The UP Sherpa Bi is a German two-place

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like ' ...

that was designed and produced by

UP Europe UP International GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturer based in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of paragliders in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft. The company started business as a hang glider ma ...

Kochel am See Kochel am See is a municipality and a town in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen in Bavaria, on the shores of Kochelsee. The municipality consists of the districts Altjoch, Brunnenbach, Ort, Pessenbach, Pfisterberg, Walchensee and Ried. ...

. Introduced in 2001, production of the second generation model Sherpa 2 ended in 2007.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 34. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003.

Design and development

The aircraft was designed as a

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

glider for flight training and as such was referred to as the Sherpa Bi, indicating "bi-place" or two seater. The Sherpa went through two generations of models, the Sherpa and Sherpa 2. The Sherpa's sail was made from Porsher Marine New Skytex and its lines were fabricated from Cousin Trestec Super

Aramid Aramid fibers, short for aromatic polyamide, are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic-rated body armor fabric and ballistic composites, in marine cordage, ma ...

Variants

;Sherpa :Original model, in production 2001-2004. Its span wing has a wing area of , 54 cells and the aspect ratio is 4.8:1. The take-off weight range is . The glider model is Deutscher Hängegleiterverband e.V. (DHV) 1-2 certified. ;Sherpa 2 :Second generation model, in production 2004-2007. Its span wing has a wing area of , 45 cells and the aspect ratio is 5.1:1. The take-off weight range is . The glider model is DHV 1-2 certified.

Specifications (Sherpa)

References

{{UP aircraft

Sherpa Sherpa may refer to: Ethnography * Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal * Sherpa language Organizations and companies * Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility * ...

Paragliders