[Jason]

[Zecold]

saturn facts are very interesting to me. I have no saturn 167, but i want to enjoy it. I think Paragliding is the best recreation. But its awful and horrible.

[blindrodie]

[J Fritsche]

Funny that this old Saturn thread popped up again today...I just flew my used 147 Saturn for the 3rd time, a few hours ago, for an hour. Felt great on launch in strong wind and landing was great too. Roll response is awesome compared to my 164 Eagle. It turns easier with full VG than my Eagle, with no VG, does. I can't believe anyone has ever complained about stiff handling characteristics on this glider. But...
I'm pissed about all the sail flutter in the trailing edge between the last two ribs any time I fly a little faster than trim. And the upper rigging is very prone to kinking and getting stepped on when packing it up if you're not careful. Tightening the sail is a b****. And today when setting up, the plates that connect the crossbars caught the nose rib, putting a few-inch tear in the batten pocket and bending the rib. I'm glad I got this thing cheap.

[Cal Glider]

The Saturn is a very good wing, as to being old and out of date. If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it. It does and fly’s just the way it should for the job and skill level it was built for. The Sat is also built rock solid as is the Predator. If you break one of these wings, you are flying way out of the envelope. Some of the stories that other pilots told of the damage their Saturn’s had and they still flew just fine (Bent leading edges, bent down tubes just to name a few off the top of my head) scared the crap out of me.
These wings will last like the energizer bunny, they just keep flying and flying. My Pred had over 700 hrs on the sail and still flew pretty dang good.
As to the comment about tip flutter on the outer batten. I talked to UP via E-mail about just that problem on my Sat167. The UP suggestion was to insert a vary small diameter carbon fiber rod into the trailing edge of the sail between the two battens were the flutter is. I did not get to try it and see if that fixed the problem because I sold the glider.
One if the few bad things (and there again with the skill level it was built for it is not bad) is the VG is not that effective. There is only about 3 feet or so of movement.
In hind sight, I wish I had not sold my Sat.

Oh and Alfie, I hope that your time and danger comments were made in a joking manner. As to being a wing that will kill you…I was grounded for 20 years, bought a Saturn and launched cold turkey off a cliff and flew for 5 hrs. (If not, I second Idahodal and…I liked my bell bottoms!)

Peace and make love not war

Andy

[red]

[J Fritsche]

I inserted 1/8" round carbon fiber rods into the trailing edge hem, spanning the distance (28") between the last two ribs, flew the glider yesterday, and the flutter is gone. Cool.
$10 for the rods, $10 for shipping. Getting the rods into the hem was not an easy chore---had to sand the insertion ends down to smooth points and lube with silicone, and tap in the last several inches with a rubber mallet---but I've faced worse challenges in my life.
Don't think this fix would work for curved-tip gliders, though (have heard some complaints about flutter on Sport 2s recently).