Hello, I’d like to share my Kougar 2 experiences with the group.
Firstly got to state that I have been flying Niviuk for some time, 3 season’s at least. Also those who know me will state that I may be biased being supported by Niviuk Uk. However be assured that I wouldn’t fly a make or wing if I didn’t believe in it 100%. The Niviuk brand may not be familiar with many PPG pilots, but they are a big player in the free flying world and are well placed to challenge the more well-known PPG manufacturers including Ozone.
Like most I started PPGing with the main crop of high reflex wings and there was nothing wrong with any of them. However being from a free flying back ground I wanted more performance; but not just speed, I wanted real performance in glide, sink rate and handling as well.
The original Kougar was a brilliant first performance PPG wing by Niviuk, it delivered excellent handling, sink rate and glide and whilst not the fastest wing, it wasn’t slow. However it did require significant active piloting and was not a beginner’s wing especially if flown in strong conditions. Also when flying in competition navigation tasks the workload was high and to be fair I was always wary about flying it accelerated in less than smooth conditions. I likened it to motor vehicles; I was flying a ‘manual shift’ whilst the full reflex wings were ‘automatics’. I learnt a lot about active flying. It was wonderful in pure eco tasks and I even won one at the Boston league.
I got a pre-production 20m Kougar 2 (K2) in July and have been flying it extensively. I recently took delivery of the production version (Sept) and have built up 30-40 hours on them. In my opinion the K2 is the best PPG wing I have flown to date.
Upon release I was worried that Niviuk had totally reworked their performance PPG specification, giving up glide and sink rate for speed, stability and heavy handling. However I was extremely pleased to find that glide, sink rate and light brake pressures were retained. In fact I was immediately impressed with the sink rate and glide on my first flight which seemed comparable with my 23m Kougar 1. At 115kg (flight weight with motor) my TO is a little faster as is the landing but the efficiency of the wing is very impressive.
Top speed is significantly increased too. I won’t give figures here as it will be different for different pilot weights and machines, but with more speed system travel to exploit I’d state that it is at least 10km/h faster than the 23m K1. The trimmers are relatively small and most of the speed is gained by the speed bar, which is very significant. In fact you need to come off the speed system carefully as the wing will climb steeply if let off abruptly.
Handling is lovely; light at slow trim becoming a little heavier at fully open trimmers, but still fully manoeuvrable. The tip steer (or course corrector) lines are also attached to the brake handles. At accelerated flight steering can be done by pulling the handle towards the chest, but I prefer to reach up and directly hold the line, which is easy to locate. If you are into wing overs and spiral dives then the K2 will not disappoint, it is very dynamic.
The wing has very good stability and feels well pressured at all trimmer settings. I have flown it in a variety of conditions and I like flying when the air is active and thermic. I live in a hilly area and fly in wave affected conditions and whilst I have to admit that I have felt uncomfortable a couple of times in rough air the wing has behaved impeccably. Even at 20m the K2 thermals very well engine off. Recently I flew for just under one hour from an 8 minute engine run.
Engine wise I prefer a modest power plant and was worried that my excellent Vitto Evo2 100cc would not be up to the job, but this is not the case. The K2 retains such an impressive polar that even in accelerated flight I can maintain level flight. I think this is one of the K2’s most impressive qualities.
Finally the K2 is such a cool looking wing with the most modern of features. The aggressive ‘shark nose’ with thin slot openings looks great, but more importantly adds much to the performance of this wing.
I'd certainly recommend a trial flight for those interested. FlyBubble have the Niviuk Uk 23m Kougar 2 demo at the moment.
