to let it free (hands off) and then get use to its very soft controling. Hang point on king post. Didn´t like a ball nose and uprights attachment to keel. But a good glider anyway.
16/05/2010
This glider was designed by Jean-Michel Bernasconi and Bob England, and was manufactured not by Airwave but by Pacific Windcraft in Salinas, California. It was produced from 1985 to 1988. It is possible that some sails were sold to Airwave and fitted to locally-produced airframes. (This was certainly done with the Eclipse's successor, the Mark IV, which was called the "Calypso" in Europe. By that time, Pacific Windcraft entered into partnership with Airwave and became Pacific Airwave.)
The Eclipse was, without a doubt, the lightest-handling glider I have ever flown. It could easily be steered with one hand in steady winds! It was also the hardest glider to stall that I have ever flown. Even when it was close enough to stall speed to "mush," I could still get a controlled turn out of it when I needed to, without a tip stalling. I test-flew dozens of them when I worked for PW, and found them lacking only in glide at speed.