![]() He still maintains a business relationship with Lancair: all of the SparrowHawk's composite components are fabricated by Lancair employees in the company's Bend airport facility. ![]() But his passion for soaring prompted Cole's formation, five years ago, of Windward Performance to design and build his own sailplane. Previously chief engineer of research and development at The Lancair Company Co., Cole helped design that company's Columbia 300 aircraft and the wing for the Legacy 2000. It was created by general aviation veteran Greg Cole. The SparrowHawk is the first sailplane with all-carbon composite wings and fuselage. The key to both performance and affordability, surprisingly, is carbon fiber.įor more than four decades, the vast majority of sailplanes (also called gliders) across all categories have been fabricated from a wet layup of fiberglass/epoxy. Bridging these two classes, a new lightweight sailplane, the SparrowHawk from Windward Performance LLC (Bend, Ore., U.S.A.), is designed to meet Ultralight weight requirements and reduce sailplane cost into the bargain, while offering performance equivalent to or better than Standard-class sailplanes. They also may not maneuver as well in the air and are harder to manage on the ground because of both size and weight. ![]() Standard-class sailplanes, by comparison, offer much better cross-country performance, but cost significantly more than Ultralight planes. Ultralights are often dubbed "floaters" for their relatively slow speed and poor cross-country (i.e., straight-flight) performance. But the final category of sailplane, the Ultralight, is restricted not by wingspan, but by empty weight - to a maximum of 70 kg/155 lb. The Standard class, also limited to 15m wingspans, uses no performance-enhancing wing flaps. Smaller, more moderately priced sailplanes compete in the 15-meter class, limited to 15m/49-ft wingspans but with no other design restrictions. Large, high-performance Open-class sailplanes sport wingspans from 18m/59 ft to 30.5m/100 ft and a price of $100,000 to $200,000 (USD) or more. There are several sailplane categories: Open, 15-meter, Standard and Ultralight. Sailplaning - unpowered flight - is an expensive pastime. Source: Windward PerformanceWindward technicians assemble a Sparrowhawk wing. ![]()
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