participate in any comps since summer last year. But it seemed that the deficiency in cross-country flying was compensated by a new Combat L performance. I didn’t prepare the glider for these comps; the glider I took was a stock glider. The reason for that was to find out how it performs compare to its rivals. I felt pretty comfortable in thermals, most of the time sitting effortlessly on top of the gaggle. It seems the glider has improved in climb noticeably. There were five tasks flown at Quest, all of them in different flying conditions, most of them in typically Florida conditions. There were one or two relatively rough days though (one of them at Florida Ridge). The glider felt very safe, there was not a single moment when I got scared of in turbulent air.

COMBAT L : A glider of flawless design
by Oleg Bondarchuk (after winning the 2004 HG World Championships)

The Combat L has been around for more than a year now. It was designed at the end of 2003. From the very first test flight we could see that the glider flew noticeably better than anything else we've been flown. It seamed quite promising and we were eager to test it out in a competition against others gliders.

The local competition season was already over and there was no other way to find out how the new glider stacked up other than going to Australia to take part in Australian competitions. So I did.

There were three usual competitions in Australia: 'Australian Nationals', 'Pre-Worlds (both in Hay)' and 'Bogong Cup'. Unfortunately I got sick and missed the Nationals. But there were still two comps to go.

We had some additional ideas on how to make it even better. So there were changes made and glider went into serial production.

So what differs the Combat L from it's predecessor - Combat 2? The letter L in its name answers the question - it is significantly lighter than Combat 2. Depending on glider size and option it is 1.5 - 2 kilograms lighter. But there is not only a weight reduction. Basically it is a new glider with a wide variety of options. The sail design basically has not changed much. The main difference is leading edges. They are made of 7075 alloy and have been completely different designed. Having about the same stiffness they are significantly lighter:... Standard glider includes all fancy staff including airfoiled control frame.

Optionals are: light weight non coated crossbar, carbon fiber battens, additional aluminum round bacebar, competition wires, additional carbon fiber inserts, light weight glider bag and light weight pads. Non coated crossbar is as strong as coated one but approx. 600 - 700 grams lighter. We found out that changing the battens stiffness change not only handling and climb, but performance as well. It took as a wile to optimize diameter and diameter distribution of carbon fiber battens.

With the Combat L we've got design which have improved both handling and performance. Because of the less inertia of entire glider and outer part of the wing particularly the coordination of the Combat L is significantly better than Combat 2 giving a possibility to make a tighter turn with a same bank angle which makes climb more efficient, allowing to circle closer to the core of a thermal. It is possible to use more VG on when thermaling which also improves a climb rate. The Combat L glides slightly better than Combat 2.
Same as all Aeros gliders it has light but positive bar pressure throughout all speed range, gliding fast is easy and not tiring. Unfortunately we did not have clear comparisons done with Combat L against Combat 2 to tell the difference in glide but certainly it is there.

There were few things done towards safety. The glider has stronger crossbar, the pull-back wire is changed from 2.5 mm to 3 mm diameter. Actually the pull-back wire has been changed already on
Combat 2 model. There are many minor changes made to make Combat L safest and easiest glider to fly.
The glider seams very successful.