Oz Report

Flew with us at Forbes and the Bogong Cup

(Mt Beauty, VIC, Australia)

Andy Hurst

Andy Hurst|Bogong Cup 2011|fatality|Moyes Litesport

Andy Hurst, who came over from Britain to fly in the Forbes Flatlands and the Bogong Cup, was killed attempting to land at the Mt. Beauty airfield on Wednesday evening. These are the main stream media stories as gathered automatically on the Oz Report web site: here and here.

Andy had been flying for only three years and it was great flying with him at Forbes and at the Bogong Cup. I reported on his flying during the Bogong Cup in previous articles. His Moyes Litespeed had been damaged in transport to Forbes (after it was left behind for one day in England) and he was on a borrowed Litesport.

If he indeed hit a tree it is most likely to be the one in the southwest corner of the airfield next to the pond. It is not 50 meters high.

View Larger Map

I am very sorry to hear that Andy has died and my sympathies go out to his family.

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Flying the Moyes Litesport

BJ Herring tells his story

B.J. Herring|Moyes Litesport

BJ Herring <bj> writes:

http://blog.fourherrings.com/2009/12/02/flying-the-moyes-litesport/

I've been flying a LiteSport around for a bit and have enjoyed it and really liked your previous reviews of it. Working on getting a loaner topless to get used to (LiteSpeed 4.0). However, I'm thinking that at 165lbs, I'd like the sink rate of the LiteSpeed 4.5 best.

I forgot that Jonny Durand was flying the Moyes Litesport at Dalby and came in second

(Dalby, QLD, Australia)

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Moyes Litesport

I was quite involved with helping the scorekeepers figure out the problem with scoring at Dalby (wrong checked box), so I forgot that Jonny Durand was flying the Moyes Litesport that I flew when I was in Australia this season and he came in second. He won the day that no one made goal and came in third and second on two other days.

See, it's the pilot, not the glider.

He said that it did well even when flying fast into headwinds on the last day in particular. He said that he was flying with Curt on the last day, but got stuck and Curt found a better line way to the south.

On the first day he got a late launch and was the only one to make it with the later start.

He says that he felt it lost a little bit at the higher speeds but he was impressed by it. Of course, he was also impressed by it when I was flying it.

http://www.moyes.com.au/productdetail.asp?ID=49&Cat=

So it would appear that the Litesport is a very competitive glider.

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Performance Vs. handling

Airborne Sting 3|Australia|Moyes Litesport|Wills Wing|Wills Wing U2|XC

(Airborne factory, Redhead, NSW, Australia)

One pilot has asked me about the differences between the Airborne Sting 3 and the Moyes Litesport. The Sting 3 is an intermediate glider built to have intermediate handing and intermediate (but better than the Sting 2 XC) performance. The Litesport is an advanced glider with advanced performance and advanced handling.

The fact that they both have kingposts is not necessarily a sign or symbol that they are equivalent gliders although most hang glider pilots seem to be very symbol oriented (this is encouraged by the manufacturers). There is a lot more than goes into a glider and its performance than whether it has a kingpost or not. This is a problem for Moyes as they are marketing it against the symbol of the kingpost, which tells most hang glider pilots that this glider (the Litesport) is supposed to be an intermediate glider (which it is not).

I remember a few years ago when I first flew the Litesport after flying the Wills Wing U2 and how much "stiffer" it felt. Of course, now it feels like a baby doll to me.

Just subjectively on a scale of handling/performance I would rank the gliders in this fashion. Airborne Sting 3, Wills Wing U2, Moyes Litesport, left going to right more performance, right going to left easier handling.

As we have seen the Litespsort is an advanced glider that performs almost as well as the topless gliders in glide at speeds below 40 mph. It climbs as well as or better than the Litespeeds (and equivalent topless gliders). Blay was calling it the "Lighterspeed" after seeing its performance, especially on the seventh day of the NSW State Titles at Manilla.

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Landing the Moyes Litesport

I have a lot of confidence in it

(Forbes airfield, Australia)

landing|Moyes Litesport|sailplane

On the last day of the Forbes Flatlands after the task was stopped, I came over the sailplane field where I spotted Lenny on the ground with 4,000' AGL. It took forever to get down and I wanted to get down before the rain or gust front came.

The actual field was a mixture of some cropped land and landing area for sailplanes, and I caught a glimpse of a fence at the edge of the cropped lands, so I decided to land in the huge field next to the sailplane port going into the wind which was showing on the windsock next to the fence between this field and the sailplane field.

I got down and did a long downwind leg to be sure I was far enough back in the field so that I wouldn't come up against the fence at the end of my final. I came in straight and true with a light head wind and things looked just right but I noticed that I was keeping right on going. As I approached the fence I just decided to flare to keep well away from the fence (and the pilots next to their gliders just beyond the fence).

The flare was a little high but I landed perfectly with no steps and the glider resting on my shoulders when no shock at all. It was very gentle.

I looked back and saw that the field wasn't flat at all and had an angle of about 10 to 1. If I hadn't flared I would have kept right on gliding. It's nice to have a glider that is so easy to land.

Comparing the Litesport with the Litespeed, part 5

Flying behind Michi

(Forbes airfield, NSW, Australia)

comparing gliders|Moyes Litesport|Moyes Litespeed

You can find the IGC files here (Davis) and here (Michi).

Michi headed out with Attila just in front of me. Starting at 14:42:22 he flew 11.2 km losing 2815 feet over 9:02 minutes. He flew at 39 mph with an L/D at 13.1.

You can see how I did over the same path above.

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Comparing the Litesport with the Litespeed, part 4

Flying behind Attila

(Forbes airfield, NSW, Australia)

comparing gliders|Moyes Litesport|Moyes Litespeed

You can find the IGC files here (Davis) and here (Attila).

Attila headed out just a few seconds before I got to him. Starting at 14:42:06 he went on a 11.2 km glide losing 2280 feet over 8:48 minutes. He flew at 38 mph, with an L/D at 16.1.

I flew right behind him at 14:42:34 flying 11.3 km losing 2628 feet over 9:08 minutes. I flew at 38 mph with an L/D at 14.1.

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Comparing the Litesport with the Litespeed, part 3

Flying with Gerolf

(Forbes airfield, NSW, Australia)

CIVL|comparing gliders|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litesport

CIVL|comparing gliders|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litesport

CIVL|comparing gliders|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litesport

When I caught up with the gaggle just behind Jonny (who was now on his own). I flew right with Gerolf and behind Attila and Michi. You can find the IGC files here (Davis) and here (Gerolf). You can see in the IGC files how close we were.

Starting at 14:42:59 we glide together for 8:42. I glide 10.6 km at 38 mph for an L/D of 12.6:1. Gerolf glides 10.9 km at 39 mph for an L/D of 13.1:1.

Put the two IGC files in SeeYou and compare Gerolf's and my glide starting when we come together at 14:42:54. See if you can tell any difference. According to our instruments (GPS altitude) I started out 561 feet higher than him and ended up 580 feet over him at the end of 8:42. In actuality, we were almost at the same altitude (with me 100' or so over him), so once again I have very little faith in the validity of the absolute GPS altitude values (CIVL, you had better be aware if this).

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Comparing the Litesport with the Litespeed, part 2

Flying with Jonny Durand

(Forbes airfield, NSW, Australia)

comparing gliders|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litesport|Robert Reisinger

While I was flying next to Robert Reisinger I was flying just behind Jonny Durand, Jr. You can find the IGC file file here (Davis) and here (Jonny). I flew with him for 12.5 km until we hit the strong thermal.

From 14:00:22 to 14:09:35 Jonny flew at 39 mph, for 13.5 km and had an L/D of 40.6. I flew at 36 mph for 12.5 km and had an L/D of 45.2.

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Flying with Robert Reisinger

Comparing the Litesport with the Litespeed, part 1

Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litesport|Robert Reisinger

(Forbes airfield, NSW, Australia)

I flew right with Robert Reisinger from just before the edge of the start cylinder for over 10 km. You can find the IGC files here (Robert) and here (Davis).

I examine a 7:12 section of the flight where we are right next to each other. I'm just a few feet higher. I fly for 9.3 km, averaging 36 mph (IAS) for an L/D of 197.3. He flies 9.6 km at an air speed of 37 mph for an L/D of 94.3. There is lift along the glide which we fly through without turning.

Check out the altitude chart in SeeYou with one flight added to the other to display both flights on the same chart. Check from 14:00:22 to 14:07:34.

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The top ten on day one.

Aeros Combat L|Airborne C4|Attila Bertok|Blay Olmos|Cameron Tunbridge|Davis Straub|Forbes Flatlands 2009|Gerolf Heinrichs|Lukas Bader|Maxim Usachev|Michael Friesenbichler|Moyes Litespeed RS 4|Moyes Litespeed S|Moyes Litesport|Pedro Jesus Garcia Aviles|Robert Reisinger

(Forbes airfield, Australia)

Learning from an aerotowing accident from last year

Mike Haas

accident|aerotow|Angelo Mantas|bridle|cart|Dave Whedon|Dragonfly|equipment|fatality|foot launch|HG & PG Magazine|Matt Taber|Mike Haas|Moyes Litesport|Moyes Xtralite|safety|tail|tow|tug|ultralite|winch

Angelo Mantas «Angelomant» writes:

Analysis - Mike Haas Fatality

Scenario - Mike’s accident happened during midday thermal conditions. He was flying a Moyes 147 Litesport, aerotowing it off of a launch dolly. Several witnesses saw the accident, but I give Dave Whedon’s account the most weight, because a) He saw the entire event, from start to finish, and b) He was watching several tows intently to see what conditions were like, since he hadn’t towed in a while.

The tug was given the “go” signal. Dave said that almost as soon as Mike launched off the cart, he appeared to be having difficulty with both pitch and roll control. Then, at around 50' - 60’, the glider pitched up radically and started arcing to the left. Somewhere around this time the weak link broke, or the pilot released. The glider continued rotating left and dove into the ground, first hitting the left wing tip, then nose. The glider’s pitch was near vertical on impact, confirmed by the fact that the control bar, except for a bend in one downtube, was basically intact, whereas the keel and one leading edge snapped just behind the nose plate junction. This all happened fairly quickly. Based on witness and tug pilot accounts, the glider was never over 100’.

Despite help reaching him almost instantly, attempts to revive him proved futile. Mike suffered a broken spinal cord and was probably killed instantly.

Causes - In examining the circumstances surrounding the accident, it seems to me that several factors, which by themselves might not cause major problems, combined to lead to Mike's losing control of the glider.

1) New, high performance glider.

2) Larger size glider than what he was used to.

3) A fast flying tug (Kolb)

4) Flying through a thermal just after launching.

5) A rearward keel attachment point on the “V” bridle.

Mike had only one previous flight on his new Litesport, in laminar coastal ridge soaring conditions. Although he flew over two hours, he probably never flew the glider at the speeds encountered when aerotowing. Mike had many aerotows on a Moyes Xtralite, but according to Matt Taber, the Litesport doesn’t track as well at high speed. The Litesport was also bigger than his Xtralite, which would make it less responsive and harder to control.

The tug used was a Kolb ultralight. Although this tug had an increased wing span than normal Kolbs, it still tows at a higher speed than a Dragonfly. I can tell you from my own experience that it is harder to tow behind a faster tug.

Soon after launching, the glider and tug flew through a strong thermal. This is confirmed by witnesses watching the tug, and the tug pilot’s reporting a strong spike in climb rate.

Here is where some controversy might come in: on examining the wreckage, Arlan (tug pilot) saw where the upper “V” bridle was attached, and immediately felt that that was a possible cause of the accident. It was attached at the hang point, and in his opinion, was too far back for a stable tow. Since then, there has been debate on whether or not that was a safe attachment point. That positioning on the keel was recommended to him by the seller, and apparently many other pilots have towed a Litesport from the same position. Shortly after the accident, some pilots in Wisconsin did an aerotow of a Litesport from slightly behind the hang point, and reported it towed fine.

I agree with Arlan that the upper bridle attachment point contributed to the accident. The test done in Wisconsin was done early in the morning in stable conditions, and the pilot weighed 50 more pounds than Mike. Just because others have managed to tow with this upper bridle position, doesn’t mean it’s safe, especially for pilots on the light end of the weight range.

To sum up, Mike was flying a glider that was bigger than what he was used to, with less stability at the higher speeds needed to stay behind the Kolb. Even with Mike’s hang gliding experience, these factors would tax his abilities. These difficulties would be magnified by the de-stabilizing effect of the rearward keel bridle attachment and the faster speed of the Kolb tug. Already struggling (as witnesses state), when Mike hit the thermal, a difficult situation became impossible. Mike lost control, and either locked out or stalled, leading to his dive into the ground.

How can we prevent this from happening in the future?

A proper keel attachment would have made the glider fly faster without a lot of bar pressure. It also would have made the glider more stable in yaw, because the tow force would be farther in front of the CG. My own experience has been that since moving my keel attachment further forward, tows are much more stable.

Using a tail fin - Tail fins definitely help stabilize gliders on aerotow, especially high performance gliders that may be less stable in yaw. A too rearward keel bridle attachment can be overcome with a fin. Many aerotow parks use tail fins on their demo gliders. The downside to fins is that they can make thermaling difficult on many gliders, but they can still be a valuable tool to make your glider safer while you figure out where your keel bridle attachment should be.

First tows of new gliders in smooth conditions. It is much easier to aerotow a new glider when the air is smooth. Learn how the glider tows in calm air, make any equipment adjustments necessary, then later tow in midday, thermal air.

Practice flying your glider fast before aerotowing it. If you foot launch or static tow your glider, you can literally fly for years without ever flying at the speeds involved with aerotowing. Even platform/payout winch towing doesn't involve those speeds. Practice pulling in the bar and keep it there. Easy? Now try to make a small heading correction and keep it. Good chance you’ll be PIOing all over. This kind of practice definitely pays off.

Wind streamers along runway. It’s agreed that Mike hit a strong thermal shortly after launching. Placing streamers on both sides of the runway, at regular intervals, would help detect if a thermal is coming through the takeoff area. If all the streamers are pointing the same way, it’s safe to launch. If some of the streamers start moving other directions or reversing, it’s obvious some kind of turbulence is coming through. This is not a new idea, it’s not expensive (wood stakes and surveyor's tape) yet I’ve never seen anyone do this. Maybe it’s time we start.

Mike was a Hang IV pilot with over twenty years experience. He was not a “hot dog” and was very safety conscious. No one who knew Mike could believe that this happened to him. Although I feel I have a better understanding now of what happened, I can’t help feeling that if this could happen to him, none of us are safe.

(editor's noticed: There was an earlier, and different accident report published in June in HG/PG Magazine.)

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battens|control frame|Icaro 2000 MastR|Kate Diamond|Moyes Litesport|sprogs|Wills Wing U2

http://www.Icaro2000.com/Products/Hang%20gliders/MastR/MastR.htm

Kate Diamond is now flying the Icaro 2000 MastR 12 R. It is the little glider (134.55 sq. ft.). It also has a small control frame which has always been the issue for her.

She says she can’t afford to buy it, but she probably will.

It is an updated version of the Laminar that I flew today also. The VG is light and easy to pull (Kate said this also). The battens end and fit into the trailing edge.

It must be easy to fly as Kate likes it a lot. It is not a completely new design like the Moyes Litesport or the Wills Wing U2. It is a few refinements on the older Laminar and Laminar R model. For example, it still has four luft lines on each trailing edge. No internal sprogs. It also costs $5,000+.

Discuss "Kate in Love" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Kendrick "Ken/Kenny" Brown|Larry Jorgensen|Mike Barber|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litesport|record|Steve Wendt|Wallaby Ranch|World Record Encampment

Ken Brown FlyaMoyes@aol.com writes:

Right across the field there at Wallaby Ranch you’ll find Mike Barber. Wallaby has been demo central for Moyes Gliders for many years. Mike holds the title of Moyes Guy # 1 with his 437+ mile flight on a Moyes Litespeed last year at the World Record Encampment in Zapata, Texas. Onsite, Wallaby has two Moyes Litesport demos and I stock Mike with a Litespeed 4 or two and currently he has a Litespeed 5 to demo.

The most important point in a demo flight is making sure that the person that is presenting the glider knows how to handle all of the idiosyncrasies of the product and can explain to the potential buyer the features and benefits of the glider and the company that makes it. Moyes is fortunate to have pilots and instructors like Mike Barber, Kurt Warren, Mark Winchiemer, Steve Wendt, Greg Black, Larry Jorgensen and many others that are out in the field doing demos and performing range of tuning and glider service for Moyes pilots, year round.

Discuss "Moyes Demo Center at Wallaby Ranch" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aeros Discus|Icaro 2000 MastR|Moyes Litesport|picture|Steve Uzochukwu|Wills Wing U2

Steve Uzochukwu <steveu2@which.net> asks:

Very good reviewing the intermediate and high end king posted gliders. There's not much of this nowadays, especially not with the comparisons you have made. To improve on the accuracy of perceived agility, would it be possible for you to quote clip in weight and let us know whereabouts you were in the weight range? Particularly for the Icaro 2000 MastR series, we would have a better picture if we knew if you were bottom or maybe even below the weight range lower limit.

I clip in at about 190 - 195 pounds (88 kg)

Icaro 2000 MastR: http://www.Icaro2000.com/Products/Hang%20gliders/MastR/MastR.htm

Aeros Discus: http://www.justfly.com/gliders/discusdata.htm

Sail area: 148 sq. ft, Pilot weight: 150-215, glider weight: 65 lbs.

Wills Wing U2: http://www.willswing.com/prod2.asp?theClass=hg&theModel=U2

Moyes Litesport: http://www.moyes.com.au/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=50

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Aeros Target|Icaro 2000 Relax|Moyes Litesport|Moyes Mars|Paris Williams|Quest Air|Steve Kroop|Wills Wing Falcon

http://www.Icaro2000.com/Products/Hang%20gliders/Relax/Relax.htm

I’ve been flying the Wills Wing Falcon 195, and the Aeros Target 180, and yesterday I got a chance to fly the Relax 16, a 170 square foot single surface glider.

My first impression is that this is the easiest to fly glider I’ve flown since I flew Belinda’s 40 pound Icaro-manufactured Moyes Mars 150 (with 7075 aluminum tubing) in the early nineties.

I was the third pilot to take the glider for a test flight yesterday at Quest. Steve Kroop had already purchased it for Quest Air and had the first flight followed by Paris trying unsuccessfully to spin it.

I aerotowed it from my shoulder bridles. On the single surface gliders I have normally attached my bridle also to the keel also to reduce the bar pressure, but Steve said that it wasn’t necessary with this glider. Bo has been towing his Aeros Target off his shoulder bridle, also.

I had to pull the bar into my diaphragm to stay with the tug, but the glider was steady and easy to tow. I had no problem keeping it in line and behind the tug.

I took it up early and found a thermal at 600’ to get the first thermal flight of the day. I took that light thermal that varied between 20 fpm and 180 fpm to 2,200’ as I drifted to the north.

Essentially all you had to do was think about turning and it turned. Everything about the glider felt light. I felt that this is what hang gliding should be about, fun, light flying without work.

You might think with such a light handling glider that the pilot would over control it. I didn’t notice any of this. It was very predictable. I am still having a hard time believing that this glider flew as well as what I experienced. I’ll just have to fly it again to confirm my original impression.

Of course, it is still a single surface glider, so when I pulled in the bar, it went down fast.

Aeros Target $2995 (http://www.justfly.com/gliders/target.htm and http://www.justfly.com/gliders/targetdata.htm).

Wills Wing Falcon 2 $3075 (http://www.willswing.com/prod2.asp?theClass=hg&theModel=falcon2). This site dos the best job detailing the costs for each glider.

Relax approximately $4000. The Icaro 2000 web site doesn’t include any suggested retail prices.

To make a good cost comparison you need to look closely at what is included in each of the costs above.

More on the Aeros Target and the Wills Wing Falcon 2 soon. As well as the U2 and hopefully the new smaller Moyes Litesport.

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Aeros Discus|Airborne Climax|Flight Design Ghostbuster|G.W. Meadows|Ghostbuster|Moyes Litesport|Quest Air|Wills Wing U2

It is designed to have high performance (for a kingposted glider), yet be easy to fly. By easy, it is meant to be predictable. Lots of gliders are easy in muscle actuation, but they are difficult for intermediate pilots – even dangerous.

This glider is meant to make it so intermediate pilots can have a higher performing glider earlier in their career and so hang 4’s can get on a very good performing glider and not worry about being rusty.

Design criteria:

1 Easy to tow
2 Neutral handling (meaning once in a thermal – no high siding)
3 Directionally stable (minimum wing walking – in yaw/roll coupling)
4 Easy to Land.
5 All of this while keeping low sink rate and as high a glide as possible – but don’t give up the first 4 to get better glide.

(editor’s note: From my two short test flights, I would say that it met all those criteria. I expect to be able to take further flights.

I wondered about the prices that the Aeros Discus, Wills Wing U2, and Moyes Litesport (which Moyes markets to advanced, not intermediate, pilots) went for. On the Wills Wing site www.willswing.com the U2 suggested price is $4495. The Litesport’s suggested retail price is $4995 at (http://www.moyesamerica.com http://www.moyesamerica.com/partlist.htm). I couldn’t find a suggested retail price for the Discus on www.justfly.com. I asked G.W. Meadows by e-mail and he wrote:

Discus is $4295 complete.

That includes aerofoil downtubes, speedbar and choice of custom colors. Only other option is the ‘B’ model option, that breaks down to seven feet. It flies exactly the same, weighs about two pounds more and cost $100 more. One can break it down without any tools.

Looking at the product descriptions on the various web sites indicates that the Moyes Litesport is being marketed at the advanced pilot (it’s under their advanced section), who doesn’t want the hassles (if any) and expense of the topless glider. (“The Litesport performs similarly to a non-kingposted glider, but handles like an intermediate glider, making it suitable for many pilots whether competitive or recreational.”) I must say that flying the Airborne Climax 2, I didn’t notice any hassles.

The U2 is billed, it seems to me, as an advanced intermediate glider (“The U2 is an all new, very high performance glider with handling characteristics suitable for pilots of intermediate and higher level skills and experience. The U2 was conceived as a very light-weight glider with performance approaching that of the much heavier, more expensive, and more challenging competition class wings.”).

Aeros Discus (“A ‘high-end’ intermediate hang glider that will have ‘advanced’ pilots selling their topless gliders”) seems to be aimed more at the middle of the intermediate spectrum. But then you can make your own interpretations of these marketing messages.

Late update: On Saturday I made three demo flights in three different gliders. The longest flight, which took place in the middle of the day, was on the Aeros Discus in light thermal conditions. The Discus performs pretty much as stated above.

As a rigid wing pilot I found it a bit stiff, but actually normal for a flex wing glider. Stiff, in the sense of initiating a roll. I’m use to just moving the bar from side to side and having the glider turn for me. In flex wing you have to move your body from side to side to get it to turn (in case you forgot).

With the VG on it was quite stiff, like all flex wings are with their VG’s on. It was very easy to launch, fly and land. Very controllable.

I was flying with Nev on a Flight Design Ghostbuster, Mark P. on a Aeros Stalker2, and a slew of folks on various flex wings. Nev, Mark and I all got in the same light thermal together with Mark and I at the same altitude and Nev 100 feet below. For the next ten minutes Mark and I climbed slowly at the same rate. Nev climbed slowly through us and got 50 feet over us.

After that Nev was always higher and further away than either Mark or I. When Mark and I went on glide, and I would follow Mark, he could go faster, and had a slightly better glide. Nev was just too high and didn’t come down.

This went on for an hour and a half. The Discus did a great job. I only had one other glider climb up through me, a Icaro 2000 Laminar MRx. And it did so very slowly.

It looks to me like the Discus is a high performance flex wing glider.

I do hope that I’m not renting these gliders, but just paying for the tows, so that I can afford to keep flying these other machines and reviewing them for you all. With the Wills Wing days and the demo days at Quest Air coming up, it looks like I will have a lot more to write about.)

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Aeros Discus|bridle|Moyes Litesport|tow|Wills Wing U2

I had an opportunity (briefly due to the lack of lift) to get a couple of flights on the Aeros Discus on Wednesday. I’d flown the Aeros Shadow previously and this is the new version of the Aeros’ intermediate curved tip glider and is meant to compete in the same market niche as that occupied by the Moyes Litesport and the Wills Wing U2. This middle or intermediate area is a bit broad from easy intermediate to high performance intermediate. All with gliders with kingposts (to keep the costs down which is another intermediate factor).

The Shadow was marketed as an easy to fly (i.e. less performance) glider. The Discus seems to be aimed at the high end part of the niche (http://www.justfly.com/gliders/shadow.htm) therefore it competes against the Litesport.

I liked flying the Discus. It was very easy to tow with the bridle just off my shoulders. There will not be any need for a fin.

It was quite easy to land in light winds. The VG was easy to pull and didn’t require any muscle tone on my part.

It seemed a little stiff in the air, but then I am really use to rigid wing hang gliders and I didn’t have enough time to fly it given the lack of lift. I had some nice long glides and they were quite pleasant, especially with the VG on.

I hope to be able to report more on the Discus later.

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Mark Vaughn|Moyes Litesport|Wallaby Ranch

Mark Vaughn <KNOWVNE@aol.com> writes:

It seems WW has been busy this winter and is about to release a new Recreation Glider which they're calling the U2. I'm guessing it's a replacement for the ageing UltraSport and their answer to the Moyes Litesport and yes, it has curved tips just like its big brother the Talon.

And like the Litespeed and Litesport, the U2 looks very much like the TALON from below.

The New U2 is approximately 8 lb lighter than a Moyes Litesport and will be released as a 145 and 160 . The 160 is due to be released in a few days.

The U2 is made from 7075 tubing and is reported to be the only high performance kingposted glider without a reflex bridle. I assume this means it only uses Sprogs for its trailing edge reflex.

It also comes standard with a new control frame called the Litestream which appears to be a brand new Down Tube extrusion. The Cross section of the tube which is a tad thicker looks much like the slipstream tube but with the aft section chopped off a half inch. I'm guessing it's a better grip for those who foot launch.

This new Tube is reported to have performance that’s very close to that of the famous and often copied Slipstream Tube. A reported L/D of 14.92 :1 Compared to the Slipstreams even 15:1 when compared on a TALON.

I expect the U2 will make a grand showing at WWs 30^th Anniversary party and demo days which is slated for the 25^th - 30^th of March at Wallaby Ranch. I'd expect to see it pop up on the WW website any day now. www.willswing.com

Discuss "New tiny Talons" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Airborne Climax|Moyes Litespeed|Moyes Litesport|William "Billo" Olive

Results:

Thanks to Billo for sending in the results.

Discuss "The Airborne Gulgong XC Classic" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Sat, Jan 5 2002, 2:30:01 am EST

Okay, what's the marketing niche for this glider? I asked Gerolf about the name and the performance and handling. Litesport indicates that it might be an intermediate glider like the Super Sport or Ultra Sport.

It can also be construed as a sport version of the Litespeed. Gerolf states that its performance is between the sport glider and an advanced topless glider, but that its handling is equivalent to an intermediate glider. Obviously, from the results of today's race, its performance is very good.

The Litesport is cheaper to build as it has an aluminum cross bar. It has the Litespeed technology, outboard sprogs, no inboard sprog, as the wire splitting off from the upper side wire and going to the trailing edge (next to a batten) handles that.

The inspiration came from pilots requesting a glider that they could fly at the beach (like in New Castle where they are top landing), but then take out west to fly in cross-country meets.

It is very nice to see the latest developments used in a king posted glider. I'm sure that pilots who don't want the hassles of a topless glider will be interested in looking at this beauty.

I've posted some pictures earlier.