Technical Data S M L Number of cells 72 72 72 Projected area (m2) 18.5 20.5 21.9 Flat area (m2) 22.2 24.6 26.4 Projected span (m) 9.8 10.3 12.6 Flat span (m) 12.5 13.2 13.6 Projected Aspect Ratio 5.272 5.272 5.272 Flat aspect ratio 6.98 6.98 6.98 Glider weight (kg) 5.1 5.7 6.2 In-flight weight range (kg) 75-95 90-110 105-125 Certification LTF/EN D D D Colours Green Blue Package Includes Glider King Backpack Inner bag Glider strap Triple Seven T-shirt Repair sticker King of The Sky EN/LTF-D The Triple Seven King is a classic three-liner high-performance EN D wing. Triple Seven designers were able to build a canopy with a remarkably clean surface, that gives you a comfortable and safe feel throughout the wide speed range. The handling of this wing is precise and rather playful, yet when needed the brakes can be pulled right down to tighten up the curve. The traditional stability of Triple Seven wings is also found in the King; this brings a big safety margin for pilots in this class. Designer Notes “During the designing process my main goal was to produce a wing that will feel very safe in the hands of a wide range of D class pilots. While using all of the newest technologies, the King proved itself to be a really good performance glider that is capable of coping with turbulence in a very friendly manner, something which made all my testing hours into pure joy. The ideas that have been growing on my desk for some time now are reflected in this wing in best possible way. I am really satisfied with the final product and I believe many pilots will be able to benefit a lot from the extraordinary performance and great overall feel of the King.” Aljaž Valič Main Features Best performing glider in the EN-D class BPI Back position intake technology LDO Load distribution optimization VDO Visual design optimization STE smooth trailing edge OCV Optimized cross vents Line reduction Completely new profile Balanced wing between performance, ease of flight and safety Back Position (Air) Intake On conventional paragliders, the location of the cell openings is always a compromise. The cell openings on paragliders must be located at the separation point (the place where the airflow separates into a part that travels OVER the wing, and another part that travels UNDER the wing) and because there is just one separation point, the cell openings must be either very large, or placed either at the separation point for trim speed, top speed or somewhere in between. At Triple Seven, ALL their wings have been incorporating dual separation point aerofoils since the very first model – they call it the Back Position Intake. On Triple Seven wings the cell opening is located right between the two separation points, allowing Triple Seven to make it smaller while maintaining maximum inflow and thus maximum internal pressure at all angles of attack. With smaller cell openings and greater internal pressure, the collapse tendency at all speeds is significantly reduced, and the brake authority is increased – a big brake input from behind momentarily increases the pressure at the leading edge because the air cannot escape through the small openings, and this makes the leading edge more solid, less collapse-prone for the experienced pilot. But due to the nature of the BPI even inexperienced pilots benefit from the BPI technology – the stall characteristics are significantly better, and the wing collapses much less in the first place. Triple Seven has also found that BPI aerofoils have better energy retention, making them more efficient in turbulent air – they aren’t as susceptible to being stopped in their tracks by sudden surges, something that makes them convert bumps along the way into altitude much better than conventionally designed paragliders. Triple Seven was the first manufacturer to employ BPI technology to the full model range, and their extensive experience with this game-changing technology is just one more reason why they believe that a Valic-designed wing will make your flying more rewarding every time you take your wing out of its bag. At the end of the day, this is precisely what paragliding is about – getting the most out of every flying opportunity, regardless of your own personal goals! Load Distribution Optimization One of the main challenges in paraglider design is to make the aircraft, sewn from soft materials and filled with nothing but air, into a “solid” wing that will maintain its optimal shape even while flying through midday thermals and wind shears. Making this even more complicated is the fact that in order to improve performance there is no way around reducing drag; after all, we all know that the common name for gliding performance of unmotorised aircraft is L/D – lift to drag ratio. As lift for a wing equals aircraft weight, the only way to make it go further is by cutting drag, so Triple Seven keep reducing external things which help the wing maintain its shape, not least by reducing line consumption. Drag is also caused by canopy wrinkles; just one more reason to make canopies as wrinkle-free as at all possible. Enter the Triple Seven Load Distribution Technology Consisting of a thin Nylon “rod” sewn into each cell wall in a carefully designed wave pattern, the Load Distribution Technology distributes the loads from each line level across the whole chord of the wing, maKing the wing so much more true to its shape regardless of what the air is doing around it. This translates into a higher resistance to collapses, better energy retention and not least significantly improved gliding performance through turbulent air – and the best part is, with the very thin diameter of the “rods” it doesn’t impede the pacKing of the wing at all. Visual Design Optimisation Although all wings look great from a graphical perspective, there’s more to the design than meets the eye. Each and every seam (except the “7” logo on the wingtips) has been placed precisely where it is for a reason, and there are no more seams in the canopy than necessary for the optimal panel tensioning everywhere. If you design for looks rather than for efficiency you often end up with many more seams than you should ideally have, and every single one will increase the total air permeability of the canopy. In extreme cases this may lead to porosity issues at readings that wouldn’t normally be considered critical – if too much air is escaping via the many seams, then smaller increases in porosity in the individual panels may cause the whole wing to fall over the edge of what is still flyable. When flying a Triple Seven wing you can rest assured that none of the design elements has been incorporated out of vanity – there are only technical solutions. Fortunately, the discerning pilot will instinctively associate efficiency with attractive! Smooth Trailing Edge The paraglider’s trailing edge is a critical part of the design for both glider handling and performance, and one where Triple Seven invest a lot of effort into perfecting it. As the paraglider is inflated, the pressure inside makes the cells billow, and the Triple Seven STE technology is there to control the billowing near the trailing edge. Too much billow in this region shortens the trailing edge in a spanwise direction and may make the canopy pitch unstable in combination with pressure changes. Besides, too much billow at this critical part of the canopy adversely affects performance, because it may cause the airflow to separate in an uncontrolled manner. With the Triple Seven STE technology, the designers have managed to completely eliminate excessive billowing, making for a much more coherent and sharp trailing edge. This is great news for performance and handling because the solid trailing edge transmits brake line input into turns much more readily. Optimised Cross Vents As paraglider canopies grow increasingly complex inside, the number of components in each wing grows as well. If you sometimes wonder why the prices seem to always take a small hike upwards with each new model range, this is the reason for it – a modern canopy is simply far more complex to put together than a five-year-old model was. But with increasing complexity, one would normally expect the weight to go up as well, and one of the main challenges the Triple Seven designers face when working on new products is to make sure this isn’t the case. A heavier canopy is bad on just about every level, from the basic premise that you still have to carry it on your back, to the fact that heavy canopies launch less readily, and have less enticing handling once in the air. So the challenge is to include all the extra elements inside the wing, but make sure they are as minimal in every way as at all possible. When you look through the (small) cell openings of a Triple Seven wing you’ll notice that all the ribs, and the diagonal ribs, in particular, are very elaborately designed and shaped, the cross ports following the stress lines very accurately, and also that they’re split up into several smaller sections. Through this extra complexity, Triple Seven has managed to get the best of both worlds; the lightness that Triple Seven feel is essential for obtaining the handling and safety characteristics Triple Seven want, and the rigidity and form-wise integrity that gives Triple Seven wings their hallmark class-bursting performance under real, active flying conditions. It is not a very visible brand characteristic when you see a Triple Seven glider in the air or on the ground, but it is VERY easy to recognise the resulting performance and handling benefits as soon as you take to the air! Materials Canopy Fabric Code Upper surface Dominico N30 DMF Bottom surface Dominico N2 0 DMF Profiles Dominico N30 DFM Diagonals Dominico N30 DFM Mini-ribs Dominico N30 DFM Suspension Lines/ Main Lines Liros, Edelrid Riser Fabric Code Fabric 13 mm Kevlar reinforced Nylon webbing Pulleys Harken P18mm ball bearing pulley Downloads Triple Seven King Manual Triple Seven Test Report Triple Seven Sticker Triple Seven King Line plan Triple Seven King Manual German Triple Seven King Manual French BC system
