U-turn naujienos ,THRILLER X3: Powerful into

Sveiki pr. akrobatikos mėgėjams išleistas naujas kūrinukas THRILLER X3

THRILLER X3: Powerful into
new dimensions of acrobatic flying

Tuningen. Powerful into new dimensions of acrobatic flying – that’s the promise of the new THRILLER X3 of U-TURN. With completely new designed cell openings and innovative valve technology. Nothing can get the THRILLER X3 out of puff. The Thriller X3 is a new dimension for the stability in the acrobatic wings. In addition to its dynamic and the exact maneuverability the THRILLER X3 confirms its position as technology leader. With vigor we can say.

Infinity tumblings, sphere and all the other tricks: that’s all safe and easy to perform with the wings made by U-Turn chief designer Ernst Strobl. “But to progress with new tricks and give new impulses to the acro-scene a deep research for new progressive technology’s had to be done,” so the designer. The breakdown from all the world cup pilots led to one result: the wing has to fill quicker and has to maintain the internal pressure as long as possible under bad angels of attack and the cross ventilation had to be improved too.

Nine prototypes, dozens of line sets, hundreds of test flights and thousands tricks later now the result: the THRILLER X3 of U-Turn. One can say: the most pressurized wing Strobl designed ever since. “The wing has totally new designed cell openings in the LE- now he inflates better and faster in all wind conditions,” so Strobl. However the wing keeps its internal pressure longer – the valves spread over the whole span make it possible. 14 of these pressure balance valves, 160*70mm in size, are fitted in-between the A’s and B’s in the Bottom sail. Combined with the proven valves of the Extended Aeration System in the topsail this gives a never unprecedented flight characteristic,” Strobl’s ideas were confirmed by the pilots.

The positions of the EAS-Valves in the topsail were adapted to the changed design to be optimal effective. Furthermore 4 Pressure Balance Valves close to the trailing edge were added in the bottom sail. “All valves open and close referring to the pressure in the sail automatically,” explains chief designer Ernst Strobl the perfectly balanced regulation system. Selvunderstanding the cross ports were redesigned too to align with the new system, which improves the pressure balancing significant. “Go-pro videos from the wing internal showing the exact work of the valves, even in crazy angels of attack“, so Strobl.

These profound technical changes give the THRILLER X3 of U-Turn a far better characteristic in tail sliding and the will to exit this maneuver, and the pilot gets an unambiguous stall warning. “The shape of the wing is totally different in flight now. E.g. when doing helicopters the wing is completely filled and pressurized”, so Strobl. With the common design one side has always a lack of pressure and load.

Like the predecessor the THRILLER X3 has the PPN and the PPN plus feature too. “New openings meant to modify the complete system, but which turned out to be not a problem. Extreme thin durable plastic reinforcements give a good starting and flight characteristic and they grant too that the THRILLER X3 keeps it for a long time.

More demanding for designers and test pilots were the optimal line design. “Here the individual preferences of each pro had to be discussed”, remembers Strobl. One preferred a very short line setup, the other saw the advantages in the longer one. “In the end we found a perfect compromise satisfying everyone” laughs the designer. The curvature of the THRILLER X3 is a bit higher. The number of attachments points and their position has been changed too. “All together a deep adjustment had to be done.”

In this design step a new improvement was implemented too: „ We had so far a protection sleeve on the loop (Tube line Cover), this was mandatory to avoid the cutting effect occurring if of loaded kevlar lines are looped together This had the big disadvantage that the lines tangled up more easy and so the sorting became more difficult.” By the new way of load application a polyester or dyneema core is inserted in the line to spread the punctual load. So the lines can’t tangle up any more and ease the line sorting.” This improves the treatment of possible cravats too. “This innovation is adapted from the BLACKLIGHT.”

What stays the same as before is the excellent finishing of the wing, the fine sizing and the reinforcements which make the THRILLER X3 to a very durable wing, though it is always under extreme loads. Each line attachment is reinforced with “Insignia Tape” (60g/m² self adhesive nylon fabric) in the bottom sail/ profile ribs and V-Tapes. Even the tension bands without line connection are reinforced on bottom sail and ribs with the tape because these are higher loaded too. To improve stability close to limit loading the V-tapes connections to the ribs are reinforced in this way too.

The result is a well balanced THRILLER X3 where in particular the dynamics, directional stability and the rhythm capabilities stand out. The general characteristic of the THRILLER X3 rates Daniela Martin very satisfying: “The THRILLER X3 stands open and kind of neutral above one, and when you give the commands exact and well dosed the wing reacts like you want it direct without any delay”. Performing helico the X3 spins faster and is very easy to control.

The exact handling allows it too, to correct not perfectly entered tricks. “The Esfera/Sphere is far easier to perform with the X3 than ever before”, the testers found out. “On the other hand we have to say that you now have to correct in infinity tumble now and then,” says Strobl. The THRILLER is still directional stable but not so strickt as the predecessor. “ many pilots found the THRILLER 2k12, when flown close to the weight limit or above it to strict. We now changed the concept to a more even characteristic,” states the chief designer. With other words:” The THRILLER X3 has exact the ease the U-Turn acro wings stand for ever since, but which has been overlaid by a to strong direction stability,” so Daniela Martin.

As held with its predecessors the THRILLER X3 will be improved in a continuous process with the aim to transfer the improvements found under peak load to the serial wings- like it was in the past.