World Contest - 15m class

Uys made an excellent 45 minute presentation on the JS2 (or 3?) in Nephi last summer. He talked about their innovative CFD philosophy and robust computational processing power. As with many industries, highly iterative "trail and error" testing has proven to be very successful vs the more traditional iteration processes used by the established sailplane manufacturing firms.

For example, the V3 has not resulted in a new fuselage design. It's basically the same fuselage as the V2. Only very minor changes. Same control system, etc. But Yonkers believes any major performance improvements MUST include total design innovation. The fuselage is as critical as the wing. They are symbiotic, not individual parts. They both require highly integrated design attention in order to deliver maximum performance gains. As improvements in glider design are harder and harder to come by, a complete design philosophy including total fuselage innovation (such as shaping, wing position [high, mid or low], structure, total wetted area minimization, boom shape, tail improvements, etc) is required to realize significant performance (and safety) improvement. With traditional, less iterative processes (not highly iterative CFD modeling), the other companies cannot afford the testing time required to prove benefits in total design enhancements. So, SH focused on the wing primarily for the V3. They left performance on the table by not putting the same effort into the fuselage and the integration between the two elements. I found this argument to be fairly interesting.

It was a very interesting presentation Uys gave us in Nephi. Unfortunately, we will likely only see the 15 meter version JS2 in Australia. We will have to wait a bit to see the JS2, V3 and 29 do battle.

I think the JS2 is going to be impressive. Obviously they intend to beat (not match) the current 15/18 gliders, by a compelling margin. The JS2 will be the first completely new 18 meter design since the JS1 and JS1c Evo. The V2 and 29 came years earlier. I think the JS1 is equal (or slightly better in weak) to the 29. I think the JS2 will certainly be better than the JS1. And I honestly think the V3 was intended to be "competitive" with the JS1 and 29. I have my doubts that the V3 will be a significantly better performer in any condition. I believe it may struggle in weak, rough weather. We will see in a month or so...

So, I'm sitting on my hands for now. Until the 29 is uncompetitive, why change? The 29 is a highly proven glider and still the king to this moment.