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The Competitive Edge

Xantipa 2 Flight Report

The Xantipa 2 xtail is the latest offering by JIRI TUMA, manufacturer of the Xantipa, the Xantipa 2 vtail, the German EAGLE, and the popular x21. When I met with him at the World Championships, I asked for the the popular vtail version to have a new xtail. He did the prototype, and the proto landed in the very capable hands of Buzz Averill.. even after FEDEX destroyed the shipping box, delaminated the wing, and punched the leading edge of both tips and the center section.... my advice to Buzz was... let's still make it fly. I got to test drive it briefly on the practice day for the South West Classic. He handed me the tranny and I thought I was flying my PERFECT.....

So there you have it, but at a much more affordable price at $1295. Fit and finish is excellent. I'll now turn it over to Buzz and his flight report. THANKS BUZZ...

yep I have more on order!!

I thought I would give you a little feedback about the Xantipa 2 I got from you. As you know, the model is built by Jiri Tuma who has also produced the original Xantipa plus the X-21 and the Eagle F3B models. Jiri has been in business since 1992. He has also been manufacturing parts for Robbe since that time. With the Xantipa II Jiri has produced a very nice looking model. The shapes, areas, moments and MH 32 wing airfoil are just about perfect for Thermal Duration / F3J flying. When balanced at 92 mm from the leading edge (first flights) the model has very benign, even gentle flying characteristics. It is very difficult to tip stall the model. The old "stick in the corner maneuver" just results in a very tight circles. However, when flown inverted with this CG location a lot of down elevator is required to maintain level flight. Moving the CG aft to the recommended 96 mm from the leading edge results in increased sensitivity while retaining the delightful handling. Very little down elevator is needed to maintain inverted flight with the recommended CG location. This very early production model weighs 78 oz ready to fly. Nowadays, you might think this weight would be too heavy for good thermalling but I found the model climbs very well. Having the opportunity to fly the Xantipa II at the recent SWC gave many opportunities to fly with and against most of the thermal Duration / F3J models available today. When flown in the same thermal the Xantipa seemed to climb as well as any of the other models and it has very good ranging characteristics. I could easily zip from one side of the field to the other to check out lift. The reason for my poor placing was not the models fault but my lack of landing skill plus one flight where none of us in the air at that time could find any lift. Overall, I would rate the Xantipa 2 to be one of the best thermal duration models I have flown. The handling and climbing ability are second to none, plus it launches to the Moon. Please extend my congratulations to Jiri for a fine model.

Buzz Averill