Wills Wing Sport 3 Review

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The Oz Report
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Wills Wing Sport 3 Review

Post by The Oz Report »

<div id="1595895016"><i>Aaron Swepston</i><br><p>Aaron writes:</p><p class="BN">After spending some time getting used to how the Wills Wing Sport 3 flies, as well as discussing the characteristics with others who have flown them, I felt compelled to write up my impressions about it. I have always been a fan of the glider reviews that Dennis Pagen would do for Hang Gliding magazine, and I always put a lot of stock in what he would present. This won't be in that same vein, however, because there's only one Dennis Pagen, and I am not him. These are my own personal impressions.</p><p class="BN">Full disclosure; I have been a Wills Wing dealer for a long time now, and I love selling people new gliders, but only if I believe that the new glider will be an asset to their flying. Also, I am not a typical pilot in that I don't fly with instruments and prefer a more tactile and intuitive sensory style of flying, which will become a little more clear throughout this review.</p><p class="BN">I have sold a number of Sport 2's over the years, and as such I have had the pleasure (and responsibility) of test flying them to make sure that they were well tuned and ready to go for customers so that they could hook right into them without any glider related issues to sort out while transitioning to the new wing. Typically nothing needs to be done to tune gliders straight form the factory, but occasionally there is a bit of a turn that needs to be straightened, or the trim needs to be adjusted, but that's fairly standard for most new gliders. Modern gliders are manufactured to such tight tolerances these days that gliders come out very consistently, and so that makes test flying much easier than in decades past.</p><p class="BN">But flying the Sport 3 has been a bit different. I had a conversation with Steve Pearson quite a while back about the 135 Sport 3, and I was saying that were I to get one as my own personal glider, I'd likely get the 135. I told him that I preferred it over the 155 because it handled incredibly well, like a toy, and that even at its smaller size it had a great sink rate compared to other gliders that I would be competing with at our local sites. If I could stay up during a mid day flush, while others sunk out, I attributed it to the superior handling that allowed me to more precisely negotiate the light lift, and yet still maintain a sink rate that would make that light lift survivable. Steve seemed to disagree with my preference, although not my opinion of the little Sport.</p><p class="BN">Then we got a Sport 3 demo, in the 155 size. This glider changed my mind completely about the model line as a whole. Previously I felt that the Sport 2 155 was a bit large for my weight, and a bit too docile for my preference. By docile I mean that the handling was a bit too soft and not as snappy as I would have wanted from a mid range glider, and that the trim seemed to be a bit on the slow side, which again would tend to make the glider feel a bit spongey. Which is why I liked the snappiness of the smaller size. But the Sport 3 155 seemed to have more than a few refinements which I can't really speak of in great detail because Wills Wing doesn't always spell out every little tweak and nip/tuck that they do between various models. I can describe my observations, however.</p><p class="BN">The Sport 3 sail is the first thing anyone will notice that is different. The top surface is immaculately clean and smooth. The diagonal creases that ran from the end of the tip wand to the end of the leading edge that were characteristic of the Sport 2 series are gone. The new tips are clean, smooth, and beautiful. I really love a clean sail, and the Sport 3 doesn't disappoint. The bottom surface has also been cleaned up a lot. In general, most gliders have always had a “soft” area on the bottom surface around the crossbar to leading edge junction, even with VG tight. Frequently the bottom surface would also be soft out near the tip, as well. No more. When the VG is pulled progressively tighter, the bottom surface of the Sport 3 also gets progressively cleaner, and once the VG is about 3/4 tight, the bottom has become smooth and clean and quiet. By quiet, I mean devoid of movement which can be felt as a sort of tactile “noise” in the basetube. I'll describe that in a bit.</p><p class="BN">The bottom surface has been expanded rearward to enclose the single sprog inside the sail, as opposed to the narrower bottom surface that allowed the sprog to extend out of the rear of the bottom surface into the airflow. Now the bottom of the glider is smooth and clean from the leading edge to the trailing edge, with no protrusions or excess material to disrupt the airflow and create drag. Drag negatively impacts performance, and cleaning up drag can improve performance across the speed range, particularly at higher speeds.</p><p class="BN">Overall, the Sport 3 still maintains the moderate aspect ratio planform that it always has, but within that platform it has become cleaner, smoother, and even tighter and flatter at the upper range of the VG settings. Part of that is due to the sail refinements, but also due to the addition of a second reflex bridle cable per side, which allows for a lower sprog setting. Pitch stability is consistent with the Sport 2's single bridle line per side and higher sprog settings, but with a flatter, lower twist configuration that improves glide performance as well as pitch pressure while gliding.</p><p class="BN">Dennis Pagen would normally talk about setup and breakdown, and what a glider's hardware is like, but by now most people are pretty familiar with Wills Wing's hardware, so there's no need to go on about that. These gliders are statically well balanced and are easy to ground handle and launch. There are no surprises with launch and landing. Their light weight makes it easy to get the glider moving down the launch slope, and they don't have any strange or annoying tendencies to pitch up while standing in a wind on launch. Launching is easy, perhaps the easiest of any of the current Wills Wing models to date. Falcons are super easy to launch, but in a wind they have a bit more of a positive pitch tendency which can make it a bit more difficult to keep the nose down comfortably in increasing winds. The Sport 3 is extremely easy to manage in no winds or even higher winds.</p><p class="BN">So after the easy launch, how does it fly? I can dig deep into the handling characteristics, and will, but in a single sentence I will say that it is pure fun. This is where I describe the tactile and intuitive aspect that defines my own flying style which translates to glider preferences. As I said, I don't fly with instruments. That means no vario, no altimeter, nothing. In order to work lift, I need to feel it, sense it, and work it without the assistance of a beeping vario to tell me I'm in lift. I also have to be able to tell when I'm in lift, sink, or simply turbulence. In order to fly this way, it helps dramatically to have a glider that responds to the changes in the air, the textural differences taht we could see if there were smoke in the air, and which we can sense if our gliders act as a sensitive and reliable interface between us and the air. Sounds esoteric, and those dependent on varios always like to debate such concepts, but such debates can be had at another time.</p><p class="BN">Because I fly with no instruments, I want a glider that I can feel connected to. Like a good set of skiis, or a favorite airbrush, or a custom guitar, or any other tool that we might have that fits so well that we don't have to think about using it to make it do what we want it to do. Such pieces of equipment have to feel just right in order for people to get beyond the mechanical aspects of operating them and just “doing” what they want to do with them. This difficult to define quality is what I have absolutely loved about the T2 and now the T3, but it also exists abundantly in the Sport 3. Let me try to explain. This might be hard.</p><p class="BN">When entering an area of lift, the air is not simply static around that area, with a clear cut shear boundary where beyond that the air is moving straight up. The air is a fluid medium, and lift moves upwards, outwards, shifting, swirling, sometimes rotating, and demonstrating a fair bit of dynamic behavior. Watch steam or smoke stacks rising to see how complex all the eddies and vortices and currents move around. The influence of a thermal extends well beyond its actual upward rising mass, and until we actually get into air that is rising faster than our sink rate, we get no audible signal of lift. Unless of course you're using something configured more complexly than the average vario is. One thing that helps me with thermaling is to know where the thermal is, to the left or the right. A glider that is sensitive to up, down, sideways, and swirling air helps to point to where the thermal is, which gives a clue as to which way to turn to go find it. The same applies to defining the core of the thermal. Without a vario beeping to tell me the variations in vertical speed, I depend on the glider to indicate if I have more lift on the right than the left, and vice versa.</p><p class="BN">So sensitivity is key to successfully mapping out what the air is doing, but balance is equally if not more key to managing that feedback. I have flown gliders that tend towards roll unstable, where once they are banked tend to bank even more, which then requires more effort to halt the banking and to unbank them if it is turbulence induced. Similarly, I have flown gliders that have transient trim, where if I encounter turbulence or sink, the nose can drop and remain down at a lower angle of attack even if the speed is increasing. That kind of glider seems to be happy with varying trim positions in different types of air, which can be uncomfortable on the one hand, and also make it hard to define what is air texture and what is glider behavior. I prefer gliders that have very distinct and consistent behavior, so that wherever I am feeling is then attributable to the air texture. Roll neutral, so that once tipped the gliders don't tend to want to keep banking steeper, and yet also will remain banked in a thermal without constantly low siding to keep it there. And pitch trim distinct so that if the bar comes back and stays back, then I know I am in increasingly poor quality air, sink, or the over the falls area of a thermal. A glider that is well balanced in both roll neutrality and pitch consistency, combined with enough sensitivity to transmit all the variations of air texture is what makes for a beautifully flying glider for me, and makes it a dream to fly without instruments.</p><p class="BN">The T2, and now the T3, both have these qualities built in. I love flying them, and taking advantage of the top of the line performance that they deliver. Higher speed gliding, aerobatics (which I absolutely love!), top of the line glide ratio and reach, and the handling behavior mentioned above are what has had me loving the T series gliders for what, a decade and a half now? But the T series gliders are comp gliders, and being comp gliders are definitely not for every pilot. A lot of pilots get them for the performance, thinking that it will put them on equal ground with other top pilots, allowing them to get as high and go as far. That's not necessarily the case, and too many pilots get comp gliders when they would be better served all around with a mid range glider like the Sport series.</p><p class="BN">Which brings us back to the Sport 3. The Sport 3 is more sensitive than the comp series gliders, so it provides more feedback. It's also more responsive, which means that once you receive that feedback you can respond quicker and take advantage of even smaller, more localized patches of lift. It also means that when launching or landing, if you get tossed around by turbulence, you can get on it faster and maintain a more defined and desired path around and into the landing area. As disconcerting as it is to get a big turbulent bump while banked up from base to final, it's very reassuring to know that you can immediately counter that upset with rapid and predictable handling. That translates to less stress and more fun.</p><p class="BN">In my honest opinion, the Sport 3 is an awesome glider. Technically it has maintained every bit of friendliness as its predecessor, being light weight and easy to launch and land, and handles quickly and predictably. But beyond that, it has incorporated features and refinements seen on the comp gliders to make it cleaner and more efficient. In other words, the Sport 3 is as easy and fun to fly with the VG loose and at slower speeds, but with the VG tight and at higher speeds it is definitely more competitive with higher performance gliders. The useable envelope has been expanded from the Sport 2 to the Sport 3, which is not often seen these days.</p><p class="BN">I wanted to really test out the wing before giving any in depth commentary on it, and I have been doing just that. I have been flying it in the same conditions and with the same goals as I have with the T series gliders. I have found that I can climb at least as well as I can with the T gliders, and with noticeably less effort expended. The quick, sweet handling makes navigating thermals quite pleasant and less tiring. It slows down quite well, and floats beautifully in lift. On the faster side, when the VG is pulled tighter, it glides remarkably well, although to be fair it does not hold its glide as well as the T gliders at high speeds. That's to be expected, of course, BUT it does maintain an incredibly respectable glide that to me is unexpected. In fact, I have been pleasantly surprised at how good the glide is with VG 3/4 to full on. It cruises, and one of the best improvements to the Sport 3 is that the bar pressure has been lightened up within the range from trim to just beyond best glide. One thing that always bugs me is having to hold X number of pounds of pressure on the basetube when going on a long glide. Holding a penny out at arms length for a few minutes makes the penny seem really heavy. Similarly holding the bar in for best glide, or faster when penetrating a headwind, can get annoying after a few minutes, but WW has managed to make that process a lot more pleasant by reducing the pitch pressure within the normal range of glide speeds.</p><p class="BN">My conclusion is that the Sport 3 is probably the best all around recreational glider Wills Wing has ever made. It definitely owns the ladder rung when stepping up from a single surface glider like the Falcon, being light weight and easy to manage. And it has an amazing ability to climb with or at times better than any other wing. And with a very effective VG range it is not even close to being a slouch with its reach. I think this is it. A really awesome, fun, all around glider that so far I have not seen any downsides to. How weird is that?</p><p class="BN"><img border="0" src="../pub/images/116154250_10158343945084070_7033903962247159558_o.jpg" width="640" height="368" style="width:auto;height:auto;max-width:100%"></p></div>
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Aeropilot
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Post by Aeropilot »

Thanks for writing up a good comprehensive review on the WW S3 155. I own an early production dacron sail S3 155 and couldn't agree more with your findings. I'm considering a new one next year for the latest refinements to the sail and airframe.
Jay Z
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Post by Jay Z »

Everyone's flying style is different, but I really must disagree with Aaron when he repeatedly extols the virtues of a glider's "sensitivity," "responsiveness," and "feedback."

What some call sensitivity, I call twitchiness. A glider that feels every bump is one that requires constant corrections and is scary to fly in turbulent air.

I prefer gliders that don't easily get bumped off-kilter, wings that power through turbulence like the Death Star through the Cosmos. They may take more effort to initiate a turn, but they enable me to be much more relaxed in rough air. If you don't get bumped off course, you don't ever have to make those corrections.

If you're a turbulence sissy like me, you may want to re-think getting a glider that is "sensitive."
Entelin
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Post by Entelin »

Jay Z wrote:They may take more effort to initiate a turn, but they enable me to be much more relaxed in rough air. If you don't get bumped off course, you don't ever have to make those corrections.
Between different body types, glider sizes, wing loading, and flying styles (use of vg, airspeeds, thermaling style and so on), I think it's really hard to communicate these things as they almost become subjective. He was pointing at the T2/T3 and S3 as being examples of what he's talking about. Would you agree with that? What gliders do you believe represent the virtues you are writing about here? I'm not sure that a glider that takes more effort to turn necessarily takes more turbulence to get turned…
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Pat Halfhill
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Post by Pat Halfhill »

I went from a t2c 154 to a sport 3 170. I love my T2c, the sink rate is incredible and made me feel like i was cheating. I unfortunately tore a rotator cuff in spring of 18. I bought the Sport as a rehab kite. I was worried that I would lose that edge that I had with the sink rate. I was so happy that I did not have that problem. It definitely flies differently. At my hook in, I thought that I preferred the T2. Now that I have 30 hrs on it I really like it and landing in our tight LZ's is much less stressfull.
Joel
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Post by Joel »

It seems like the manufacturers are making an effort to improve handling in the latest generation of gliders. In this OZ report, Krzy is praising his RX Pro, obviously Aaron is impressed by the new Wills offerings, and there are several recent Laminars at Ft.Funston whose pilots speak highly of. I gather the value proposition of a T3 over a T2C is primarily handling rather than performance? I love my 2017 T2C and 2016 S2, both spectacular hang gliders. I could always use nicer handling though. S2 is maybe a bit looser than I need, and T2C can feel a tad stiff. I'm not sure what I'm really wanting, I guess a T2C-like glider with the same rock-solid stability but lower roll-pressure and faster roll rate. Push out! /jd
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BilleFly
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Post by BilleFly »

Joel wrote: …
I guess a T2C-like glider with the same rock-solid stability but lower roll-pressure and faster roll rate.
Push out! /jd
YEA --- Don't know about the faster roll rate part , but they Do build a glider , kinda like
what you want ; it's called the ATOS . More stable, with better L/D than the T2C ; three
hours of flying, and your arms don't get tired !!!

They are a bit spendy, though. :(

Bile
GOOD RUSH !!!
Joel
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Post by Joel »

>>it's called the ATOS
Yeah, I'd like to try one of those. I'm really impressed by them!

>>I went from a t2c 154 to a sport 3 170.
I flew a Sport3 170, after Jonathan Deitch (sp?) described how their flying envelope was compatible with PGs, but with the advantages of being an HG. I personally thought that Falcon 195 did a better job for this. But I was hanging at the middle CG point. I wonder if I had moved it back to slow the glider down, if I could have floated up with the PGs better. Pat, where is your hang point set?

>>value proposition of a T3 over a T2C is primarily handling rather than performance?
Talking to myself here… I haven't yet flown a T3 so I don't really know what I'm talking about. But I think on what I know about them and they have carbon-stiffened leading-edge inserts and ribs. That probably gives high-speed performance. And a T3 flyer I chatted with at the cliff the other day stated that it had a better sink-rate than his old T2C. So I guess there is reason to expect T3 to have better performance than T2C, even if the aspect ratio, airfoil, etc. are all the same. Push out! /jd
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Pat Halfhill
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Post by Pat Halfhill »

Hi Joel,
The first thing I do when I buy a new kite is put the proper hang loop on and move the hang point all the way forward because of my weight. I did that with my 170 before i first flew it. I now believe that was a mistake. I went to Valle de Bravo and the 170 that I flew there was in the center hole. It definitely flew better than mine. I came back home and changed mine and like it much better now.
Joel
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Post by Joel »

>>I went to Valle de Bravo and the 170
That's the very same S3 170 I flew! I spent most of my time flying the U2160 though, which is a great glider. I hook in at about 225, and trim was about 21MPH on the S3. My S2 155 trims @23MHh (rear hole), and my T2C 154 trims @27 (middle hole). It seemed like I should be able to fly slower on the big S3, and the sink rate I was getting wasn't as good as I'd expected. If I get another chance, I want to try the S3170 on the rear hole. Have fun! /jd