Let's
face it. The hang gliding community is aging. When I got into
the sport in 1973 I was 22, and an unmarried, foot-loose, fancy-free
college student. I'm 45 now, and work and family commitments
have taken their toll on my flying, as I'm sure they have for
many others.
Flying high-performance gliders, especially
in turbulent midday conditions, is demanding. The pilot needs
to be current, and the gliders are heavy, time consuming and
inconvenient to set up, often difficult to land, and not so
reassuring in gnarly thermals. They are also expensive. Add
these disincentives to the above-mentioned demands on one's
time, and the result is likely to be a lot less flying.
Ken de Russy, who has been involved in the sport for as long
as I can remember, recently commented to me, "Hang gliding
is evolving itself out of existence." He then talked about
the "hang gliding culture" and how it pressures pilots (directly
or inadvertently) into flying higher, faster and farther on
higher- and higher-performance gliders. The result: fewer
people getting into the sport and more dropping out. Ken now
teaches paragliding exclusively.
Enter the Wills Wing Falcon. It's light, a breeze to set
up, phenomenally easy to fly, reassuring in turbulence and
a piece of cake to land. And it costs half what a blade wing
does. I really believe that if the "culture" can be changed,
gliders like the Falcon may be instrumental in creating a
hang gliding renaissance.
SETUP
Setting up the Falcon is a breeze. Assemble the control bar
at the corner bracket with a bolt, wing nut and safety. (The
Wills folding basetube is an option.) Set the glider on the
control bar, spread the wings (if the bridles are left attached
this raises the kingpost), and stuff seven battens per side.
It's nice not having to lacerate one's fingers when tensioning
the batten strings. Tension the crossbar by pulling back the
sweep wire and drop the keyhole tang into place at the rear
of the keel. Install the washout tips and attach the front
wires at the nose with another keyhole tang. Push the nose
batten into place and you're done.
I expect that this whole procedure should take no more than
four or five minutes with a little practice. Rob Kells claims
that he can set one up in two minutes.
A GREAT DAY OF FLYING
I recently had a chance to fly both the 195 and 225 Falcon
at Marshall Peak near Crestline, California. (The Falcon is
also available in 140 and 170 sizes.) It was a great day.
USHGA Executive Director Phil Bachman was in town and flew
tandem in both a paraglider and a Falcon with instructor extraordinaire
Rob McKenzie. Roy Haggard and Larry Tudor also showed up to
fly.
My first flight was in midday thermal conditions in a 195
Falcon. After a few steps I was in the air searching for some
lift to climb out over Marshall and hopefully thermal back
to Crestline. I immediately noticed how easy it was to turn
the glider. I hadn't flown an entry-level glider in many years,
and I'd forgotten what a joy it is to drive around the sky
in a glider that quickly responds to control input with practically
no physical effort or lag time. Turns coordinated easily and
the glider was very easy to thermal. The slow-flight capability
of the wing and the quick response, even at those low speeds,
enabled me to really milk the lift for all it was worth.
In no time I was above launch and the lift was booming. I
soon gained more than 3,000 feet over Marshall, with my trusty
(namesake) Gilbert Roberts' bread-pan vario frequently pegging
at 1,000 fpm. Even after a significant hiatus from flying,
at no time did I feel uncomfortable in the turbulence. Later,
both Mike Meier and Rob Kells agreed that the thermal turbulence
that day was an eight on a scale of ten. I can only assume
that the glider's stability, controllability, damping and
aero elasticity soaked up the bumps. (By the way, Rob commented
that if hang gliding were nothing more than flying high-performance
gliders in midday convection he'd probably lose interest.)
With all that altitude I decided to see what the glider would
do with the bar at my knees. It was nice to discover that,
unlike the Super Sport, there was no tendency for the wing
to oscillate at high speeds, and I was able to fly straight
and true even in the bumpy air. The glider seemed to be flying
quite fast, and although I didn't have an airspeed indicator,
I'll bet I was getting in excess of 45 mph with my 220-pound
hook-in weight in the 195. Bar pressure at speed is substantial
enough to be reassuring, but not fatiguing. I was surprised
at how well the single-surface sail held up at these bar-stuffed
speeds. Although it wrinkled and fluttered slightly, it didn't
turn into a flag.
As should be expected from a single-surface design, the glider
comes down fast when flown at its top end. Pulling the bar
to my knees, I was able to get my vario to read nearly 800
fpm down. However, in my opinion, the glider penetrates well
enough and gets a good enough L/D at normal cruising speeds
that a pilot should be able to do 93.785% of the stuff he
does in a high-performance glider on a typical day of recreational
flying. I had no problem
gaining 3,000 feet of altitude in (so they say) turbulent
lift - in short order. In fact, it would probably have taken
longer in a high-performance ship since I wouldn't have been
able to core as tightly. I was able to cruise the mountain
range and fly back out, just as I have done multitudinous
times in higher-performance gliders at this site. It just
took a little longer.
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Gil floats off the hill in a Falcon 195
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The Marshall/Crestline
LZ looks big from the ground, but from the air it appears to
shrink significantly, and you don't want to overshoot or you'll
be sorry. It's also known for its nasty midday thermal activity.
After bleeding off copious altitude I set up a standard downwind,
base and final approach, adjusting my turns as I would in a
blade wing to make sure that I judged the wind direction and
gradient properly, with room for error. At this point the ability
to make the glider sink by pulling in the bar was a pleasant
surprise. My instincts, developed over the years by flying much
higher-performance wings, were telling me to approach somewhat
short, in anticipation of bleeding off the energy stored in
the glider after diving through the gradient, and riding out
the ground effect.
It was so easy! I just floated in and flared. It was like
stepping off a chair. Landing the 225 was like stepping off
a curb.
THE 225
It's too bad the name "Super Floater" is already in use,
since that perfectly describes this glider. Interestingly,
on my second flight of the day in a 225 I was joined by Phil
Bachman who was flying tandem with Rob McKenzie in another
Falcon 225. I launched first and had to hang out in the ridge
and weak thermal lift for nearly half an hour waiting for
them to get ready. Soon they join me in the relatively smooth
late-afternoon air. It was great fun cruising around in the
sky with USHGA's illustrious Executive Director.
At the end of the flight, as I was homing in for a landing,
I had the opportunity to fly for about 10 minutes with a bird
- nearly wing tip to wing tip. Our airspeeds were nearly identical.
I have done this a number of times in the past, but this experience
reminded me of what hang gliding is all about: the realization
of man's age-old dream of flying like the birds. I was flying
like a bird, with a bird. (I don't know my birds very well.
Maybe it was a falcon.)
THE MANUAL
The Falcon owner's manual is superb. I expect that it was
written by Mike Meier, who is a clever fellow with an excellent
command of the English language (although he still needs to
learn about hyphenating two words that combine to form an
adjective which precedes the modified noun).
The manual is thorough and comprehensive, and includes information
on setup, maintenance, flying and landing, tuning, using the
wing tufts, speeds to fly and using an airspeed indicator,
transport, and the glider's certification. It's packed with
useful information. At the end there are exploded views of
all the glider components with part numbers and specs. It's
amazing how many parts there are even in such a "simple" wing.
CONCLUSION
I highly recommend the Falcon to anyone who is just getting
into the sport of hang gliding. I would also suggest that
it might make a nice second glider for experienced pilots
who want the convenience, ease of setup, and reassuring flight
and landing characteristics that this glider has to offer.
I also believe that the Falcon would be an excellent choice
for paraglider pilots who would like to get a taste of their
sister sport.
Finally, for those who don't fly as often as they used to,
or those who have dropped out of the sport altogether because
of the hassles inherent in flying high-performance gliders,
life's demands and commitments, or the inability to stay current,
the Falcon might just be the ticket to get you back in the
air.
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