Wings


Trikes   -   Pre-Owned

GRIF 
Wing Company

 
 The GRIF wing company was born in 1989 stemming from an idea of company owner Italo Graziani. A hang-glider pilot since 1979, he has flown most wings on the market and has also tried his hand at all forms of flying activities since. These include trike, paraglider, paramotor and 3-Axis Ultralight type aircraft. He became an instructor in 1982 under FIVL for hang-gliding and in 1988 became an instructor of the Italian Aero Club for other forms of flight.

With their excellent wing designs, fit and finish, it wasn’t long before GRIF became a name in the industry know for quality as a Hang-Glider manufacturer. The proliferation of trikes in Europe meant a new market opportunity for Grif and in 1995 they began production of hi-tech wings for trikes. Grif only produce the wings for trikes and maintain close contacts with the important trike makers both in Italy and other parts of Europe as well as outside of Europe.

The air frame is made of AVIONAL 2017 aluminium tubes and sail battens are made from ERGAL 7075. All plates and mechanical parts are manufactured from AVIONAL 2024, ALLUMINIUM 3571 and STAINLESS STEEL, depending on their application. Although all parts are designed for their mechanical application their aesthetic design is also strongly considered. The components of the A-frame are a perfect example of such aesthetic design concerns. They have incorporated the same sleek contours of the wing’s aerofoil in the down tubes of the control A-frame. These are made by craftsmen in the best workshops of the region in Italy with numerical control machine tools.

POLYANT'S products are used extensively in their sail making. The leading edge for example is made of TRYLAM but the main wing sail's double surface uses DACRON, reinforced where the greatest loads are present. This means a long life for GRIF wings with some very excellent, and comfortable flying characteristics. The organization of production allows GRIF to maintain high aesthetic and mechanical quality. Despite the superior quality they are still able to maintaining lower costs to the customer for wings and spares than other top of the line trike wing manufacturers.

The SPYDER was Grif Wing's visiting-card in the trike wing category.  Born about two months before the TRAINER it underwent a long period of flight testing. Three prototypes were made during the R&D phase and after about twenty months of improving Grif were happy and fixed on the final model. The final wing set-up was established with input from some of Europe's most skilled trike pilot’s contributions.  The SPYDER was born to satisfy a particular kind of flight and Grif acknowledges that the trike's main characteristic appeal is its practicality and excellent world wide safety record. This involves the whole combination of a properly matched trike to wing.  The performances have to be well balanced, handling has to be excellent in all situations, even in turbulent air conditions and in case of engine out, it needs to have a respectable glide ratio.  Grif were convinced that it is not so important to have high performance for some characteristics.  For example a 93 mph (150 Km/h) speed is not really required in a trike because even the most faired in trike doesn't offer the pilot much comfort from wind blast and buffeting. This is the train of thought that went into the SPYDER design.

Such design considerations rewarded Grif for the effort they went through to make such a wing, as many experts in this field confirmed, because they executed the flight tests for several Italian magazines such as Hobby Volo, Sport Flap and also Ali e the French magazine named Ailes Magazine. The SPYDER  wing allows a perfect balancing with all the available trikes on the market. It offers such high average-speed that it may be flown comfortably for a long distance at about 62 mph (100 Km/h); moreover it offers good behaviour in turbulent situations and doesn't wear out the pilot during his control inputs, as do some other well know wings currently on the market.

Such flight characteristics combined with a speed range from about 27 mph (43 Km/h) minimum-speed and about 74 mph (120 Km/h) maximum-speed, make it the ideal wing for the pilot who loves fast cross-country touring flights, often flies with a passenger yet doesn’t mind flying during the warmest hours in the day.

CONNECTION SYSTEM BETWEEN WING AND TRIKE

You can see from the photo to the right that the Grif wing connection point to the trike mast has some round black rings in this photo.  These are actually your trim speed rings.  At Grif they have made a conscious decision to drill as few holes as possible through the wing's keel, unlike many other wing makers.  This is an added safety feature found on Grif wings only, since less holes means a stronger tube.  Instead the pilot simply removes the hang channel, slides a ring forward or aft of the hang channel thus effectively and safely moving the hang channel forward or backward to increase or decrease the hands off trim speed.  The Grif design is a far superior and safer system to - clamps and brackets or drilled holes in the keel - as found on all other trike wings.

TRAINER is Grif's wing designed for use in flight schools and also fits the bill for use as a hang glider air-tow wing. Development was aided by the hard work of Viterbo Aeroclub's Flight School director and the other flying instructors connected with him.  Development lasted about 18 months and with their input and assistance the achieved results were an excellent wing.  In fact this wing showed better performance than wings from other manufacturers of similar design. At minimum-speed of about 25 mph (40 Km/h), it remains extremely steady in slow flight permitting easy landings for the new pilot or student, with and without engine.  Even when flown in turbulent air conditions it easily maintains directional stability. It has been coupled and tested with well-known trikes made both in Italy and other countries, and the results are excellent.  Regardless of the trike it's mated with, it handles very well and the famous Grif wing flight behaviour remains unchanged.

The performance figures for this slower wing type are excellent.  Maximum-speed is about 62 mph (100 Km/h), and it can happily fly for long distances at about 50 mph (80 Km/h), and the minimum-speed is very slow indeed at about 25 mph (40 Km/h).  This is an excellent speed range for a basic school wing, with which the new pilot can do all his flight training. Its general performances makes the Trainer a very interesting wing for the newer touring cross-country flyer, especially if the pilot often flies with a passenger, or if he enjoys operating out of short air strips.

The TRAINER is the ideal wing because the pilot can buy the same trike and wing combination he used during his training and still have a practical aircraft in which to hone his skills.  This wing definitely helps to shorten flight school training time for the student pilot.

"Every pilot would like a wing specific to his individual needs". This is the philosophy from which GRIF has developed its range of designs. Their collected "pilot requirement" data forecast the development of their extensive range of wings. A maximum-speed better than their famous SPYDER yet still maintaining the handling characteristics that belong to all of GRIF's products was the direction in design that lead to the CORSAIR which completes the company's wing production range for trikes. As small as was feesable under the design criteria and maintaining safe handling they came out with their 12,8 square meter wing which offers pilots an impressive high speed coupled with great handling.

The use of winglets on the tips and the wing design’s long development period took into account both the sail's shape and airframe structure, giving excellent flight characteristics in the wing category which the CORSAIR falls. In this case they called on their vast experience in hang-glider design, where the wings aerodynamic refining produced excellent results. The fine balance of wing span reduction coupled with the wing's shape and the ratio between the extrados and double surface, make the CORSAIR a special wing worthy of its own category. "We are the first and only company to build a trike wing with winglets and now offer two CORSAIR models" says company owner Italo Graziani.

Besides making it a more aggressive looking wing the winglets contribute considerably to the excellent performance figures. What’s more, it's now possible to assemble strobe lights right into the winglet tips and offered as an optional extra. These are manufactured exclusively for GRIF wings and apart from more streamlined wind flow, afford a definite advantage for flight safety in lowering light conditions.

When a CORSAIR  wing is joined to a streamlined trike, powered by just a Rotax 503 in two-seater configuration, it allows approx. for a maximum-speed of 87 mph (140 Km/h.), but can be comfortably flown for long distances at approx. 68 mph (110 Km/h).  When you consider that it can still be safely flown in slow flight mode down to approx. 28 mph (45 Km/h) this is truley an exceptional wing standing head and shoulders above its competitors.  Results like these in a wing's speed range repay our long hard design and development work says Mr. Graziani. With the CORSAIR the high performances that the exacting pilots demand are synthesized, maintaining the very fine flying characteristics that belong to all of GRIF's production.

And now a new CORSAIR is available with its 13.7 square meters wing area it flies exceptionally well even when matched to a trike powered by a Rotax 503.

Performance figures for this match are: maximum speed about 78 mph (125 Km/h), cruise speed about 59 mph (95 Km/h) and minimum speed an impressive 26 mph (42 Km/h).

New for 2004 from Grif is the Fun Coach 16 and 18 Wings, an exposed cross tube wing allowing for more fun slow flight, high lift and thermaling, ideal for water borne trikes.

 Prices are currently:   (Note: prices do not include overseas shipping and crating)

 CORSAIR 12m and 13m    - $4,950.00

 Spyder 14m / Trainer 16m - $4,799.00

 Coach 16m and 18m (exposed cross tube)  - $4,599.00

 H2 15m and 16m (Lite trike wings)  - $3,995.00

CLICK HERE FOR GRIF WING SPECIFICATIONS

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