en rating

How do you tell what en rating the freestyle 3 is. I cant find it anywhere

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Kimsmile's picture

Missunderstanding over interpunctuation. To clearify:
- No brake steering while on speedbar (inducing camber -> collapse)
- Use your brakes with open or closed trims, it doesn't matter (like on tandem wings)
Hence, trims are a great plus if the wind gets stronger, e.g. soaring next to the see. It would be great if every wing would have trims! But for certification, you have do twice the checks, with open and with closed trims. I think that's even the reason for the Freestyle 3 not being certified. It's just too expensive, I guess.

Fabian's picture

I don't think that is correct. There are some wings on which you are not even supposed to steer with the rear risers when on speedbar (example: the Skywalk Spice I am flying). That is the exact opposite of what you are saying: I am supposed to use brake to steer on speedbar.
The advantage of trims is that you don't need to push the speedbar all the time

Kimsmile's picture

The adventage from trims over speedbar is that you still can steer the wing by the brakes, while on speedbar, you would induce a collapse by applying brakes.

Fabian's picture

Trims are the equivalent of a speedbar that you don't need to push all the time. They can be used whenever you need your wing to be faster and more dynamic (high wind soaring, dynamic manoeuvres), just make sure they are symmetrical...
You can change them during flight, don't forget to set them back to slow for the landing

dalechamberlain's picture

ive been flying the FS3 lately, its nice, i always fly with the trimmers in the slow position. when would i adajust them to the fast position? as in whats the benefit? can i do it while flying? if i used it for cross county would it get a better glide on high speed? thanks

dalechamberlain's picture

thank you both very helpful information, i feel like im ready to sled ride

Fabian's picture

For me, the big difference was how fast it reacted compared to my other wing. The hook needed more than a 360° turn, a lot of weight shift and brake to go to spiral. The FS did the same in 90°. Same for wingovers, the hook needed a couple of turns with a lot of brake to get to the level of the wing, the FS needed 2 turns.
Another big difference was the landing. The FS was a lot faster but also more dynamic. Doing S-turns to lose altitude quickly turned into wingovers close to the ground (weight shift to the outside to keep the turns flat instead)
Try to get a big landing field and some ground handling before your first flight.
Enjoy the wing, once you get used to it, it's tons of fun!

JaroXS's picture

Hi, I have tested the Freestyle 3 22m2. I done a lot collapses and acro manouvers this year. It has trimmers and when the trimmers are closed (lower speed) the glider is like EN-C behaviour with 100kg take off weight. When you release the trimmers is like EN-D but not in all situations sometimes still EN-C. The situation is changing when you will release the trimmers and push the speedbar. With speedbar the wing is aggressive and the pilot input is needed otherwise it will be bad.

Anyway the Freestyle 3 wing is one of the best wings on the market for freestyle flying. Its super nice in weak thermal, and the performance is really good, so it can be used for XC flying.

Freestyle 3 is much easier to handle then Freestyle 2. Its another level wing.

Regards,

Jarek

dalechamberlain's picture

what did you notice most when you switched to the freestyle2, does it try overshoot faster and more often, just wondering what to expect when i take it for a first run

dalechamberlain's picture

thanks, ive got a freestyle3 22 here and pretty much doing the same step up as you did, hrs, weight ect. ill be sure to take it easy

Fabian's picture

The Freestyle3 would never pass the certification because it has trims. On top of that, it would probably also not pass certification because it is made to play, not to fly in a straight line as safely as possible. That's why it has only been load tested (until 12G, so basically your head will fall of your body before the wing falls apart)

It's a freestyle wing so you definitely should know how to deal with incidents in the air (collapses, ...). How playful/aggressive it is really depends on the size and your weight.
I started flying on a hook3 (very mild mid B) and bought a freestyle2 in 20m2 (total weight: +/-95kg) after +/-120 flights (+/-1.5 year). The switch from the hook to the FS was huge and it took me quit some time to get used to it.

Depending on what you want, you might consider a bigger one in the beginning.
Smaller sizes give you more energy and speed, which is easier for dynamic manoeuvres (wingovers, sats, ...) and soaring in harder wind
Bigger sizes are slower and have less energy, which is easier to stay in the air in softer conditions and to train all negative manoeuvres (heli, misty, ...). It gives you more time to react to whatever you need to do

Lokals's picture

Its hard to tell, its not shure they have tested it at all. It cost alot of money to test them. But it's probably at least a D wing if not "harder"

Im not the right guy to tell you this, so hopefully someone that knows the wing can tell you something about it:)

dalechamberlain's picture

Does that mean its unsafe, as in wouldn't pass

Lokals's picture

It doesn't have any rating. Its just loadtested.