The Airwave SPORT

Reviewed by Greg Hamerton - 24 November 2001

In 2000 Airwave returned to their former fame with the release of the Magic, a smooth high-performance glider with precise handling. After a year of development, designer Bruce Goldsmith has released his latest creation, the Sport.

This is Airwave's answer to the modern trend of 'high-performance' 1-2's such as the Nova Carbon, the Windtech Serak, and the Swing Mistral2. As such it is not intended as a first glider, rather as a true intermediate - in between an advanced glider and a beginners glider.

When the first Sport became available for me to review, I had a filming project scheduled with the Fresh Air Crew, a team of adventure film specialists. The Sport, it seemed, would be the perfect bivouac wing. Only 6kg, and a DHV1-2? I packed my gas stove and a few days food, and headed for the mountains of the Western Cape. And so the Sport got to star in her own movie, alongside my friend Johan on his K2 hangglider. We flew in strong summer thermic conditions at three different inland sites, and one coastal site. I returned with a big smile, and I can still hear my vario shrieking ... and in a darkened edit suite, a free-flying video is being born (release date Feb 2002). Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the star.

CONSTRUCTION : The Sport has the clean finish I expected of an Airwave product. Gelvenor fabric (49g/m2) on the top-surface ensures durability even in harsh environments like South Africa. Porcher 9017 is the strong, lightweight cloth used on the undersurface. The thick, bright colour-coded aramid lines will surely outlast the canopy.

The centremost cell is half-width, designed to prevent a big step in the glider during weight-shift turns, and this 'Stability Control System' is further reinforced by tapes spanning the A, B, C and D centre-line pairs. This helps to limit the amount of instability transferred to the pilot when the right wing and left wing encounter different air currents.

Classic V-rib construction means that every line attachment point is braced diagonally, and every second cell is unbraced. There are four E-lines, which bow in the wind at trim speed, but tighten during acceleration and collapse recovery.

The split A-risers are kept together by Velcro backing to ensure that both are used during launch. Once flying, the Velcro often pulls free, which is the preferred configuration for accelerated flight. The risers are narrow 2cm nylon webbing, well-finished with magnetic brake toggle clips and colour coding. Neat and tidy.

GROUNDHANDLING : Launching is easy with a light pull-up using all of the A-lines. The Sport yaws a bit when it is held at 45 degrees. There is no hard-point near the top of the arc. If the wing falls back from vertical due to a gust you can bring it overhead again with bodyweight alone, which makes it very easy to manage.

The Sport has the partially closed leading edge debuted on the Magic. Having flown this style of wing for over a year, I can vouch that it works. There is no problem with inflation during launch, only the slightest of delay in filling. The closed cells seem to hold air within the wing during deflations, which gives you something to work with when pumping out the wing. It is possible that passive reinflation is not as good, but when the open cells are as wide and deep as those on the Sport, there's no question that the wing will fill.

FLYING NATURE : Active. It feels like a blend of the Ozone Octane and the Airwave Magic, with short lines. Sport is a good name for it - the wing flies like a little Italian sports car, with more speed and energy through the turns than I have ever felt on a 1-2. If you ask it for a quick turn, you get it. The Sport resists the tendency of the Octane which was to drop the inside wing a bit, rather you climb around a lifted inner wing. This makes it great for thermalling. An extension of this characteristic is that the Sport is fairly stable in the roll axis even in rough air.

On the pitch axis, the Sport is fairly lively. I didn't find it pitching back that much, and it stabilises pendulum oscillations by itself, but I certainly saw the glider forwards of vertical regularly. To let go of the brakes in thermic conditions is not advised, but once you learn how to use this speed it makes thermalling a pleasure - a fast, carving turn without much of a backwards pitch upon entering the lift.

Despite the DHV report of 'average' brake travel, I found it to be short for an intermediate glider, with the spin point above the seatboard during thermalling. This means that you should be careful not to bury the brake, but when you consider how tight and direct the Sport turns, you'll realize you're unlikely to ever need deep brake turns. With even the lightest dab on the sensitive brakes, you can turn efficiently. When combined with weightshift, you can hook into the narrowest cores.

PERFORMANCE : Very good. With a trim speed of 37km/h and a competitive glide I almost kept up with a similarly loaded Windtech Quarx (which was in the lead gaggle of serial class gliders last year). The Sport glides only slightly slower than the Magic, and has a fraction less glide angle, so I'd be surprised if anything currently available in the DHV1-2 class outperforms the Sport at trim speed. This makes it an appealing buy for pilots who want a modern cross-country wing but who don't fly enough to own a DHV2-3. I was impressed with the way the Sport 'cut through the air'. I never felt I was being disadvantaged by being on an intermediate.

I was happy with the speedbar up to half-bar, but after that the wing sits forward of vertical, and the nose is progressively more unstable, especially on the second closed cell (the half-span point). A moderate bump in the air resulted in a complete blowout on full bar. Bruce Goldsmith warned that 'as with all gliders, higher speed is obtained by reducing the angle of incidence, which naturally makes the wing more susceptible to collapse. You should only fly at top speed in relatively smooth conditions.' Enough said. The speed system keeps the progression linear until the last quarter of the 17cm riser travel. I didn't have smooth enough conditions to obtain meaningful top speed results, but I'd estimate that it approaches the claimed 50km/h.

SAFETY: Big ears are small to average using the outer A-risers. The wing shows no parachutal tendency even under 'severe ears' combined with weight-shift turning, and the ears reinflate by themselves. This demonstrates a reassuringly tolerant aerofoil.

Front tucks show no hint of a parachutal phase, but produced the occasional big surge ahead during reinflation.

Small collapses drop and turn, then swing out and return you on course. 50% asymmetrics turned into a quick pendulum and progressive reinflation somewhere near 180 degrees. Bruce Goldsmith affirms that the glider always recovers before 180 degrees, even with an 80% collapse or at top speed. When I tried the bigger collapses, they produced that 'smack out' before 90 degrees that leaves you wondering what the hell just happened. Bruce was surprised. 'This is not usual, but could be caused by harness differences or not falling into the glider when you collapse it.'

The Sport resists the stall well, largely due to the big increase in brake pressure from 1/4 brake onwards. Searching for parachutal stall with the brakes I found that the wing kept initiating its own recovery by pulling forwards. If you take the toggles to the seatboard, the wing jumps back into the full stall, far back. It is a bit rough within the stall, but exits fine.

B-line stalls were difficult to initiate due to strong riser pressure and sensitive riser positioning within the stall. It's important not to inadvertently engage the brakes during the manoeuvre. However, very deep B-lines produced an impressive >10m/s descent, and a simple exit.

Bruce Goldsmith adds 'the Sport is a glider designed for flying. It passes the SIV tests well, but the essence of the glider is how well it flies, and its resistance to not flying, and I think that the Sport is very safe in this respect.'

SUMMARY : The Sport is certainly related to the Magic, with more performance, movement and energy than I expected for a DHV1-2. But then it's a true sports intermediate, not a beginner's wing. If you've got about 100 flights under your belt, and you like wings with precise reactions and agility coupled with good reinflation characteristics, speed and a certain smoothness, the Sport will have you smiling all the way to a hundred k. For sheer flying enjoyment for the confident regular pilot, it is superb. For those inexperienced in strong thermic flying, ensure that you have sufficient airtime or a quieter, more reassuring beginner's glider before bringing this cross-country adventurer to the big sky.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS :
Thanks to Barry Pedersen of Birdmen Paragliding (Cape Town) for the use of the Sport during this review. Contact him on 082 6586710 or birdmen@xsinet.co.za

Visit the Airwave website on www.airwave-gliders.com