2006 News Summary

12/11/06
T2s First and Second in Brazilian Campeonato Paulista 2006
Pilots flying our T2 hang gliders finished 1st and 2nd in the recently completed Campeonato Paulista, the Brazilian state of São Paulo championship. This is the second big win for Leo ‘Maskara’ Dabbur this season!

Results – Cambuquira 2006

Great Flying, Guys!

11/28/06 
Fall Paragliding Special
Effective immediately, and through the close of business on December 13th, you can take $200 off the listed price on any inventory paraglider in our stock. Our current inventory – listed on the web site – contains both brand new and used demo gliders. Prices on the used demos have already been reduced for use, and you can apply the $200 additional discount on top of the reduced price.
The special ends with the close of business (5:00 PM PST) on Wednesday, December 13th, and all gliders listed are subject to prior sale.
Don’t miss out!
11/28/06
Falcon 3 145 Released
Wills Wing is happy to announce the release of the Falcon 3 145. The wingspan and area on the 145 have been increased slightly over that of the Falcon 2 140, reducing the gap in glider size between the 145 and 170 sizes, and enhancing the glider’s performance when flown at pilot weights higher in the weight range. The Falcon 3 145 features the short pack airframe, and will break down for transport or storage to 71 inches. Expected delivery for Falcon 3 145’s ordered now is early January.
Hook In Weight 120 – 190 lbs. Optimum pilot body weight 110 – 140 lbs.

11/26/06
New WW Clothing – Just in Time For the Holidays!
Just in time for the holidays comes our new line of clothing. As usual, quanitities are limited, so place your order soon!
We have a slightly wild tie-dye flame t-shirt, colorful polos, camisoles for the ladies, a knit cap and scarf, and more.

11/21/06
Streamlined Basetube Skids
In response to popular demand, Wills Wing has developed slide on protectors for the aluminum streamlined basetube.
15J-2201 STREAMLINED BASETUBE SKID EA $10.50
These protective skids are machined from high density Delrin, and are designed to provide maximum clearance for the bastube with minimum addition of weight and drag. They slide on with a snug fit, and remain in place to protect the bottom surface of the basetube from scratches and wear. They will now be standard on all new gliders that are equipped with streamlined basetubes, and are available for retro-fit. (Price is per each – requires two.)

11/16/06
New T2 Images With UVM10T
Photographer Jeff O’Brien recently sent us some great shots of pilots Dave Gibson and Jeff Shapiro flying T2s at Point of the Mountain, Utah. These images give a good look at the optional UVM10T top surface material. We liked the photos so much we’re using a couple of them on the T2 page.
Thanks Jeff!

11/13/06
Wills Wing Spring ’07 Demo Days and Scooter Tow Seminars
The 10th annual Wills Wing Demo Days and party at Wallaby Ranch will be held April 16th – 21st, 2007.
Come help us celebrate 34 years in the hang gliding business with demos, seminars and parties.

We’ll also be having Demo Days at Florida Ridge April 12th – 14th, before the Florida Ridge Competition, which is scheduled for April 15th – 22nd.

Blue Sky Scooter Tow Instruction Wills Wing is sponsoring scooter towing seminars with Blue Sky’s Steve Wendt during both Demo Days sessions. These programs are free to instructors who are interested in learning this great teaching method. If you would like to come learn how to scooter tow, please contact Rob at Wills Wing so we know how many instructors and pilots to plan for.

See our Calendar page for details.
Please come and join us!

11/06/06
Award Winning Film Features Wills Wing T2
“Wings – A Rio de Janeiro Dream” by Sylvestre Campe and Nader Couri, features Nader flying his Wills Wing T2 over Rio and around the Christ the Redeemer statue that looks over the city. The footage is beautiful, intercut with shots of local people and some old-time flying, with an infectious, upbeat soundtrack as well. See the trailer at the film’s website.

10/26/06
New HG Color Viewer
Visualizing your new hang glider is easier than ever with our new color selector / inventory viewer. The new version features crisp vector graphics of the gliders’ top and bottom surfaces that are generated from the actual CAD drawings used to run our computer controlled sail-cutter. WW Webmaster Ken Howells has written the application for Adobe Flash 8; it loads and runs much more quickly than the original Java version and has more information presented in the interface. Try it out! Have some fun. We welcome your feedback.

10/18/06
Hang Gliding 2006 Fall Special
Wills Wing is happy to announce our 2006 Fall Hang Gliding Special:
Any (non-inventory) hang glider ordered from Wills Wing by an authorized Wills Wing dealer between October 18th and close of business (5 PM PST) November 17th, 2006 will be eligible for free customer choice of sail colors (in those panels which normally contain color – the customary extra charge for color in panels that are normally white will apply). That’s a retail value of $150.
Estimated delivery time on new custom color choice hang glider orders is now six weeks from date of order. Order now and you could have your new, custom color choice glider in time for the holidays!

10/09/06
Falcon 3 with NRG Systems Logos
A new Falcon 3 features logos from the NRG Systems company, which manufactures equipment for assessing the viability of producing wind energy at a given site. Putting their logos on a hang glider is a natural linkage.

10/06/06
T2 154 and Sport 2 135 are now HGMA Certified
The T2 154 and Sport 2 135 are now officially HGMA certified. (Remember, you can always check the current HGMA certification status of any glider at www.hgma.net )

09/25/06
New UV Resistant Mylar Sail Material Now Available
There is a new sail material available for T2’s (entire top surface or just panel #1) and U2’s (panel #1 only) that can be used in place of the normal PX10T Mylar sail cloth. The new “UVM10T” material is a specially treated Mylar composite, similar in structural properties to the standard PX10T Mylar material, but with a high degree of UV protection built in to the outer film via a high-pressure infusion process. This special treatment stops 90% of UV transmission through the top layer. There is also an additional UV barrier between the top surface film and the substrate. The result is a sail material expected to last a full 30% longer, at a minimum, than conventional Mylar sail material. Note that although the material is gray in color, this is not simply a cosmetically “smoked” conventional Mylar material. The specially infused film used in the making of this material is 20 times more expensive than the normal film used in Mylar sailcloth.
Item 01A-A31 – UVMT Upgrade P1 Only
Item 01A-A32 – UVMT Upgrade Complete Top Surface

09/25/06
T2 12mm Batten Upgrade Option
There is a new batten upgrade option available on the T2. This upgrade option can be ordered on any new T2 order, whether custom color choice or inventory glider, provided that the glider is not already assembled at the time of order. (Assembled inventory gliders will normally be listed on the web site inventory list with an available delivery date within one week of the last inventory list update date.)
The 12mm battens are very thin-wall – .018 inches (.45 mm) compared to .027 inches (.70mm) on the stock, 10mm battens. As a result, the upgrade saves a full pound on the weight of the glider and the handling is modestly, but noticeably lighter and quicker. The 12mm battens are also about 20% stiffer. Our competition pilots in the field report improved performance and stability with the 12mm battens. (One other consequence of the thin wall on the 12mm material is that they require special procedures and tooling to bend. They won’t easily go out of shape in the field, in fact they probably can’t be bent without being broken, and they’re quite strong, but you also will probably not be able to re-camber them to a different shape without breaking them. If you like to “play” with your battens, you’re probably better off with the 10mm battens.)
Item 01A-B11 – 12mm Batten Upgrade – T2

09/18/06
Optional Falcon 3 Short-pack Transport / Storage Container
12 April 2007 – Please See: Falcon 3 Short Pack Transport / Storage Containers Are HERE
The Falcon 3 can be broken down to a short pack length of seven feet (195), or six and a half feet (170) for transport, shipping or storage. Wills Wing will be offering an optional protective container, specially designed to provide maximum protection and transport convenience for your Falcon 3. The overall dimensions of the container allow shipping by most common carriers such as UPS, and allow you to check the glider as baggage on most airline flights.
The Deluxe Transport / Storage Container consists of a protective corrugated plastic box / liner inside of a heavy duty, ballistic cloth zippered bag. The entire glider – sail, airframe, battens and cover bags – fits inside the container. The internal box provides shape to the container, maintains the specific dimensions of the package and protects the airframe tubes of the glider from damage. The ballistic outer bag provides additional damage protection for the sail and airframe. A detailed set of instructions is included.
The Optional Deluxe Transport / Storage Containers can be ordered from your Wills Wing Dealer or direct from Wills Wing.

08/29/06
T2 Sweeps Brazilian Cambuquira Open
Pilots flying our T2 hang gliders finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the recently completed Cambuquira Open, the 2nd leg of the 2006 Brazilian Open. Our first place finisher, Leo ‘Maskara’ Dabbur, won both days of the meet!

Results – Cambuquira 2006

Congratulations Guys!

07/30/06
Falcon 3 World Record – Davis Straub, 205 Miles!
Davis Straub, flying a new Falcon 3 170 from Zapata, Texas, has set the new Single-Surface HG Open Distance record by flying 205 miles (330 km) on Saturday, 29 July, 2006.

Davis writes:

Thanks so much to Wills Wing for letting me borrow their great new Falcon 3 170. I felt that it was the right size even though at first I wanted a 195. Bo had a Falcon 1 195 last year and it was too big for him, although he weighs quite a bit less than me. The glider was a joy to fly … I was confident in all the thermals no matter how wild. I could whip it around without a problem. I was pushing out and flying at less than 19 mph.

07/28/06
T2’s and Talons Dominate 2006 Colombian Hang Gliding Nationals
Daniel Vélez Bravo writes:

I´m happy to announce to you that the 2006 Colombian Hang Gliding Nationals took place from the 16th to the 22nd of July and now are over.

We had more than 20 hang glider pilots on a good weather competition that ended up with 7 out of 7 flyable days, with small fast tasks of 45-50 km length average, with one long task of 78 km and one smaller one the last day, for the fun of it, of only 23 km.

Nevertheless, we all had a good time and definately things are getting better around here.

I must say that thankfully to the Wills Wing new gliders being around here, the new equipment and the nice weather, the spirit of free flight had a great outcome. You could actually see a new way of looking at the competition in all those pilots who were trying their new toys, and their level went up incredibly also.

This is my 5th National Championship win, and it wasn´t that easy… my friends are getting closer and closer and probably next year things won´t be certain until the last task.

Regarding the scores and how the Wills Wing gliders did, I’ll tell you the first 5 places:

The Colombian Dealer, Daniel Vélez, flying a Talon 140
Jorge Garcia, flying a new and fast T2 144
Juan Betancur, flying a Dacron Talon 140
Hector Corrales, flying a special edition T2 144 (one that he bought from Nene Rotor on the 2005 Quest Air Championship with full mylar option on the undersurface)
Alejandro Isaza, flying a new Dacron T2 154
Thanks for everything.

07/11/06
T2s 1st and 2nd in Finnish Championships
Vesa Lappalainen writes:

Flying Wills Wing T2 hang gliders, Antti Nummelin and Kari Suhonen took first and second place in the 2006 Finnish Championships. I was number two before the last day, but I made a few mistakes and dropped down to number 5 🙁

Kari Suhonen flew [his T2] to goal in all of the tasks that was possible to fly to goal (3 times).

This was Antti’s 6th Finnish Championship. The last time he was number one was in 1996.

All competitions in Finland in this year have gone to the T2. Kari Vuoppola won the Kauhajoki, and also Jamijarvi.

I won the first day in Kauhajoki, so actually from 7 competition days 6 have gone to the T2.

So the T2 has done quite well here in Finland.

06/28/06
Nene Rotor Wins Itamonte, 1st Leg of Brazilian Championships
Nene Rotor, flying a T2, has taken first place in the competition at Itamonte, Brazil. Itamonte is the first leg of the multi-meet program that determines the Brazilian champion. Nene reports that conditions were strong and turbulent for the most part, but even in the weak conditions of the first day he felt confident and placed well. ‘Maskara’ (Leonardo Dabbur) also had a strong 4th place finish with his T2.

Congratulations Guys!

06/23/06
160 Miles with a Sport 2
Kent Robinson writes:
Just came back from a week at Sandia. Flew 160 miles one day and 102 on another.
Love that Sport2.

The flights:
160 Miles – Sandia Crest to Tucumcari NM – June 10
102 Miles – Sandia Crest past Vaughn NM – June 17

05/22/06
T2 144 is now HGMA Certified
The T2 144 is now officially HGMA certified. (Remember, you can always check the current HGMA certification status of any glider at www.hgma.net )

Applications have also been submitted for the T2 154, and for the Sport 2 135, and we expect the HGMA review board to review those applications with the next few weeks.

05/13/06
T2 Wins First Austrian Competition of the Season
Wolfgang Siess, flying a Wills Wing T2 154, has won the 2006 Garstnertal Open – the opening competition in the 2006 Austrian season. Wolfi beat out a field of 21 other pilots, finishing nine minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.

05/08/06
Toshiyuki Katsura Wins 2006 Japan Nationals on T2 154
Toshiyuki Katsura, flying a Wills Wing T2 154, has won the 2006 Japan Nationals competition, held from April 29th through May 3rd. The competition included 60 to 100 km closed tasks with 1200 meter to 2000 meter cloudbases. Toshiyuki reported experiencing a distinct climb advantage on his T2, along with glide performance equal to the best of his competitors, and felt that the T2’s easy and comfortable handling characteristics were an important factor in his win.
Congratulations Toshi!

05/07/06
Wills Wing T2 Wins first round of British Open Hang Gliding Series
Graham Phipps (Phippsy) won two out of the three tasks at the first round of the British Open Hang Gliding Series in the UK. Flying a Wills Wing T2 144 he took the first day by a large margin, being the only pilot to cross the river Severn from Wales into England. Bruce Kavanagh, also on a T2, placed 2nd. On the second day Phippsy finshed 9th after a poor start on the race to goal, whilst Bruce did better, coming in 2nd again in a close fought race. The final task proved a tricky one, with no pilots making goal but Phippsy once again took the honours to regain the overall lead and win the competition. Bruce finished third overall making it a top result for Wills Wing with two T2s in the top three.
Phippsy reports that his T2 was going extremely well and he felt he had an overall advantage in glider performance and handling.

04/18/06
Wallaby Demo Days and Falcon 3 Release
We’re just back from our annual Wallaby Ranch Demo Days and Anniversary celebration. The demo days went very well – we were mostly blown out early in the week, but had great flying weather on Friday and Saturday – the two main days of the event. The party Saturday night was great, as always, and it was great to get a chance to re-connect with all of you who were able to make it down to join us. As usual, the entire staff at Wallaby was incredibly gracious and professional, and our very sincere thanks go to Malcolm and all of his people for hosting the event for us and doing such a great job.

The “big news” at Wallaby this year was our announcement of the release of the new Falcon 3. We had two prototype Falcon 3’s at Wallaby – one 170 and one 195 – and several people got the chance to fly them. The Falcon 3 is not yet in production – we probably have another few weeks of finalizing details on the Falcon 3 before we will be ready to start producing them. So while we are prepared to take orders at this time, we will not be able to estimate delivery dates until we are actually in production.

The Falcon 3 has many new features and upgrades, including improved hardware, a new sail cut, and a nose cone (it does not have curved tips), but probably the most significant feature for many will be the breakdown airframe. We are referring to this as a “breakdown option” only in the sense that you have the option, at any time, of breaking the glider down to the short pack length (about six feet for the 170, about seven feet for the 195). All the gliders will be made with the breakdown-capable frame, so you can elect to short pack the glider whenever you want to or circumstances dictate. The glider will also break down to the normal, 2/3 length shipping length, as it has in the past.

The retail price of the Falcon 3 will be $3375 – which is $200 more than the Falcon 2 price. The Falcon 3 will come equipped standard with round downtubes and a round, speedbar basetube – and this will be the only production configuration (i.e. all Falcon 3’s will be assembled and shipped in this configuration). However, the wire set on the Falcon 3 will be compatible with a Litestream control bar (i.e. you can install a Litestream bar without having to change any of the wires), and we will offer a complete Litestream bar (downtubes, basetube and all necessary brackets and fasteners) as an accessory for a special package price of $600 retail. You could thus switch from one control bar type to the other, whenever you want, in a matter of minutes.

The weight of the Falcon 3’s will be about one pound more, on each model, than the Falcon 2’s due to the breakdown feature. The handling is a little nicer in every way, the performance is noticeably improved and they are still very easy to fly for new pilots (or experienced pilots, for that matter). As was the case with the Falcon 2’s, the Falcon 3’s will carry weight a lot more effectively than the original Falcon 1’s, and have a substantially better L/D, so, for example, a 170 lb (body weight) pilot who would have chosen a Falcon 1 195 could instead fly the 170 size in the Falcon 3 and yet have a better sink rate and climb rate with a better glide ratio and much better glide at speed, and better handling, and a lighter weight glider to carry around.

Options for wheels on the Falcon 3 are, for the round speedbar basetube, either the 5″ Hall wheels, mounted on the basetube, or the 8″ Finster wheels mounted on the basetube. There is no option for outboard mounted wheels on the Falcon 3 (or any any glider, any longer, as per our previous announcement on this subject). For the Litestream bar, the wheel option is the Streamlined Wheel kit – there is no option at this time for larger wheels for the Litestream bar.

We don’t expect to have any information up on the web site for the Falcon 3 for awhile, so for the time being, this announcement and an info sheet that we have sent out to all the dealers contain all the information we have.

If you wish to order one now, and you want to select an inventory glider to save the custom color choice charge, we do have inventory gliders listed on the web site in the 170 and 195 sizes – although these are merely listings at this time of what the color selections will be, as we are not yet in production. See your Wills Wing dealer if you wish to place an order.

04/18/06
Airwave Coming to the Rat Race
Markus Villinger and Bruce Goldsmith of Airwave will be coming to the U.S. to attend the RAT RACE competition at Woodrat Mountain, Oregon (May 30th – June 3rd, 2006 – see http://www.ratracecomp.com/ for more details on the comp). They will have the Magic 4’s and the Magic FR2’s with them, so if you’re interested in checking out these gliders, this is your best opportunity to do so, and to get all the inside information on all the Airwave products straight from the factory guys themselves.

04/10/06
Colorful Custom U2
A new U2 destined for Canadian skies features a colorful asymmetric inlay.

03/27/06
Talon on Display at Fort Smith Airshow
Arkansas pilot Mike Kelsey, of Ouachita Mountains Hang Gliding, recently led a group of pilots with an informational HG display at the Fort Smith Airshow.

Mike says:
My Talon and booth were set up right in amongst the big jets. Drew quite a bit of interest. We distributed USHGA info and local club info. I have a photo of my Talon set up at the air show with the Thunderbirds flying in formation overhead.

The Three Pilots in the Photo are from left to right Kevin who flies a WW Eagle, Allen who flies a WW Falcon, and myself, Mike, with my Talon in the background.

We made a lot of good contacts and are hoping some of these people contact our local instructors.

Did you know that our local Oklahoma Pilot won the 2005 Ouachita Mountains Hang Gliding Series flying a U2? … Now I have Roy worried as he thinks I will have an advantage with my Talon.

Thanks for your support.
[Note: WW sent Mike replacement #2 batten tips, as his got ground down on the tarmac at the airshow]

Thanks for taking your time to promote our sport, guys!

03/20/06
Parachute Packing Inspection Advisory
A potential problem with parachute packing that could delay or prevent a proper deployment has come to our attention recently. Please see the following Technical Bulletin for further information:
TB20060320: Free Flight Parachute Packing Inspection.

03/10/06
Scooter Towing, an Easy Way To Learn To FLY!
Rob discusses Scooter Towing, a newly popular method for teaching hang gliding. A stationary, low-powered scooter, with a reel of rope in place of the rear wheel, is used to tow a student and hang glider at low speeds over flat ground. The advantages over doing the early parts of pilot training on a low hill are numerous, and include being able to train whatever the wind direction, low stress, low fatigue and lots of quick practice to reinforce skills.
02/27/06
Dustin Martin Wins Millennium Cup on T2 144
Dustin Martin has won the recently completed 2006 Millennium Cup in Valle De Bravo, Mexico on his T2 144. Dustin beat out a strong local field that also included Canadian ace Brett Hazlett, flying a new Moyes Litespeed S3.5. Dustin reported that his 2005 vintage T2 was gliding equally with the best of the other gliders and seemed to have a measurable climb advantage.
Congratulations Dustin!

01/17/06
Falcon Number Three Thousand
A Falcon 2 195 recently ordered by Lookout Mountain Flight Park became the 3000th Falcon that Wills Wing has sold since the start of the Falcon model line. The Falcon was originally released in May of 1994, in the 195 size, followed by the 140, 170 and 225 sizes early in the following year. In 2002, the Falcon 2 in four sizes, and the purpose-built Falcon Tandem replaced the original Falcons. Since its release, the Falcon has consistently been Wills Wing’s most popular model, and has introduced an entire generation of new hang glider pilots to the joys of soaring flight.

01/11/06
Johan Anderson Flies WW T2 to Victory in South African Nationals
The South African HG National Championships have just been flown -six full tasks were completed over seven days.

Johan Anderson, flying a Wills Wing T2, finished over 600 points ahead of second placed pilot Anton Brown flying an Aeros Combat. Johan ‘smoked’ the opposition to win outright on four of the six days and place second on the other two.

Congratulations Johan!