Dealer E-News #135 : : 05272002

GENERAL NEWS:

Brauniger Flight Instruments: New Galileo With GPS

The Galileo is the ultimate flight instrument for competition, cross-country and record flying. It’s lighter and has less drag than the currently available instrument pods that carry the Vario and GPS together.

Our first shipment of Galileos will arrive in June, and will be metric. In the near future free software will be available over the internet that will allow you to change it to imperial units. We expect to get imperial (feet) units by July.

We had a prototype to fly with for a few weeks. The vario in the unit is very sensitive!

Brauniger Versus Flytec Comparison

The Brauniger IQ Comp GPS features a back-up battery, MacCready Speed-To-Fly, Total Energy Compensation, and Digital Glide Ratio, none of which are available from Flytec. Click here for a features comparison of the Brauniger Varios with comparable models from Flytec.

A Few Used Garmins For Sale

(Includes Manual and Cable)

(1) Garmin GPS 12 Maps (Ideal for competition documentation)

$270 dealer, Suggested retail $364

(1) Garmin GPS 12XL $220 dealer, $295 Suggested Retail

Demo and Meeting Dates

June 18th, Wings of Rogallo Meeting (Bay Area)

June 21-23rd Bay Area Demos

For Paraglider demo schedule contact:

Merlin flight School
(415) 456-3670
E-mail: tipvortex@thegrid.net
http://www.merlinflightschool.com/

Mission Soaring
(408) 262-1055
E-mail: mission@hang-gliding.com
http://www.hang-gliding.com/

Talon Stolen from Modesto California area on Mother’s Day

They stole Dan Fleming’s car, took his glider, (all white 160 Talon #37063) harness, (Z-4 black / white with 22 FFE PDA, and tools, then set fire to his car! Any information will be appreciated. Dan Fleming (559) 435-3596

HANG GLIDING NEWS:

Talons for 2002

After a lot of development and wide ranging experiments, we’ve settled on the basic configuration for the Talons for this year. The production 2002 Talon 140’s and 150’s being made at this time sport a significantly improved sail design, and several new features which are immediately apparent, including an extended tip chord and an extended double surface which fairs in the hang loop, enhanced handling and slow speed capabilities, and improved L/D across the speed range. The Talon 160 sail cut was updated in January, and while the 160 does not have the bottom surface hang loop fairing, it does enjoy significantly enhanced flying characteristics as compared to the original 160’s.

Many of you read in The Oz Report about one of the developmental experiments we conducted at Wallaby – a variable reflex system. This system showed some considerable promise, but would require a significantly more refined execution in order to be viable on a production glider. A number of other, less visible experiments were also being conducted at the same time, and while none of these will see production at this time, we will continue to work on these and other ideas as we continue to refine and develop the Talon for the future.

Flight Results On the Talon 2002’s

Nene Rotor placed 4th on a 2002 Talon 140 at the Wallaby Nationals against a very competitive field. He was delighted with the improvements. Perhaps more incredible was WW designer Steve Pearson’s performance at Wallaby, placing 21st after 15 years away from competition! Nene, Steve, Scott Angel and Rob all flew the 2002 Talon 140s in the meet, so we had an excellent opportunity to evaluate it. It really GOES!

Talons place 1st, 2nd, and 4th in Torrey Pines Air Races!

The Torrey race results again indicate a significant increase in performance on the 2002 Talon vs. the 2001 model.

Our thanks to Dave, Maya, and Gabriel Jebb for sponsoring the races. If you haven’t flown Torrey in a while, you should. The Jebb family has done an amazing job with the site. Amenities such as a grassy set up area, a café with great food, and a nice pro shop make this a must fly site.

The photo above shows Rob Kells and Scott Angel at the Torrey Air Races launch. Photo by W. A. Roecker.

1st-Rob Kells-Talon 2002 140

2nd- Scott Angel-Talon 140

3rd-Ken Brown-Lightspeed 146

4th-Mitch McAleer-Talon 150

Demo / Comp Talons for Sale!

We have a few demo and competition Talons available at very attractive prices. The older the glider, the lower the price. This reflects the constant improvements that Steve has been making to the glider.

Welcome Carlos Bessa to the WW Team

Carlos has worked with us on the distribution of the Rotor harnesses. Everyone who has been to Wallaby knows him as an excellent pilot, at both ends of the towline. We are proud that Carlos has chosen to compete on a Wills Wing glider in the upcoming comps!

Release of the Falcon Tandem

We had the chance to thoroughly evaluate the new Falcon Tandem glider at Wallaby on a fixed wheel set. We flew it with hook-in weights from 180, all the way up to 500 pounds! The Falcon Tandem does not exhibit the spiral instability seen on most previous tandem gliders when the payload goes over 400 pounds.

Ken Howells and Rob foot launched and landed it in nil wind at 440 pounds. The glider rounds out and glides in ground effect, rather than requiring a dive at the ground and an almost immediate flare like the Falcon 225 did. Unlike the Falcon 225, the Fly 2, and Double Vision there is no “wall” in the flare. The glider flares easily… almost like a Falcon flown solo.

Michael Robertson of High Perspective has been making his living for years teaching hang gliding, and has thousands of tandems on all the available commercial tandem gliders. Michael flew the glider tandem at Wallaby and did some mid-day soaring. His thoughts, “If I can’t buy this one, please make me one just like it as soon as possible.”

 Falcon Tandem Features:

• Suggested retail is $3675. Normal dealer discounts apply
• 230 square feet of sail area with heavy-duty Hydranet cloth in the trailing edge panel
• 1.25″ downtubes and base tube with large AT fittings
• Large AT 68 + 8 inch base tube
• Very stiff 6061 leading edges
• Flatter, tighter sail
• Full mylar pocket
• Spring battens

Falcon 2 Feedback

We’ve had a lot of very positive feedback on the new Falcon 2’s. Their lower stall speed, improved handling, climb rate, and weight carrying ability make them a great improvement over the original Falcons. Remember that with pilots in the weight range overlap, you can take advantage of these attributes, stepping down to the smaller size and gaining the advantages of lighter glider weight, quicker handling, and improved glide performance at speed. On the training hill, this can be especially advantageous, where going to a smaller and lighter glider can vastly improve ground handling, launching and landing characteristics.

 Delivery Times

Delivery times on custom orders are running at about six weeks. We have a limited selection of inventory available for quicker delivery, but as the season goes forward, the inventory levels are getting lower. Time to order a few gliders!

New Rotor VULTO Harness

Nene Rotor has designed an improved version of the Rotor Kick Ass he calls VULTO. (It means shadow, or hard to see in Portuguese)

The VULTO retains the innovative lever above the butt for pitch adjustment.

The external side-mount Rotor Kickass will still be available for the more cost conscious pilots.

NEW Rotor Vulto Features:

• 2.5 inch wider back plate that extends further forward to support the shoulder straps, backplate is shallower for cleaner frontal profile
• Right side mounted faired parachute container
• Left side Radio pocket / storage, filled with removable foam to fair the pilot’s arms
• Hook knife pocket
• LOTS of internal storage with room for a glider bag, harness bag, ties your camel back, and more. Both sides of the harness are accessible for storage for the full length of the harness to smooth out the sides behind the right side mounted parachute and the left side foam radio pocket, PLUS all the storage in the back found in the original Rotor
• Great comfort with a really clean look!

We hope to have a Rotor Vulto web page up soon, complete with pictures and specifications.

Inventory Rotor Harness Sale Changes

Effective immediately we are discontinuing the $200 retail discount on inventory Rotor harnesses. However there are still discounted prices on certain individual harnesses, in some cases even lower than the previous sale price.

Some internal ‘chute Rotors are available for as little as $416.50!

Used Rotors on the web Retail $595-$695 with a 30% dealer discount. Click here for the updated Rotor Inventory List.

PARAGLIDING NEWS:

Airwave Sport Places 1st and 4th in Serial Class Races

Congratulations to Josh and Bob!

Torrey Pines Results

Serial Class Paragliders DHV 1-2 :

Mitch McAleer: News And Comments

Wills Wing sent me to the Free Flight Expo in Garmisch Germany last month, and I was able to visit the Swing and Airwave headquarters.

I have taken what I learned at Airwave and Swing and updated the paraglider inspection process. The line strength test now replaces all inboard main lines on one side and breaks each of the original lines noting the breaking strength of each line on the report.

In addition, Wills Wing now offers replacement lines to dealers and / or end users free of charge for small orders of replacement lines. Airwave and Swing paraglider owners can email or call in the model, size, and line designation code from their manual, and replacement lines will go out Priority Mail usually the same day. Gunter Worl at Swing told me this was one of their more endearing service policies to make sure pilots get back in the air as soon as possible.

The Swing Astral 3 is now available for demo. I have about an hour on the 26 in moderate thermals at Marshall Peak and liked it very much; it goes really fast, has great stability with lots of speedbar, handles and launches nice, gets a killer sink rate, and feels like a Swing glider. It feels and looks like a natural progression from the Arcus to the Mistral 2 to the Astral 3 – it’s a lot faster, slightly more active, handles quick and light, and feels just as solid at speed.

The Mistral 2 has been great fun to fly. I’ve made a couple of test flights at at Marshall Peak running back to Crestline, over to Pine Flats and back, fearing no thermal and feeling really comfortable. There’s no problem climbing to the top of the gaggle over launch. The Mistral 2 has great low-end performance and a comfortable ride. It feels really solid and doesn’t need a lot of maintenance in strong lift.

The Arcus 2002 goes great with the new cloth, it’s still the same great glider. The Swing idea was to leave it the way it is because it’s still as good as anything in it’s class, “If it isn’t broken …”

Wills Wing’s focus is on the DHV 1-2 gliders but I had to ask about the competition gliders while I was there. Swing is proud of their new Stratus 4. Some early season competition results show it’s a match for any of the top competition wings. I’d love to get one in, if there are any serious competition pilots out there who want something different, give me a call, I will help to get a Stratus 4 at a good price.

All Swing gliders ordered from April on are made with the new Perseverance cloth on the upper surface. This cloth is a 44gm/meter silicon/polyurethane-coated nylon, and is projected to have roughly double the life of the standard urethane-coated fabrics. It feels light, doesn’t suck up the dust, and has great performance. The small 2mm rip-stop weave helps with bias stability. Swing completed exhaustive testing on many new fabrics and chose the best stuff available, and actually bought out the entire Perseverance production for at least a couple years.

The Airwave shop has been busy working on DULF certification for the Explorer paramotor glider based on the Sport design. This will be an awesome paramotor wing with the speed and agility of the Sport; it will be great fun and great performing paramotor wing.

The Sport S is now certified. It is targeted at the 100 to 140 pound pilot. Recommended weights including all gear and the glider 143-187.

The Airwave Sport won the Torrey Pines Air Races in the Serial class. Josh Meyer of Airtek Paragliding in San Diego piloted the Sport L undefeated in 1-on-1-style racing, and turned in the lowest cumulative elapsed time, in light to moderate conditions. All the top lines were there, piloted by some great pilots.
—Mitch McAleer

Be sure to check our website for any news or updates not mentioned here. We’re constantly making updates, changes, and doing our best to make the website more functional. Let us know how you like it.

That’s all for now. Please fly safely,
The Wills Wing Crew