SPORT 3

The Sport 3 is probably the most balanced glider ever made till now. Easy to launch, fly, take-off…sufficient performance to get you where you want. What an amazing time we live in – there probably has never been a time better for learning to fly than now.

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!

The summer rain finally held off long enough for me to get a first flight on my Sport 3. I heard after everyone else was down, people thought I had landed out, perhaps over-estimating my glide range based on years with the Litespeed. An hour and a half later I showed up back at Wallaby (3+ hrs total) and … despite a swing and a miss for a downtube and a double-pump crappy excuse for a “flare”, the glider gave me a nice one-step landing. I’m convinced the thing flew even better than your demo and it was FAR less tiring than any glider I can remember.

I especially liked the VG. +/- 1/4 produced a nice bar position and speed for turning in (today’s) thermals, without constant push out or high siding. 1/4 also felt pretty good for a light-and-variable landing (more experimentation to come). 1/2 was perfect for a surprisingly low-bar-pressure aerotow (3pt, attached at carabiner and shoulders). I also used 1/2 for some larger turns in and out of weak lift and the handling was still very nice. 3/4-4/4 gave a nice bar position and speed for glides between thermals, without having to a pullup/pressdown except when the sink was particularly vicious. The bottom line is that the flight actually required very little energy from me. It was geezer-friendly. Maybe don’t put that in the brochure.

I’m still figuring out the polar. I flew a little with a T2C and of course lost some on glide but maybe not so much that it can’t be made up by picking just a slightly better line. Unscientifically and subjectively: the inter-thermal glide is not bad at all. Powering through 1000 down is going to hurt, but powering through 1000 down always hurts, and with the Sport maybe I can actually hold heading while doing it.

I want to get in a few more flights before considering any tuning. Right now I’m not sure I’d change anything.
So, thanks. You guys did a great job!

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.

I quite enjoyed flying the S3 135 last Friday. Setup was just like the S2 with the exception of adding 6 speed batons in the trailing edge, which were easily inserted. Launch at Crestline was breezy so thanks to Tim and Mori for watching my wires – two steps and airborne. Ridge lift easily carried me up a couple hundred feet as I worked toward BB. BB had the usual rowdy stuff happening but I found the S3 to be responsive and was able to maneuver into the stronger areas of lift and get up to 6K. I then pulled the VG tight and aimed for Pine. This is perhaps the nicest improvement to the Sport, the VG is significantly easier to pull (talking with Marc later we both agreed we used the VG more often simply because it was easier). I didn’t find any lift on my way to Pine and was starting to think of heading to Last Chance when the vario finally sounded relief. Dabbled around Pine getting up to 6.3K. Tried heading further North but couldn’t find anything. I watched Frank scratch North too only to return to Pine as well so I headed back to BB thinking of continuing South when I came across Mario. He was headed to Pine so I followed him letting him be my visual vario (Mario..vario…hmmmm). Lift was still working at Pine and I watched Mario scratch North. It still didn’t look like he was doing all that well so I chickened out and headed towards Marshall (besides, I was getting close to two hours and didn’t want to piss off Dave after he so generously let me test fly the S3). With the VG full on and a bar positioned for speed (sorry no airspeed indicator but probably around 35 mph) I flew from the lower portion of Pine ridge to Last Chance losing only 500′. I happened on a nice thermal over Cloud and couldn’t resist one more climb to 5K. I was over two hours now so I headed to the LZ. With lots of altitude to burn, I put the S3 through its range. A gradual pull in to full arm extension quickly brought the glider up to speed. The sail stayed quiet and still – not a hint of flutter. I then slowed down to full arm extension and the glider did a gradual mush through stall with no tendency to drop a wing. I sped up some and cranked tight turns in both directions feeling heavy in my harness. There was no tendency to over-bank nor was any high side input required. I did a few mild wing overs and then headed to the 750. Found more lift there but thought better of prolonging my flight and set up to land. This was my biggest concern flying a 135 as I am on the heavy side of the hook-in range. Turned out to be a complete non-event as I did a gentle two stepper and walked the noticeably lighter glider over to the shade structure. Breakdown was quick with Dave’s help (the kickstand keel keep the tips off the ground and makes it easier to roll up the sail).

I think to summarize my overall impression would be to say flying this glider was the most relaxed and confident I have felt in a hang-glider. Wills has made real improvements to an already terrific glider. It handled well, climbed well, flew straight and true when I wanted it to, and best of all, was easy on my 60 year old landing gear.