Gin Gliders GTO3: more than Photon

Nothing bad, but nothing new either. Well-made, nice and comfortable. The handles on the rear rows are slightly unusual, they are made of thick-walled plastic tubing. They feel quite comfortable in the hands.

And here we have quite a few interesting things to look forward to. First of all, the notorious Whale Leading Edge, which, according to Gin Gliders, improves the wing's behavior near the stall. And if in Bonanza 3 it was barely hinted at, but in GTO3 it is full grown! It looks unusual, you can't confuse it with anything else. But if we forget about the humped front edge, we have a classic Gin from the 2010s with very characteristically narrowed "ears". There are quite a few sections — 71 of them (just like the Foton). AR is almost standard in this class of equipment, 6.5 (and also matches the Photon one-to-one). Except don't think we're looking at a copy! Different wing shape. Different arch. Different wing areas and specific loads. Different internal structure. Different materials, after all.

The second, less obvious but no less interesting feature of the GTO3 is the mix of plastic and nitinol. The upper surface of the wing is supported and reinforced with stiff and long three-piece plastic rods, while the lower surface is padded with thin and light nitinol wires. The choice of wing fabrics is also interesting: there are popular Dokdo and durable Myingjin. I would like to mention the updated graphic design. It doesn't differ much from the previous one, the recognizability is preserved, and it looks quite nice to me.

I managed to work with the wing on the ground in quite different wind conditions, from weak to gusty strong winds. Bonanza 3 owners, I have good news for you! The somewhat strenuous wing rise characteristic of the Bonanza 3 is now a thing of the past. The GTO3 comes into the flight position much more pleasantly - maybe not perfectly, but clearly with less effort and more linearly. A pilot already familiar with two-liners will have no trouble with the GTO3, but if this is the pilot's first two-liner, the specifics of two-liners will still come to mind. Cobra start and ear touching the ground are performed without difficulties, but also without ease, calmly and smoothly, requiring constant moderate effort on the main carabiners and brakes. But in low wind the GTO3 goes overhead quite confidently, and in strong winds it is not inclined to shoot seriously.

Plain and simple. The wing takes the load quite quickly, easily takes the pilot off the slope. No peculiarities were noticed neither in light nor strong winds.

Didn't disappoint! I managed to chase a bit with both Photons and the notorious Sky Paragliders Merlin. The results are interesting. Not claiming to be the leader in terms of maximum speed in its class (we have DaVinci Mambo for that), the GTO3 has almost no competitors in glide. Perhaps Swing Libra could compete with it, but it is a wing built in a slightly different ideology, for other tasks. And if we compare the GTO3 with similar racing EN C 2-liners, then in terms of aerodynamics the GTO3 turns out to be either the leader or somewhere very close. That's a great result!

Another strong point of our test subject. Despite loading at the top of the weight range, the GTO3 clung very convincingly and tenaciously to the most different flows - from a weak evening ridge lifts to powerful mountain thermals - causing a pleasant feeling of a reliable, confident height gain. Perhaps it is better to load this wing under the very top of the weight range, in order to squeeze maximum maneuverability and sharpness of reactions out of the GTO3 without fear of a noticeable increase in descent.

Okay, we've got the glide. But where are we on speed? It's pretty good, too! Although, maybe not great. The speed increase measured by the Prandtl-Pitot sensor was about +21...+23 km/h. Better than the super-popular Foton, but less than the above mentioned Libra and Mambo. However, in race conditions it is much more interesting how well the wing resists turbulence in flight at high speeds, and it is this that often determines the real achievable maximum speed. And in this respect, the GTO3 turned out to be like the Foton. Quite calm! Like the Foton, the GTO3 is designed to carry its pilot through choppy conditions smothly and comfortably even at top speeds, and the GTO3 does this really well. Comfort in flight on full speed is perhaps even more than at lower speeds. The only censure is heavy and not very effective rear risers, which transmit a little information and require considerable efforts for steering and pitch control. However, at this level of comfort it is not too important.

Immediately there was a feeling of something heavy and inert. It is a bit hard to enter a turn (and meanwhile I was on the top of the certified weight range!). It is necessary to pile the body with a lot of effort, same for the brake input. The brakes are rather heavy, which naturally fits into the heavy-massive-inert picture of the test subject's behavior on a turn. But if to pile up properly, it turns adequately and may provide an unexpectedly compact turn. It does not like to turn flat.

Comfort. Strange and somewhat similar to the second Bonanza. About 90-95% of the time GTO3 is very calm, practically does not snake and/or wobble, very small movements in roll and pitch. But in front of a lift and in general without an obvious reason it can suddenly and sharply shoot forward. One such “shot” suddenly almost led to a bad frontal — the center began to fail, ears were left open. I stopped it by a fast and ample brake input, but I was not happy, let's say. Then I watched the wing more carefully and caught a few weaker “shoots”. On gas pedal the situation does not become radically easier, after some hours in the skies GTO3, let's say, still didn't cause 100% trust. It seems to be flying calmly, but it also seems to be ready to collapse with almost no warning.

Feedback. I didn't like the fact that the GTO3 is neutral in roll. The lift neither throws out nor sucks GTO3 in, so it is not easy to determine the direction of the spiral. The rest — the acceleration before entering the lift, changes in loads on the brakes and carabiners — is quite normal and corresponds to what you expect from an advanced racing EN C 2-liner.

It is pleasant, clear and exactly what you expect from a wing of this class. Wingovers are not as dynamic as on Niviuk wings, but everything happens smoothly and under pilot's control. Entry into the spiral is also smooth, making the GTO3 go into a descent at -10 m/s is possible from at least a couple of turns. Exit is also smooth, accumulated energy is dissipated gradually, without sudden changes in speed and altitude.

Simple, comfortable (like many things in the behavior of GTO3), but not super-efficient. The mode involves about 25% of the wing span, and the sink rate is not too big, about -3 m/s. I highly recommend combining the mode with speed system use — in this case the regime is more comfortable and the sink rate becomes a bit bigger, up to about -4 m/s.

Very adequate! The stall starts at about 25% of span and smoothly spreads further, giving enough time for a smooth exit. The brake travel and the load are ample, it is difficult to accidentally stall the tip, which is atypical for EN C. The exit is dynamic, with fast speed gain and some wobbling.