11/29/98
Mitch McAleer Sets Looping Record
World Aerobatic Champion Mitch McAleer broke the world looping record above Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janiero, Brazil this past weekend. Mitch was towed to 15,000 feet by La Mouette’s Gerard Thevenot with a La Mouette trike. Mitch did 76 loops to the delight of a huge crowd. There were lots of TV and newspaper cameras present to record the milestone. Mitch flew a Fusion 150 and said “It was easy, my arms aren’t even sore”. Congratulations Mitch!
08/31/98
Steve Pearson and Rob Kells Win Morningside Glide Angle Contest
Photo by Mark Vaughn ©1998
It was a one two sweep for Wills Wing in New Hampshire this weekend as WW Designer Steve Pearson and WW President Rob Kells took top honors in the annual Morningside Glide Angle Contest. Flying Fusion 150s that were a bit tweaked for the contest, which has almost no rules, Steve managed an averaged glide of 14.129:1 over the course of a number of runs. Rob wasn’t far behind with 13.876:1. The complete results and more info are available at the Morningside Website http://flymorningside.kittyhawk.com.
Congratulations Steve and Rob!
08/10/98
Wills Wing Issues Recall and Advisories
Wills Wing has announced a recall and replacement requirement for the keyhole collar – the machined part which secures the keyhole tang to the keel on all gliders manufactured since 1989. This recall covers every such part on every glider. It has been found that existing collars are possibly subject to cracking. A new part has been designed which is stronger and less brittle. No accidents have resulted from this product defect as yet, though there have been three incidents of cracked or broken collars observed or reported.
Wills Wing has also issued a Technical Bulletin and advisory regarding proper installation of lock nuts. There have been two incidents of locknuts coming detached, and one of those incidents happened in flight and could have been extremely serious.
The details of these advisories and other important advisories pertaining to Wills Wing gliders are covered in Technical Bulletins published on Wills Wing’s website at www.www.willswing.com. Pilots of Wills Wing gliders who have web access are strongly urged to log onto the website on a regular basis and review all of the Technical Bulletins there. Pilots without access to the web can call Wills Wing at 714 998-6359 and ask to talk to technical support. We will review the Technical Bulletins that would be applicable to your glider, and send you copies in the mail or by fax at no charge. Proper maintenance of one’s equipment is absolutely necessary for safe flight.
Please fly safely.
08/09/98
Luis Rizo – First Place, Colombian National Championships – Wills Wing Fusion 150
This is the second year in a row that Luis has been Colombian Champion!
06/27/98
Chris Arai, Flying a WW Fusion 150, Becomes U.S. National Champion for an Unprecedented Fourth Yea
05/06/98
Wills Wing Glider Polar Charts & Discussion
Polar Data For Wills Wing Hang Gliders by Mike Meier addresses the topic of Wills Wing glider performance and includes a chart and tables with information many pilots ask for.
05/04/98
Reflex Bridle Adjustment and Maintaining Pitch Stability
Reflex Bridle Adjustment and Maintaining Pitch Stabilityis an article by Wills Wing’s Mike Meier which is very relevant to owners of ANY late model hang glider. The article covers the effect of aging and UV exposure on hang glider sails, and the subsequent effects this can have on the glider’s pitch stability systems. This article appeared in the December 1997 issue of Hang Gliding magazine. See also the sidebar to this article Pitch Stability and Center of Mass Location
04/16/98
Kari Castle Sets New Florida State Women’s Distance Record
Condensed From: The OZ Report by Davis Straub
Yesterday, Kari Castle set the new Florida state women’s XC record of 96 miles, flying a Wills Wing Fusion. It was only her fourth flight in Florida. This on a day that didn’t look all the promising. Kari got off around 12:30 PM and the lift was light to fair from the get go at Wallaby Ranch with a cloud base at about 5200′. The winds were light enough that you could hop clouds and cloud streets to the west starting just north of the Ranch. While the lift was for the most part in the 100-200 fpm range, there were actual solid cores every now and then. It took almost 2 and 1/2 hours to get to the Florida state turnpike, 35 miles to the north, with a couple of pilots going down earlier. The lift was improving and she was able to head further west toward Wildwood, a few miles east of Interstate 75. The Ocala National Forest was off to her right, but a few miles away. Skirting the east side of Ocala, she was able to climb up to 5500′ and head east of Citra on highway 301. Around five thirty the lift finally got good with 500 fpm near Island Grove. After six o’clock she hung in 0 to 50 fpm up west of Hawthorne at 2300′ before deciding to land in a convenient field.
Congratulations Kari, and Welcome Back to the WW Team!
03/28/98
Sandy Dittmar Wins Venezuelan International, La Victoria
By Rafael Dubois
rafael.dubois@snellwilcox.com
This year’s edition of the Venezuelan International (March 21 to 28, 1998) was a total success. Even though “El Niño” delivered rare days to us , we had very good weather. Conditions ranged from truly classic strong days to technically challenging but nevertheless good days. A total of 35 pilots flew 6 days; the average task distance was 98.33 Km through mainly out-and-return and race-to-goal-via-turnpoint tasks. Several days we had over 10 pilots in goal.
Participating pilots were tested with a good deal of technical flying. The tasks involved lots of “shifting gears” over very variable terrain that included long transitions over mountain systems and flat land flying. The top pilots were the ones who could successfully race the easy terrain and slow down in the tricky parts of the course. We also enjoyed La Victoria’s traditional convergences produced by different valley systems and lakes, plus the ever present help of sugar cane field fires and lots of turkey vultures.
Sandy Dittmar (Venezuela) won the meet comfortably, although Enrique Arriaga (Venezuela), Luis Rizo (Colombian Champion) and Ryan Glover (USA, Aeros Team) were in hot pursuit of Sandy’s keel.
Due to the continuing interest in this meet, it has been announced that next year the La Victoria International will be organized as an FAI approved competition. Next year’s dates will be available soon, so start reserving a week in your March 1999 Agenda!
03/17/98
Charly Insider Helmets Now Available from WW
We are proud to announce that we are now distributing these excellent flying helmets from Finsterwalder. You can purchase them retail direct from us or through your dealer. See also April 1998 HG Bulletin
03/05/98
Downtube Fitting Change
Part number 20G-1424, the bottom end fitting for our streamlined AT style downtubes, has been interchangeable left and right for some time now. We have replaced this part with left and right versions (20G-1425 and 20G-1426, respectively), so it will be important when ordering that the side desired is specified. All new gliders with streamlined downtubes will be built with the new fittings. The top end fittings will remain laterally interchangeable.