Longtime Aeros advocate Gary Wirdnam was in themarket for a new competition wing. After trying afew he ended up in the USA.

A lot has been said about the Aeros Combat,often by those that have never flown one. I reallyonly ever had one gripe: a fairly narrow flarewindow that would all too easily lead to adropped nose on landing without due care. Theyhandle beautifully but are somewhat yawunstable, making them a more active ride thanothers. I was determined to try somethingdifferent but also reluctant to change.

The first stop for many competition and XC pilotsis a Moyes. I was lucky enough to borrow an RS4for an extended period but just couldn't set it upto my liking. I began to think that curved-tipgliders might not be for me. Then Johnny Carrasked if I could deliver an Airborne C4 tosomeone and I had a chance to fly it in theprocess. It handled very nicely and I realised thatI may have reached the wrong conclusion. In theend the lovely engineering and attention to detailin the Wills Wing T2 caught my attention, andafter testing one I decided to give it a go.

Having paid for my new glider, I decided to useup the remainder of my winter leave and travelout to Florida at the end of March to collect it,and to get some flying under the supervision ofDustin Martin - the man who knows all abouthow to set up a Wills Wing.

First impression out of the short packeddelivery box was of the beautifully-craftedparts, both carbon and alloy, that fittogether with satisfying accuracy. Thereare some new features on this year'sT2C, the most visible of which is theoption to have white UVM10T sailcloth.This has been developed in responseto calls from pilots finding it hard tosee the greeny-grey version,particularly against a backgroundof foliage. The new material hasprecisely the same highspecification, being probablythe best UV-proof sail materialavailable, but now in white.Unfortunately the only grade of thismaterial available at the moment is

the heavier one used for the leading edge.

Next on the list of obvious changes is an unusuallyshaped carbon basebar. Those of you who haveflown with a carbon bar will appreciate that one ofthe unexpected rewards is that they are muchwarmer to hold on a cold UK day. They don't seemto conduct the heat away from your hands.

The double angle makes for more comfortablegliding and the little spurs give you something topush against without the need to cover the bar ingrip tape. The finish is not the shiny one that Aerospilots will be used to; to save weight less gel-coatresin is used, for bonding and not for show. This istypical of the thinking of Steve Pearson, the WillsWing designer, who can be attributed with many ofthe design features we have come to see asobligatory on a modern glider.

A less obvious difference was found at the tip area.Not satisfied with convention, WW has come upwith a system that is both easy to adjust and movesthe tip wand in just one plane, up and down,without the side effects of the more normaleccentric adjusters. An eye bolt onto a webbing tabprovides for separate sail tensioning. Adjustingeither is a simple matter of turning the appropriatenut. This can be done with the glider fully rigged inthe case of the tip wand adjusters, and the sailtension can be accessed by removing the tip wand.

The C in T2C stands for Carbon. In this version youautomatically get

all the options that are available for the T2. The liststarts with carbon fibre outer leading edges,carbon sprogs, carbon leading edge inserts, carbonbasebar and the UV proof sailcloth in customcolours. Interestingly the fashion for carbon fibrebattens has been rather purposefully missed offthe list. Steve Pearson maintains 12mm alloybattens are lighter and as stiff as carbon battens.Certainly picking up the bundle of battenssurprises most people at how light they are. Moreweight saving by avoiding convention, although theconventional multi-pocketed batten bag has beenadopted despite the extra few grams!

All the effort that has gone into weight saving isinstantly appreciated when you pick up the glider: itfeels several kilos lighter than the opposition. Iwould have been very loath to hike up a hill in theLake District with my Combat but managed it twodays running in April with my T2C. I was rewardedwith a memorable flight around a good section of

the Lakes, something I've always wantedto do but never previously

managed.

Setting up

Rigging the T2C is very simple and probably nodifferent to most modern gliders. Whilst I like to rigon the A-frame the glider is just as easy to rig flaton a windy hillside. Subtle changes around the keelpocket have reduced the clearance with the foot ofthe cross-tube junction so care must be takenpulling on the tension to avoid catching the webs.The battens slide easily into place and are

tensioned using the now ubiquitous

first impressions: Wills Wing T2C 144

SKYWINGS32 AUGUST 2009

Tip detail

Wide flare window makes for viceless landing, here demonstrated by Wills expert Dusty Martin

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T2C pilot waits on launch at the Malverns PHOTO RICHARD SHEPPARD

UK importer: Airways Airsports Ltd, Darley Moor Airfield, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 2ET, tel: 01335 344308,e-mail: office@airways-airsports.com, URL: www.airways-airsports.com.

plastic clips. Tip wands fit easily and the sail thenvelcros together once they are in place. Pulling thezippers on the undersurface ensures that thesprogs are properly in position. The packaging isminimal with the exception of the paddedprotectors around the top of the uprights and thesturdy outer bag. It all fitted into my Tenax harnesswithout trouble.

Flying

My first flight was also my first aerotow for about18 months. Not ideal, but fortunately it was notonly successful but remarkably straightforward.There was virtually no yaw tendency, and nicely-weighted pitch with about one third VG. Roll wasresponsive without being twitchy. The tow wascommented on by both the tow pilot and a towinstructor. I'd like to claim this was because of mypiloting, but the glider must take much of thecredit here. It wasn't until I got back to the UK thatI got the chance to prove that hill launching wasequally uneventful, with good balance and easymanners whilst ground handling.

I was aware that seven years of flying Combatswas going to take some “un

training”, and I knew I hadto give myself time to

adapt to the glider.The roll

response ofthe T2C

was

typical of a high-aspect wing, a little slower thanthe Combat, but everything else I've flown is too.Perhaps that is why some people found theCombat “twitchy”. The T2C felt lighter in rollthan the T2 I flew, perhaps due in part to somedetail changes in the sail tips, and partly due tolighter carbon outer leading edges and sprogs.Very quickly I found myself dialling into theresponse and soon it felt very natural.

With the VG fully off the T2C is light andmanoeuvrable; it is also quite possible to add VGin thermals and still remain nicely in control. Myown taste is for glider handling to be-roll neutral,that is to say it neither winds in or out of a turn ifleft to its own devices. Most gliders wind in tosome degree due to the degree of anhedralrequired to make the wing responsive. In practicea glider that is roll neutral in a 200ft/min climbseems a good balance to me.

When I set about adjusting the T2C to make this thecase, the newly designed tip adjusters came intotheir own. Turning the top nut will lower or raisethe tip and has an effect like that of an aileron on aconventional wing. By adjusting one wing tip youcan alter the balance (taking out a turn) or byadjusting both tips together you can increase orreduce any tendency to wind in/out of a turn. Ittakes a few flights for the sail to 'bed in' properly,and you may need to make a few adjustments toget things perfectly to your liking. But the beauty ofthe system is that it can be done so easily andquickly, and allows very fine adjustment. I love it.The end result is a perfectly balanced glider -handling is the key ingredient to falling in love withyour new wing.

The glide angle of a competition wing is perhapsthe most scrutinised yet most subjective area ofglider performance. I have had the opportunity nowto glide with some very good pilots on other makesand I have not felt in any way disadvantaged. Itseems at least as good as anything else out there, atrait that has been growing for a few years as theperformance of different gliders seems to havebecome almost indistinguishable.

Pulling on the VG increases the trim speed andnoticeably decreases the pitch pressure required tofly faster. This is one of the aspects of moderngliders I have enjoyed most, the ability to glidehappily and comfortably at speeds upwards of70km/h. The T2C is no slouch and is very nice toglide at 80 and 90km/h with light bar pressure.Encountering turbulence with the VG on tight canbe a little nerve-wracking on any glider. I found theinitial response to going from straps tight to strapslight was a slight nose down. This tendency is onlysmall though and may be a function of the verycompetitive washout settings that are possible withcarbon sprogs. The pitch pressure is sowonderfully light that raising the sprogs a littlewould not harm the handling and would no doubtstop any-nose down tendency straight away. Theglider has only recently been certified in the 144size and my competition settings may be a littlelower than the certification settings that the factoryare likely to set subsequent gliders to.

One aspect of the VG that I was not totally happywith was the style of cleat used. The standard V-cleat may be simple and effective but I find it a littletricky to get the VG off in a hurry. Wills Wing werehappy to change mine to an Aeros/Moyes-style camcleat which I prefer. As a side note, I have foundWills Wing very pleasant to deal with. They havebeen happy to accommodate my foibles and beenvery helpful throughout my changeover. There isgreat support from the UK importer also.

Landing the T2C was something I was lookingforward to. Curved-tip gliders seem to bleed off thelast bit of energy when close to the stall in asmooth and predictable manner, making the flarewindow quite large. The advice was to land with VGcompletely off. This gives great roll response andhelps with stuffing the nose skywards in the flare. Ifound that the flare needed to start a little earlierthan I was used to, but that it was (almost) asstraightforward as Dustin Martin made it look. Ifyou like a fairly slow trim position you may find alittle VG helps maintain your speed on approach.This final test showed that the T2C truly had novices at all.

conclusions

The T2C is light to carry, light to handle andeasily adjustable to suit your preferences. It iseasy to land, the performance is top-notch andthe price is competitive too. This glider not onlysuits competition pilots but also XC pilots atclub level. Wills Wing are a great company todeal with, have a long heritage of customersatisfaction and good after-sales support.

AUGUST 200933 SKYWINGS

SpecificationModel T2C 144 T2C 154

Sail area (m2) 13.4 14.3

Span (m) 9.8 10.2

Nose angle (˚) 127 - 132 127 - 132

Aspect ratio 7.3:1 7.4:1

Packed length (m) 5 5.2

Short-packed length (m) 3.9 4.1

% double surface 92 92

Glider weight (kg) 32 33

Certificated hook-in weight (kg) 72 - 107 84 - 129

Optimum pilot weight (kg) 63 - 82 82 - 91

Certification HGMA 20090604 HGMA 20090601

Price £6,250 £6,250

Sail tension adjuster

Neatly-executed sprog junction

Sculptural basebar - the double angle offerscomfortable gliding and the little spurs preclude

the need for grip tape