Back to: Ultra Sport
Pilot Report: Wills Wing Ultra Sport 147
By Paul Voight
Originally published in Hang Gliding Magazine, April 1997. © 1997 United States Hang Gliding Association. Reproduced with permission. Photos by Paul Voight.
This review reflects the author's personal experience and assessment at the time of publication.
Prelude
Well folks, amid all the hoopla and anticipation regarding the ongoing and upcoming releases of topless gliders, Wills Wing has preceded its own topless glider release with its newest entry to the intermediate glider market — the "Ultra Sport 147."
I'd like to take this opportunity to review this little jewel, and I'm going to do so in a slightly different manner than usual. First, I'd like to offer up a short quiz. There is no time limit and there are no wrong answers. Ready... go!
- Does your personal schedule and/or local site conditions realistically allow you to average only a couple of flying days per month?
- While no longer a beginner, are you not yet an expert?
- Do your aspirations to enter and win the U.S. Nationals in the next two years end at wearing the event T-shirt (or entering for the hell of it)?
- If you currently fly a "blade wing" do you find yourself going X-C less frequently than you used to because the fields are getting too small for your glider and the glider too manly for you?
- Would you like to discover a way to explore your personal limits and X-C capabilities, and improve your overall flying performance without the anxiety normally associated with the top-of-the-line skin-strippers?
- Would you like to do this for only $3,975?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, run (don't walk) to arrange for a test flight on an Ultra Sport. The more yes answers you scored the faster you should run.
It has long been my opinion that there are way too many pilots out there who choose to fly gliders that are capable of much more performance than they will ever need, use or feel comfortable with. The Ultra Sport impresses me as representing an outstanding blend of performance, handling, versatility (it sports a wide-range VG system) and economy, with all of the latest contemporary technology that Wills Wing knows how to put into a hang glider.
Overview, Construction and Setup
Although they have maintained the term "Sport" in the name of this glider, it is obvious to me that this is a completely new design bearing very little resemblance to its predecessor, the Super Sport. The sail cut resembles a well-fed XC 142, hence the 147 size. The airfoil is very tall and blunt when compared to both the Super Sport and the XC. As a matter of fact, the Ultra Sport's airfoil is the same one used in Wills Wing's topless glider, the Fusion. XC hardware, internal fabric ribs, VG technology, kingpost hang and other current Wills tricks are all incorporated into this new design.
The Ultra Sport 147 control bar corner and VG cleat.
Flight Characteristics / Performance
Starting with the basics (launching and landing) we are in luck. As with all of the recent Wills offerings, this glider exhibits an exceptionally straightforward and forgiving personality when it comes to leaving the earth and, more importantly, returning to earth. The glider has a nice, detectable trim bar position and offers good feedback in pitch. The flare window is generous.
In flight the Ultra Sport exhibits a very predictable, responsive handling personality. Control pressures are light in roll, while pitch pressure is less than that of the Super Sport and a tad more than that of the 142 XC.
Once turning within a thermal, the glider's thermalling personality is very friendly, and its climb rate exceptional. It requires very little input to keep it going round and round. It can be flown slower in thermals than an XC and scribes smaller circles, which really allows for excellent centering in small cores. It seems to prefer to remain at the bank angle you've set.
The one exceptional performance feature of the Ultra Sport seems to be its sink rate. Every time I've flown this glider it has wandered to the top of the stack. Every other pilot I have watched fly the glider has had the same experience. There have been a couple of days when it was the only one to get up, or was the last to fall out.
Winglets are available as an accessory.
VG System
Aside from the myriad improvements over the Super Sport, the Ultra Sport is fitted with an easy-pulling 14:1 VG. In the full-loose setting the handling is very comparable to that of a Spectrum 165 — very light, quick and "small feeling." With the VG pulled full tight, my best description is that the handling resembles that of a 155 XC in the VG one-quarter on setting. A VG system that isn't controllable in tight mode is really not of much practical use. VG loose is great for bud-picking ridge soaring. VG set at one-half yields my favorite handling/climb control in most thermal conditions, and full VG on is well suited for huge smooth thermals, between-thermal glides, and maxing out sink rate.
Note: The 166 and 135 sizes of the Ultra Sport employ the Cam VG system, similar to that of the Fusion model.
Towing
How a glider tows has become an important consideration these days. The consensus reached classifies the Ultra Sport as much less demanding to tow than a Super Sport, but not nearly as easy as a Falcon. With the addition of the optional winglets there is a very noticeable increase in the Ultra Sport's towability. If a Super Sport rates a 4 out of 10, and a Falcon a 10 out of 10, then a stock Ultra Sport would rate about a 7. Add the winglets and you've got a solid 8.
Conclusions
I'm really jazzed about this new glider. It's the glider I've been grabbing off the shelf for myself lately when no one else asks to fly it. It offers up true, serious high performance, with a large degree of user friendliness at a very attractive price. I view it as the premier glider out there in its class. It's because of gliders like this that Wills Wing is the sole surviving major U.S. manufacturer of a full line of hang gliders.
So, if you've got even a twinge of a notion that this article describes a glider that fits your flying needs, why not give one a test flight. You've got nothing to lose, and a lot of easy altitude and airtime to gain.