News

Come join SparrowHawk pilots as we soar near Montague, CA at Siskiyou County Airport just north of Mount Shasta. We will be flying June 13-15. Craggy Aero (Richard Pfiffner) will be offering a x-country camp. Contact Windward Performance or click here if you plan on attending.

Windward Performance will also travel to Siskiyou County Airport just prior to the SSA Sports Class Nationals June 26-28. The first practice day for Sports Class Nationals is June 29th. We hope to have two SparrowHawks in the competition. Please let us know if you plan on soaring with us.

The DuckHawk 15 m racer is now ready for initial orders. The wing plugs have been machined and molds are underway. The aircraft has many new systems such as retractable landing gear and controls and mixers for the wing flaperons that are also coming together.

It will be a while before first flight but your order at this phase of the project will get you your new aircraft much sooner.

Deposits of $20,000.00 (nonrefundable) will hold the purchase price of $91,000.00. Contact us through the email option on the website for purchase order information.

The Electric Self Launching version of the SparrowHawk is nearing completion.

The custom made three-phase permanent magnet brushless 15 KW motor should offer sparkling performance and is over 90% efficient. Batteries are currently sized for a total climb altitude of 4600 FT. Additional battery capacity can be added if desired.

Now electric power self launching can be had for less than the price of a tow!

Stay tuned for flight reports and be ready to place your order.

The Governor’s Cup is an East Coast contest in which pilots post flights over a set course. The course averages about 150 miles with 5 turnpoints, each of which is a gliderport. Pilots can start at any turnpoint and fly the course in either direction, which allows for a lot of participation and competition. So far this season we have 30 pilots and over 90 flights submitted. Pilots are scored on their best three flights using 2007 SSA sports class handicaps. The SparrowHawk holds the lead for the South Course of the Governor’s cup by a substantial margin. Even looking at the non-handicapped speeds, the SparrowHawk is turning in very respectable results. For example, the SparrowHawk handicap has to be dropped below 1.054 before it moves to second place in the standings. This handicap more accurately reflects the flight performance of the SparrowHawk and puts it right in the middle of European Club Class ships.

Take a look at the Governor’s Cup site and look under SCORES / 2007 STANDINGS.

Come join us for some great flying at Siskiyou County Airport August 17-19.

Greg will be giving a talk at the ESA Western Workshop over Labor Day weekend September 1-3. Last year the conditions were excellent for cross-country flying.

A great long weekend of flying was had at Siskiyou County Airport. Nine SparrowHawk pilots joined in flying a variety of flights over four days. Richard Pfiffner of Craggy Aero fame called contest style tasks that some pilots flew, with one (in his yellow glider) commenting on how he was tired of counting pine beetles in the trees on the ridge just below. Two SparrowHawk pilots reported their best ever flights, which included flights of over 200 miles. A few members of High Desert Soaring Club also joined us, and the club ASK-21 flew in the fun conditions. Many thanks to the crew at SIY for their incredible hospitality and tows. See the photo/video page for more photos.

Seven SparrowHawk pilots came out for a fun week of flying in Parawan Utah. We had four fun flyable days--before it snowed! One day two pilots did straight out flights with others driving chase cars/trailers. There was some good cross country flying while other pilots stayed local and enjoyed the incredible local scenery. Later in the week on the non-flyable days we visited Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park and had an equally great time. Check out the slide show and the photo/video page.

Bill Thar - East Coast Dealer Reports:
I have been flying out of Seminole Lake in Florida and introducing the SparrowHawk to pilots. Yesterday I made a first by landing at a nearby Hang glider field and got a tow with a Rotax 912S (100hp) powered ultralight that is usually used to tow hang gliders. The tow had very good exceleration and climbed at 700fpm. Tow speed was 45kts, so the nose was very high but no problem. These tow aircraft are used across the country at hang glider sites and offer up another opportunity for the SparrowHawk. Another bonus is the tow to 2K' only cost me $20 and, of course, there is no question about towing an uncertified aircraft. The folks are very friendly.

During the winter I fly mostly my SparrowHawk ultralight glider and for many weeks have been waiting for good day. Well yesterday was that good day. Winds had picked up from the west to over 60mph over the peaks and surface winds were picking up also. I launched at noon and released from tow at 8.8k msl into wave. A smooth elevator to just below 18k and since I had just installed a transponder I radioed Oakland Center on 127.95Mhz and told them I was an ultralight glider. To which, they replied " You are a what?". However they confirmed they could see me on their radar and that the transponder was working correctly. I had often wondered whether the small 95% carbon fiber glider would be visible on radar since carbon fiber is considered to be a stealth material. So now the game was to try and keep the altitude at just below 18k and to fly as fast as possible in the wave. As you fly faster your sink rate increase and the trick is to try and center the wave and fly at as high a speed possible without gaining or losing altitude. That meant flying at speeds as high as about 140mph and as low as 70mph. I raced north from Minden and turned around past Reno without dropping below 17.7k. Heading south I turned at Markleeville again without losing altitude. There were no clouds, so except for my feet, I was warm although the air was well below freezing. The run up and down the east side of the Sierras was about 120 miles which was achieved at an average speed or about 95mph. Not bad for a glider weighing less than many of you at 154lbs.
Dave

Windward Performance LLC is pleased to announce that the first composite trailer is now complete and will travel to the 2007 SSA Convention in Memphis, TN. A project long in the making, the trailer is sure to draw attention with its sleek lines and compact shape.

Three SparrowHawk pilots fly fights over 500K flights during the Western Division ESA Workshop held in Tehachapi, CA. Flying conditions were superb over the Owens Valley.

Windward Performance LLC delivers second Owl UAV to Mississippi State University.

The first test flight of the SparrowHawk SL was conducted by John Bentley in a small snow flurry. Patrick McLaughlin, shown in the photo, enjoyed testing the new craft.

The second annual spring SparrowHawk Rally was held at Great Western Soaring in Llano, CA May 8-14. Seven SparrowHawks were flown by 18 different pilots, eleven of which were first time SparrowHawk pilots. Mike Reagan in his SparrowHawk SN008 flew the longest distance of the Crystal squadron on May 14, landing in Bishop, CA, a flight of over 220 miles.

Windward Performance LLC secured a contract for three Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) based on the SparrowHawk to be delivered in 2005.

The next SparrowHawk rally will be held in conjunction with the SHA Western Workshop in Tehachapi, CA. This event is held the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before Labor Day weekend. The event is one of the special things in soaring. Many speakers from across the country will be presenting interesting content. The subject matter ranges from descriptions of simple homebuilding methods, through adhesive tests, to Paul McCready's latest work. It is always super fun. This year we expect to have six SparrowHawks present. We will all be flying and having fun. If you are in the area it is a great chance to see the SparrowHawk up close and meet SparrowHawk customers. Hope to see you there.

The SparrowHawk fly-in will be held May 15 - 22nd. Last year at this time I flew to 13000' and had a 140-mile x-country so we do see some pretty good weather this time of year. This winter is a big one here in Bend Oregon with about 2' of the white stuff out my back door, we haven't seen snow like this since 1993. The first two days of the fly in (Sat & Sun) will be a sort of get to know the neighborhood kind of flying, you will meet our local club members, which you will become one (needed for a tows), as there will most likely be club activity on the weekend you will have to sign up for a tow slot (usually not a problem). The next five days will be a mix of flying with hanger talks on the construction, continued airworthiness, performance curves, speeds to fly, and care and maintenance of your SparrowHawk. One of the events that we will be offering, that is if you are interested, is to set some Oregon State records. We will start with the 100, 200 KM speed triangles with the hope of doing a 300 and 500 and so forth and so on. You can find the records on the SSA web site. We will also be looking at the future with a brief discussion on our new 15 meter DuckHawk, plus a couple of good old hanger BBQ's. Stay tuned for more news on this happening as the date catches up with us. John Bently

Place: Big Spring, Texas

The SparrowHawk, flown by Gary Osoba, now has three world records with the completion of a 502 km. triangle today. This exceeds the old distance over a triangular course record by over 20 percent and also gets the record for speed over a triangular course of 500 km. at 79 km/h.

On July 20th in Ulysses, Kansas, Gary and the SparrowHawk broke the speed over a triangular course of 300 km. with a speed of 86 km/h. This was 36% faster than the old record!

Neither record was set in fantastic conditions. Gary had to battle 25 mph winds and had very weak lift on the last leg of the 300 km course. For the 500 km triangle, average climbs were only a little over 300 fpm.

Incidentally, another 500 km flight was flown two days before the record flight but did not count as a world record due to a technical issue. In total, the SparrowHawk flew nearly 2000 km. in just over two weeks!

Place: Zapata, Texas

The SparrowHawk is attempting to set several world records in TX. Weather has not been cooperating and several record runs have been closed out by afternoon thunderstorms on the last leg, even on the final glide. Some of these flights have had speeds 50% greater than the current record. 100 Km and 300 Km triangles have been flown. We hope to fly a 500 Km triangle soon. Long distance goal and free distance flights will be attempted as weather permits.

Gary Osoba has been piloting these attempts and really likes the SparrowHawk. He was extremely happy the first flight and recently said it is more and more fun to fly the more he flys it. It seems to suit his dynamic soaring style, runs at 100 KTS between thermals, and even thermals at 10:00 AM!

The SparrowHawk has been towed up by a Dragonfly tug for all of these flights.

Special thanks to every one who has helped make these attempts possible. A few special thanks are in order. High Desert Soaring for use of their trailer. Len Fox for use of his tow vehicle. The Flytec WRE personnel and the other pilots in TX for their pioneering spirit and actions.

Production of the SparrowHawk is under way at the Windward Performance factory near the Bend airport. The serial number two aircraft is receiving attention as it approaches completion. The wings have the internal components installed and are waiting final closeout while the fuselage is fully bonded together and ready for the installation of the flight controls.

The serial number three airframe is also under way as the fuselage skins and internal structures have been layed up and cured. Now that the number two airframe has vacated the fuselage assembly fixtures, the number three fuselage can be trimmed and prepared for bonding.

Stay tuned for photos of the number two aircraft as it is prepared for paint.

In the January 2001 edition of Soaring Magazine, Eric Greenwell first wrote about the SparrowHawk after a visit to our factory in Bend. Recently Eric returned to Bend to visit us and more importantly to evaluate the completed SparrowHawk first hand. Eric had an opportunity to fly the SparrowHawk and evaluate its responsive flight characteristics.

Look for Eric's new article in an upcoming edition of Soaring Magazine.

May 9-11th, 2002 Come see the SparrowHawk in person at the Willamette Valley Soaring Club fly-in May 9-11

Place: Hood River, in the Columbia River Gorge

Windward Performance crewmembers will be on hand to demonstrate the SparrowHawk. Designer/Engineer Greg Cole will be present to answer questions about the SparrowHawk and supply information about how you can become a SparrowHawk owner. Stop in for a look at the SparrowHawk. Buy a SparrowHawk T-shirt and get a free digital picture of yourself sitting inside the SparrowHawk.

Information about the soaring club can be found at their website: www.wvsc.org.

Windward Performance, LLC and the High Desert Soaring Club are proud to announce a (world’s first?) category DU sailplane race in Central OR. Summer conditions in the Bend area are very good and should provide for excellent racing.

Date: June 8-9, 2002 Practice day June 7

Place: Bend Airport, Bend, OR

Bring your SparrowHawk, Silent, 1-26, 1-36, PW-5, Russia, L-33, Apis, Woodstock, Duster, Monerai, Carbon Dragon or other small light sailplane. We will even let “overweight” sailplanes enter this fun competition. Come and fly.

John Bentley in the High Desert Soaring Club's Nimbus 2 and Tim Martin in his DG-202 joined Doug Taylor in the SparrowHawk for a spectacular 4 hour flight around the beautiful Cascade Mountains in central Oregon. The flight started with rather ragged lift conditions, but got better and became fantastic. The three lucky pilots got to fly in a variety of thermal and ridge lift and make some fairly long straight runs. The mix of conditions gave a good opportunity to compare the performance of the SparrowHawk with these two older, but still highly regarded racing sailplanes. The SparrowHawk was able to out climb both the Nimbus and the DG-202. During a straight run side by side, the DG-202 had no advantage up to 60 knots. Even up to 100 knots, the SparrowHawk was only very gradually sinking below the 15-meter racer.

Tim Martin said, "I was really surprised. There was no way I could climb with the SparrowHawk and up to about 60 knots we were right together. Even at higher speeds I couldn't really get away from him." John Bentley agreed with Tim. He said, "It proved to me that it's a nice cross country machine. Not to mention I had to get 3 or 4 people to help me put the Nimbus together and help me get the plane to the runway and we still wound up flying in the same place. If one guy can put a SparrowHawk together with nothing but a plastic saw horse, can fly it up into the mountains and then make the glide home more than 20 miles without turning, then what do you need 20.5 meters of wing for?"

The very first flight of the SparrowHawk glider occurred on a small public airstrip outside of Bend, Oregon. Doug Taylor was the capable pilot on the stick of the new glider.