Triple Seven interview
Dustoftheuniverse: What was the most challenging part in finishing the Queen 2?
Aljaz & Urban: For sure we spent a lot of time on it with some prototypes, not a lot because we analyse each proto a lot which helps us and its good, especially at the end when we stuck with the certification on one maneuver which was a stable spiral.And we learned quite a lot of things about this, and the behavior of the mechanics of flight, and we saw that there was a big influence coming from the harness also, but it was a hard summer :-) But now we are happy with the resultant for sure the performance and the potential of the wing, and i think it will bring the C category a bit higher.
DOTU: Did you manage to keep the same biting and feel through the air?
A&U: All our projects are finished when we are happy.It’s not important if its summer or winter, or even the year after, so we don’t focus on time rather than the result we are aiming for. As for the Queen , we are very satisfied with the last proto.
DOTU: When the Queen 2 will be released?
A&U: The SM size passed the tests on the top (99 kg) and the bottom weight, and we are waiting for load test, and we are also preparing production, and we are working now on the other sizes.
DOTU: Is the top speed limited by the certification?
A&U: We were only focusing on the spiral, and the top speed were nice and ok.
DOTU: What would be the optimum weight of the Queen 2?
A&U: 75 % is superb for the MS , and surely it depends on the other sizes and models. But as a basic knowledge its 75%.
DOTU: Does 777 have other new releases for 2018?
A&U: The first glider is the Queen 2, which is coming at first and in 2018 the light version of the Knight which is called K-Light which is also certified and finished, but launching it in 2018, and also some other little projects. And for sure the Queen 2 light which would be released immediately after finishing the normal Queen 2 sizes and actually will be named (Q-Light)
Rook 2 and King stays in production, and we are working on a single skin, and very promising, and this wing flies really nice !
DOTU: Any comments on Q-light construction ? lines, cloth..?
A&U: Lighter construction, and reinforcement inside the glider, risers, soft links.
DOTU: Any last word regarding the Queen 2 ?
A&U : As we said, we think that the Queen 2 will bring one step forward in real air performance regarding the C class, and getting near the D class of today’s 3 liner wings. Also with the speed.
We compared the glide with the King, and we think it’s a step further…especially in climb with a very competitive glide…
PHI Interview (Hannes Papesh)
DOTU: Dear Hannes, Do you consider PHI gliders a performance oriented company?
Hannes Papesh: Since many years, since the beginning i was always ‘performance oriented’ in my young designs, i think performances had always a big importance and i was always trying to build very reduced designs, i mean getting out anything that isn’t necessary.Very clear and straight forward designs to reach the goals.And we are also classical maneuver testers with our team, who are hard classical test pilots. And they were doing great attention to the hard maneuver testing, and may be that’s the reason maybe i never had safety problems with my designs.
Our handling may be slightly bad in the first days but the gliders were very well performing, but we learned, and with the Synphonia we also tried in different line lengths and reducing line lengths. We have now an elegant, agile glider and feels elegant in flight.
DOTU: What are the lines used on the Synphonia?
HP: There are quite conservative. So we have all the top and middle lines are uncovered 8000, and on the bottom there are 2 lines per side, with PPSL lines like the Rookie, Syntaxx…Ion 1 and 2.
DTOU: What about the structure inside the glide?
HP: At first it’s quite light, so the 22 has 4,5 kg and it’s using the 32 grammes cloth from Porcher all over which is quite expensive but this is one aspect of safety, so we didn’t want to reach the safety level of trimming it slow or doing some compromise, in performance and handling. We did a great work on the internal structure and we reduced the usage of the sticks (red nylon fibers)
and we were very lucky with the choice of the factory which is aerodynamics in Srilanka, because they have very nice kind sewing, as they can do very smooth seams, and the finish is really good.
And this is obviously one of the keys for performance gain.
DOTU: Will you make B + gliders soon?
HP: You know that my specialty is the high B gliders. With the Synphonia, i made a high performance A glider, now i’ll surely focus on this special class that i like. I have been unbeaten for 10 years, on the high B gliders, but i had no chance to compete for 5 years as i have been working with Advance, and i couldn’t do what i wanted to do, the Iota was not my wing, but now i have the chance to do what i wanted to built. But this time i’ll take my time to do a very special ’special’ B+ wing ! But i cannot promise when it will be available…may be in spring, may be next year, in Autumn.
When we are sure that the Synphonia will be a wave…
DOTU: What about high aspect ratio for a B+ ? Are you for that?
HP: We have to be careful with the B class…Finally we have to tell was a mistake to limit the open class competition with a serial class guide…looking back we have etc say it was a mistake because we didn’t think it was possible to certify competition wing in the D class the whole D class destabilized then the C class destabilized, and it’s now slowly happening that the B class is destabilising because it got too wide…We have really safe and class matching wings and we have gliders that were a C gliders before, and now inside the B, so i think we have to be careful and not pushing too much, it was also an argument how to know it’s a low level or a high level, and sometimes you find a low level glider that is not a low level glider…the difference is huge. So with our B we have to be careful. We already have the first prototypes, and it’s too early to tell. We will make attention to the handling especially and we will take our time developing it.
DOTU: Are u considering 5 sizes?
HP: Yes sure…Our Synphonia has 5 sizes now.
DOTU: What about the optimal weight for PHI gliders?
HP: The PHI gliders can be flown at mid and low sometimes on the range. It depends on the wind, turbulence, but i have illustrated the weight ranges in the website in colors, so the deep green is the optimal weight for overall usage.
Remarks: I asked Hannes about the complex inner construction of the Phantom with it’s 99 cells, as when testing i felt it has that same feedback feel from the inner structure to the pilot like the Sigma 10 i have tested lately and commented that elasticity and coherence in turbulent thermals. Hannes answered that their inner structure is the same ! Advance and Nova are using his software which both gliders have this trumpet fingers designs. They are very light and the importance to use the materials where it is the most efficient. (Lots of technical details… :-) ) Nova named it ‘needle eye’ construction.
Well i think that this software is surely producing fine gliders…And for sure the R&D teams, and pilots behind that software are exploring it very professionally.