The Wing Load Research is my upcoming investigation to find out the real limits of the Thriller 2k11 from U-Turn which is claimed to be the best acro glider on the market.
I am going to test out the different sizes one by one while flying them on extremely high and low wing loadings, between 3,6 kg/m2 and 7,6 kg/m2 !!! For competitions and shows I normally fly the 17m2 Thriller at a wing loading of around 5.4 kg/m2 with 94 kg take-off weight. U-Turn's chief-designer, Ernst Strobl says with this take-off weight it should be possible to perform Infinity Tumbling even with 26m2, but regarding his theory it might not be the case at all with the 12m2 version, so let's see what happens! Beside that the wing-loading with 12.5m2 will reach way into the "red danger zone" by Strobl's calculation (see file "Table of area loading").
The main goal is of course to perform -almost- all existing maneuvers on the smallest and biggest available sizes of the Thriller. For the safe execution of the project this week I am heading to the Garda Lake in Italy to be able to do the experimentations high over water. Videos to come later on, stay tuned!
Wing Load Research - an upcoming investigation to find out the real limits of nowadays best acro glider, the Thriller from U-Turn.
I'm going to test out the different sizes one by on while flying them on extremely high and low wing loadings, between 3,6 and 7,6 kg/m2 !!!
The main goal is of course...performing Infinity Tumbling with all the sizes! :-)
Test flight with one of U-Turn's 2 liner competition prototypes (project still in progress).
Big frontal and asymmetric collapses, cravatte, stall, spin....
Due to the rigid parts inside the canopy, the collapsing and opening behaviour is very different compared to the classical wings. We had to change a few things after this experience :-)
On the 25nd of October 2010 in Ölüdeniz, Pal Takats managed to perform a new maneuver called "Esfera" - the connection between SAT and SAT (the 2nd one turning to opposite direction!). The transition goes through a straight up Infinity Tumbling and afterwards "Anti-Rythmic" technique is used to work the angle back down.
The name "Esfera" is a spanish word that means: "sphere", "globe", "ball".
