On Friday, December 16, 2016 at 9:31:01 AM UTC-8, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Beautiful sailplane. Does anyone else think the forward fuselage, looks like it barrowed lines from the Schleicher series, ASW-24,27,28, ASG-29? The tapper looks different.


A South African newsgroup has some more info about the glider:

http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=183997

Looking at the 3-view drawing on the Jonker website, and based on the above website, I think that the JS3 wing is the JS1C wing with the inner 1.5 meters removed, and with appropriate changes such as relocated spoilers. The 18m version will use the outer panels from the 21m version of the JS1C. That will give it a wing area of only 106 sq ft in the 18 meter mode (for comparison, the ASG29 is 113).

Interesting that FES will be an option. At the Reno Convention, Luka told me that the Jonkers didn't like FES because they thought the disturbed airflow from the folded props would reduce performance. They wanted a prop design like the one that has recently appeared on the GP14. Perhaps with the JS3's low nose and high mounted wing the Jonkers now feel that the disturbed airflow will not reach high enough to affect the wing.

Video here of the takeoff roll on the first flight. No use of spoilers, and the glider had no tendency to drop a wing:

http://tinyurl.com/z57pvhx

The only problem I see with the JS3 is that the side mounted swiveling vent is gone. I wonder why they got rid of it. Will there be an option to mount a vent in the panel?