Airborne is about to release its new Sting 3 intermediate glider, an upgrade of their existing Sting 2 XC (http://www.airborne.com.au/pages/hg_sting.html). The glider will go to Germany next week for DHV testing.

Why announce it now when it won't be available for shipping until most likely February? Well, Airborne is flat out producing as many gliders as they can at the moment, and even if you ordered a Sting 2 XC now you wouldn't get it until February. This is a somewhat unusual situation for a hang glider manufacturer as this time of year (even in the Southern Hemisphere) is the slow time.

So you can probably place an order for the Sting 3 now, but don't expect to receive it soon.

What's new?

The Sting 3 has been designed to be an easier aerotowing glider than the Sting 2 XC with less bar pressure on tow. In order to accomplish this, the Sting 3 has much better glide performance at speeds above best glide speed. This is accomplished by increasing the double surface area, a new luff curve, new batten profile, and a new sail design.

The purple strip above is the additional under surface area. The prototype that I have been flying, which looks like this one, has three under surface battens on each side.

Airborne is claiming better handling at low speed that the Sting 2 XC, better higher speed gliding performance (tested in side to side comparisons) with a light weight glider (57 pounds), with easy intermediate glider handling.

The outer tip batten is floating, not physically connected to the leading edge. This makes for easier setup. The tips are square cut. There are four luff lines on each side, and no sprogs. This reduces weight and cost.

The Sting 3 uses the Airborne common control frame. You can put the full C4 control frame on it if you wish with a carbon base tube. Any of the control bar and downtube options are available.

The VG has been redesigned for greater range. It is easy to adjust with minimal exertion. I found that the handling with the VG on did not deteriorate dramatically. With the VG off it was docile.

I've been flying the Sting 3 for the past three days at the coast here in Redhead and Merewether. It definitely has intermediate handling and is easy to launch and land.

The Sting 3 also had excellent high speed performance, but then I was comparing it with Scott on a Fun 190. Scott has flown a Sting 2 XC against the Sting 3 and the Sting 3 had much better glide performance.

I had no way to assess just how the glider performance of the Sting 3 compares with say the Wills Wing Sport 2 (http://www.willswing.com/prod2.asp?theClass=hg&theModel=sport2). I would think as a matter of course that the Sport 2 would have better glide performance given its use of a sprog, the reduced number of luff lines, and higher aspect ratio.

I don't get the impression that Airborne is going after the same market niche as the Sport 2. Rather they want a really easy to fly intermediate glider with increased ease of aerotowing and better performance than the Sting 2 XC. Maybe the proper comparison is with the Moyes Sonic (http://moyes.com.au/productdetail.asp?id=11&pg=12&cat=).