Sport 3

I am extremely happy with the glider.  The Sport 3 arrived in Pittsburg last Monday, Pete test flew it on Wednesday and I had my first flight on Saturday.  Wow!  To say the least, I can’t say enough about the quality of its workmanship and performance!  I spent Thursday and Friday getting used to its set up and break down as well as taking a close look at everything and I’m impressed.  I believe I looked at every visible sail stitch and not one of them remotely looked out of place!

After a 30 year layoff, I returned to the sport of Hang Gliding in the summer of 2017. Back in the “day”, I was a fairly competent pilot (one of a few that flew 100+ miles at Lookout Mountain), and remember my last Wills Wing glider being the big HPII monster.

When I returned in the summer, I was amazed at the performance and light weight of the Sport 2c. After a couple mountain flights on a Falcon to get reacquainted with flying, I purchased a beautiful new Sport 2C. Nothing but strong raves about how it performed, especially compared to the gliders of the 80’s.

As most pilots do, I was chomping to purchase a new glider again in the winter of 2018, and was thinking of moving to a U2C. After a quick email to Steve Pearson with lots of questions about the U2C, he said “be patient, and hang on”. A few weeks later, I noticed the beginnings on social media of a Sport 3, and found a clone of my Sport 2 being manufactured. I was definitely interested, and pushed to have the glider delivered to Lookout after Wills Wing Demos days at Wallaby Ranch in March.

During the first week of April, 2018, Wills Wing brought the glider (as well as a few others) to Lookout for a few days of spectacular flying.

My first flight was a 25 minute mountain launch scratching close to the ridge. My first impression? Amazing handling and tremendously less bar pressure. I bought it immediately.

The second day brought some special conditions. Set up was identical to the Sport 2, so nothing new there. What was new? After a light wind launch, conditions turned on dramatically, with cloud base 7,000 AGL, and some fairly significant strong thermals. I immediately noticed how easy the handling was on the S3, and how the VG played a much bigger improvement in performance with a broader range.

With a cloud street setting up from Lookout to the Sequatchie Valley, I was intrigued about going upwind with a 10 knot headwind and doing something I never did back in the 80’s; a flight from Lookout upwind to Henson’s Gap. I had several “milk run” flights the other way, but never went upwind. Until now.

I was amazed at the difference in glide performance between the S2 and S3, and with the improved handling and VG range, I was on my way to a special upwind flight of 33 miles on only my 2nd flight on the S3. The flight upwind is very intimating, since there are few to any landing fields crossing the river gorge and plateau to Henson’s. However, with the performance and handling of the new S3, there was never a doubt in my mind. What a machine!

I have since flown 60+ hours in the six months I have owned the S3, and can’t imagine any other glider on the market that provides the handling, performance, light weight, and just flat out fun of the S3. My 62 year old bones definitely appreciate this glider!

Flying the Sport 3 during the competition at El Peñon classic race against the U2C 145 and U2C 160 was a very interesting challenge. I was competing against Daniel Velez. He is very similar weight as me and we have been competing against each other and we have very similar level.
The Sport 3 155 at 65 km/h during transitions was doing very well against the U2C 145. The U2C 160 I noticed that had a little better performance at 65 km/h In a 5 km glide. I would be a little behind but I could climb a bit faster, so I realized that my advantage was the climb rate and the handling. At higher speeds like 85 or 95 km/h I could not beat Daniel or the U2s. I believe that a pilot that weights 85 kg with a competition Sport 3 155 will be almost better than flying a U2 145.
That handling on Sport 3 155 is amazing and it really makes a difference flying with the raked tips.