Design
In a funny way Style3 combines features of old and new Aeros. The loose ends are made in the old way - if you look only at them, you can get the impression that we have a machine developed in the early 2000s. The wide ribbon, the abundance of rows and slings... There is nothing wrong with it - it is quite normal for a "post-schooler", which is Style3. You do not need excessive volatility of these devices, but the increased reliability and durability of their construction are always important for these "workhorses". If you want to see something more modern in Style3 design, it is enough to look at the wing. The front edge flaunts neatly rounded intakes with fashionable reinforcements from wires, the wing has compromise elongation (5.2) and quite modern shape. The color design, quite aggressive, in some ways echoes the designs of units from Sky Country and, perhaps, Dudek. Overall, the impression is quite positive.
Launch, wing work on the ground
Quite normal for a "school-preschool" wing. The glider is stable over head without any abrupt movements, it shows only a tendency to curl backwards, if my hands and body do not work energetically enough. In a weak wind this kind of launch requires a little more energy. But in a strong wind it's easy and pleasant to work with the STYLE.
The flight
Comfort! That is the main word to describe briefly and succinctly the first and the most vivid impressions from this glider. In thermals, Stiles is very calm and short, easily controllable in the uphill sections. It is interesting, that the ears of the test pilot are not so loaded, so it is easy enough to fly away from moderate thermic "kicks". But it cannot be called "folding" - it's just one-section collapse that happens all by itself before you can do anything.
Volatility. Not the strongest side of the guinea pig, but nobody demands outstanding flying characteristics from such a simple machine. Parallel transitions with the GIN Carrera predictably showed the Carrera's total superiority over the whole polar. And at the same time, the Stile's quality is good enough to go routes in non-mountainous conditions and probably even on the plains. A rather heavy gas pedal unhurriedly and even kind of strenuously accelerated the Stile3 by about 10 km/h relative to the balancing mode. The figure is not outstanding, but quite enough for this class of equipment; besides, there are certain doubts that the speed increase was measured correctly - Slava Sapronenko's results were more optimistic, around 13-15 km/h, which is very, very decent for such a machine. But the planning angle at maximum speed is not in doubt and does not fall as much as it was with "school" wings of the previous generation. The minimum rate of descent in straight flight is pleasantly low, but you have to be careful when steering the thermals on the Style3 - as the spiral tapers off, the vertical speed begins to increase faster than on the mid-upper EN B class gliders.
Maneuverability. Probably the best thing for a "high school-post-school" wing. No extremes. You cannot meet unbelievable sharpness of control which you could meet in the machines with formal certification EN B - but you cannot call Still3 clumsy either. The reaction of the device is calm, not especially fast, but more or less accurate. I haven't noticed any pronounced brake backlash, and the factory setting seemed quite correct to me. Entry into the turn is smooth, calm and predictable. Let me repeat, I had to learn this machine in quite "combat" conditions - in moderate mountain thermal conditions, so I practically did not have to get used to this wing. A couple of thermal spirals and the contact was established! It is quite difficult to say for sure if the Style3 is moving after the hand, it seems to be there, but it is masked by the slight lag in reaction to the brakes. Reaction to weight work is also quite pleasant, no more, no less. All in all, it turns out that Style3, not being especially maneuverable, nevertheless does not limit the pilot in anything. I've tried both tight spirals and deep vinohvers - if you ask the device correctly, everything is done, and even quite easily. And at the same time it is enough to forgive the mistakes and inaccuracies in piloting, which are quite natural for a beginner.
Comfort and informativeness. As I wrote above, there is a lot of comfort. Informative - a little less. In fact, one of the important tasks of a classic after-school glider is not to frighten a pilot, but to gradually give him an idea of what is a turbulence and the most dangerous flight modes encountered in real life. And Style3 copes with this task, as they say, with a bang. It is not completely dampened dumbwaiter like GIN Atlas, and not "a hot sportster" like Nova Mentor2 or GIN Carrera. In a moderate turbulence Style3 doesn't mind slightly flapping its "ears" - but it happens so softly and unobtrusively, that it can hardly frighten even an absolutely inexperienced pilot. However, the small roll and pitch motions of Still3 are quite enough to feel the air around the wing. Changes in airspeed in the Style3 are even weaker - something happens to the speed, of course, but the speed changes alone as "air feedback" are clearly not enough. The information capacity of the brakes is not great either, and it's not a sufficient channel of information transfer from the wing to the pilot. Relaxing, enjoying the flight and listening carefully to everything that happens with the wing is the magic formula that allows the pilot of Style3 to get the most out of the glider.
Dynamics and power capacity. Both parameters exceed the average for "after-schoolers" values in a funny way. Calm and dignified power - that's how we can describe Styla3's ability to store energy and transfer it from one form to another. The accumulation of kinetic energy in spirals and vingovers is smooth and almost imperceptible, but once you gain speed, you quickly realize that you should not joke with the accumulated energy - it is not that little. It is desirable to stretch the exit from the steep spiral (by the way, fraught with spiral neutrality at the sinking from 10) for a couple of turns - otherwise Style3 can "shoot up" appreciably, requiring quite energetic compensation for a roll. Wingovers "sway" not from the first movement - but somewhere from the second or third swing it is quite possible to see the shadow of your suspension on the centerplane or even slightly above. It is desirable again to exit the sway smoothly, without letting the accrued speed sharply "flow" into any soaring and other unpleasant jerks. After such activities, the long pre-descent sweep (at least 20 meters at calm weather!) is taken for granted.
Dangerous flight modes
Asymmetric folding
Good. No complaints, this rat is well within the limits of the EN B, but you would expect such a calm and easy glider to behave calmly in the asymmetric conditions. It is not very difficult to fold the Style3, it is not very deep along the chord, just by one third. The opening, despite the lines in the leading edge, is smooth and gradual, without unpleasant jerks. But the angle of oblique roll could be less: 50-60 degrees - for a "postschooler" it's not bad. The loss of altitude and the course deviation are quite traditional - no more than 20 meters and 90 degrees, respectively.
Asymmetric folding at top speed
The "after school" wings are in special demand in terms of safety, so I tried this mode as well. Good with a minus. Mode behavior is the same as without the gas pedal, but the roll and pitch deflection become more serious - about 70 degrees and about 180 degrees, respectively. The loss of altitude at the exit of the mode grows as well - at least 30 meters.
Frontal folding
Great. Not much to say in particular: slight lifting, a very short roll with almost instantaneous opening of the whole front edge, fast rate of acceleration.
Breakup
Good with plus - or excellent with minus. We'd give it a plus for its understandable and predictable behaviour near to a breakdown, and also for the big brake travel. At the same time we can still break the boat, which is more of a plus than a minus in my opinion. By the way, I had to put a minus for relatively low load drop near the stall and at the very beginning of the mode. We have to diagnose the stall mainly by a strongly pronounced drop in airspeed and increase in the rotational speed. As it should be in this class of equipment, the mode develops unhurriedly and smoothly, giving the pilot time to correct his mistake. The output is low, so it's easy to stay in the thermal spiral.
Fast Descent Modes
A steep steerable spiral
Good with minus. The glider enters nicely - smoothly, accurately, and under control of the pilot - but when descending over -10 m/s it is not too quick to exit when turning the brakes and the body into neutral. It is close to spiral neutrality. I haven't tried it myself, but I am pretty sure that if you put the Style3 with its leading edge on the horizon, it needs precise, quick and cold-blooded piloting to get out of such a spiral. But the problem is well-known, many modern paragliders with certification not higher than EN B have problems with helix stability to one degree or another. A good technique for smooth exit from a steep spiral is to brake the glider smoothly by small, gradually increasing travel of both brakes. After slowing down to a comfortable speed, you can start to exit the spiral. However, more traditional exit techniques work very well on the Style3 as well - the main thing is to do everything smoothly, giving the machine time to gradually dissipate the accumulated kinetic energy.
"Ears."
Good with a minus. Because there are problems with the stability of the mode. With a good effort, you can make it so that the "ears" will hardly shake, and the slings will not pull out of your hands. But it is a rather fragile state of the device, and a sudden gust of wind or a thermal "kick" can easily upset the mode you found with so much difficulty. The decline, however, turns out to be quite large - about -3 m/s.
"Ears" Accelerator
Good with minus. At full throttle, the mode becomes even less stable.
B-break
Mode, in my opinion, is of little use - but "school-post-school" equipment should perform it flawlessly, at least so that the pilot could comfortably and safely learn this mode. The grade is excellent. Entering the mode is not technically difficult, and the effort on the B-rows is not as great as on the three-row machines. Having lost horizontal speed, the aircraft quickly stabilizes overhead and descends steadily and calmly at -8 m/s. When the rows are released quickly, the exit is almost instantaneous, with a vigorous, but small-amplitude straight flip.
Conclusions
Great ambition in design is nice. But it also happens that it is not less (or even more!) pleasant to have, on the contrary, almost complete absence of these very ambitions. In modern "intermediates" market oversaturated with mega products of serious volatility and complicated character there are few really comfortable, simple and reliable "workhorses" designed for thorough and safe learning of steaming basics and first routes. And Style3 is perfectly suitable for solving these very tasks. Even though flight performance of our candidate is not the best in the class, but this modest worker is much more pleasant and reliable than more serious devices. It's interesting, that in comparison with the first Style, which was absolutely forgiving, Style3 became more modern, dynamic, a little more strict and demanding to the pilot - but not to the loss of compliance with modern ideas about "intermedia" of the initial level. Minimum flight time required? Probably from scratch - provided the pilot is minimally upright and adequate.
Pros
- Pleasant, comfortable behavior in turbulence
- Good maneuverability
Cons
- Not found
I would like to thank Rinat Sabitov, the dealer of Aeros in Naberezhnye Chelny, for the offer of the paraglider for the tests.
Photo: I. Tarasova, V. Sapronenko.