TEST
SPORT - AIRWAVE
Pilot: Daniel Crespo Valdéz
Published in Parapente Vuelo Libre Magazine (Spain)
A Sport Piloting After trying dozens of inflations in diverse conditions, we proved that the Sport does not stay in middle points. It is up or down. This quality can be appreciated in low winds, but in stronger gusts (25+ km/h) we need to anticipate our reactions so the glider will not shoot forward. It demands a slight sign on the risers, pulling the leading edge, and despite its closed cells comes immediately over your head. It does it smoothly centred, and needs no other tune but to brake it on time so it does not pass you ahead. You can feel the glider's span and pressure changes on the risers. The Sport has a nice planform for its "sport" but sober colour design.
It transmits solidity to the unit wing-pilot. Once in the air, the Sport seems to move on some invisible rails, but it lets you take it wherever you want. The brake travel is comfortable and almost all its rank can be perfectly used without surprises. For the turns, a 20 to 40 cm of travel is required (3 to 5 kgs of effort), gradual and progressively both in the controls response and in their resistance -which goes up to 10 kg before reaching the stall point (23 km/h).
To make a good turn, you need to use your body and a little of pressure on the brake. When you are inside a stabilized rotation it is easy to keep it and requires little corrections. If we want to accelerate the turn into a deep spin, we will need to apply more effort to the inner brake until the glider has good speed and inclination. At that point it is possible to have a high descent rate and keep the spin (-8 m/s) by only using weight shift. If you don't, the glider tends to open the turn by itself.
At an abrupt exit, the glider makes a good climb that you can easily stop at the end, but it is even easier if we smoothly deconstruct the energy with a couple of open turns. The Sport leans loosely, specially if it has good speed. Although this is not an acrobatic glider, it shows good qualities in inversion of turns and body shift control, something that will surely be appreciated by most pilots. When inducing "dolphins" we observed a uniform behaviour, with no sudden reactions and little increase in the inertia (unless we insist with the brakes to provoke a dynamic stall).
It is possible and still safe to fly the Sport near its minimum speed, and thus exploit an unusual range of 26 Km/h between that point and its maximum registered speed of 51 km/h. Trim speed was 37 km/h in our measures.
With half speed-bar pushed, the glider feels solid and we might even fly like this all the time, if it wasn't for the uncomfortable, hard and short travel of only 15 cm. With full speed-bar the wing stays unshaken and it gives the impression of being inflated at high pressure.
Security The Sport can be a valid option for some beginner pilots who are still practising descents (so far), but that would be a waste for this polyvalent and safe model DHV 1-2. With it, we can accurately "scratch" the hills; take advantage of little zeros, and -of course- boom up a turn into a +7. Its glide of 8 points and its wide speed range confirm this. It seems that designer Bruce Goldsmith has taken good care in justifying the glider's name.
Turning thermals is efficient, and makes it easy to centre them. When we enter the thermal, or one of the sides goes out of it, we can clearly feel the changes of pressure in the harness -but there rarely will be a collapse, especially if we balance these movements with the body.
This glider does not sacrifice sensations for security. Airwave has achieved to make a glider with good qualities even for beginners. Control is sensitive to aggressive piloting, but enough dampened and progressive for those well skilled just-graduated who would not dare to abuse the brakes. We have to emphasize, though, that in thermal flying or in turbulences the pilot has to compensate and have an active participation in the piloting. The Sport does not like sudden over control on its brakes, and prefers pilots who are accurate and precise in their handling.
We had no collapses during the test flights, so we induce some by violently pulling the A risers. With no alarm, the Sport behaved just as its certification expresses: leaned a bit, started a turn and recovered gradually before completing a 360º.
Paramotor Even with the 20 kgs extra-load over the recommended maximum (with the motor), the glider kept its good features in handling and stability. Launch was fine, the glider came up evenly and fast every time we tried it. In my opinion, this glider is fit for paramotoring. The polar curve moves, obviously, due to the extra weight. A good cruise speed was reached with the speed-bar confidently pushed.
Landing with the
engine stopped was just like a normal free-flight landing: the glider rounded
up well at the end (despite the load), and I touched the ground softly even
in light wind.
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