The ITV Awak 3 is an insanly fun wing that feels half finished.
Let me explain...
The Awak 3 is one of the most high energy, roll happy, and fun wings I've flown. You can tell within just a minute or two of flying it that it was designed for just pure raw fun. Which it does VERY well.
But it feels "half baked" or half finished to me. Trims down the wing feels amazing. It's solid, it's stable, and fun. But if you trim out any the wing is very "collapse happy" which is something I don't love. Sure I can just fly trimmed down, but I don't love the idea that the wing is only good trimmed down.
It feels like ITV make it freaking sweet trimmed down and gave no attention to trimmed out. Because of this it's not a wing that I find myself wanting to fly everyday because I'll be cruising around at slow speeds without any ability to accelerate or speed up.
The wingover and maneuvers are very fun with this wing. I found that it doesn't roll as hard as a Freeride 2 but it does carry energy just a bit better. The wingovers are slightly slower but you can get really high and use all of that energy in a very nice way. It also does not eat up a lot of altitude with each wingover because of the efficiency. Meaning you can get more wingovers within the same altitude.
The brake pressure is light and very responsive. A slight pull on the brakes and the wing will instantly do as asked. Which is very fun for the day to day around the LZ kind of flying.
This wing is also a very efficient PG/PPG crossover. Meaning if you are the kind of guy who likes to catch ridge lift or ride thermals, this wing will do that very well.
Which leads me into who this wing is for and what this wing is for. This is not a cross country missle, nor is it a really great daily flying wing, but it is a very fun play wing. It's a wing that you take out every now and then and just rip massive wingovers and barrel rolls. It's also a wing you take out on the more bumpy days to ride some lift and catch some thermals.
It's a wing for advanced pilots looking for a pure, raw, and fun wing. It won't be the every day wing, but it will be the weekend warrior. It's the wing you pull out when you've got 20 minutes and just wanna throw down some massive wingovers.
DISCLAIMER:
I purchased this wing.
I am a dealer and sell them.
Tested at 5000 MSL
I'm 115 KG all up (130 kg max on tested size)
Testing a 17m
I put 10+ Hours on the wing before writting this
Details:
Non-Reflexed (classic profile)
5.63 Aspect Ratio
15m | 17m | 20m | available
17m & 20m are EN-C certified
Black & Blue color options (custom also available)
$3,800 plus shipping (2023 pricing may vary)
Launching:
Launching the Awak 3 was pretty easy. It was a little more doggish in the inflation than the comparable Freeride 2, but by no means was it difficult. I found that at trim setting 2 (first yellow line) the wing was happy to inflate and pop over head. Once overhead it liked to stay there and had a very deep brake range. I never worried about it stalling on me while launching.
Landing:
The wing was very nice for landing due to it's efficiency and glide slope. The approach is smooth and setdown is soft. We were able to land very slow and soft without stalling the wing out of the sky. We landed the wing trimmed down every single time and would suggest that. We did do some small swoops and the wing definetly liked them! However we would not recommend swooping this wing trimmed out.
Handling:
Rolls well, builds energy well, and uses energy well. The roll is slower than other wings due to a higher aspect ratio, but the efficiency of the wing leads to higher wingovers and slower wingovers (more energy). The wing is very responsive and does exactly as you ask when you askwithout having to pull a lot of brake. The brakes are also very light and you don't get worn out flying it.
Efficiency:
The wing is very efficient. Since it's not a reflex profile the wing glides, climbs, and cruises very well. It's a very good wing for riding thermals and catching ridge lift. We look forward to using this wing this summer to ride some lift and catch some thermals.
Speed:
This wing is slow and is not stable when accelerated. The classic/traditional profile means as you speed it up it becomes less and less stable. It felt so unstable to me I didn't even dare test trims out speed. I just didn't trust the wing. Trimmed down it felt amazing, but trim it out any and it's not very stable. Trimmed down it is slow and will not keep up to a comparably sized wing in this class.
Turbulence:
This wing feels very nice in turbulence if you are used to classic/traditional wings. The ability to comfortably active pilot without worrying about stalling the wing is nice. The brake pressure is light and you won't get worn out quickly while active piloting. The wing is easy to keep under control and doesn't want to slip out of your hands without warning. However it does move around more than a reflex counterpart due to the fact that it is a tradtional airfoil.
Risers:
Risers are very simple but feel mid-grade on the quality. By no means is it a premium product. It doesn't feel "cheap" by any means but the quality is not quite on par with Ozone and Dudek.
Collapses:
Trimmed down the wing handles collapses very well. Quick recovery, no direction change, and very little altitude loss. Trim out and the collapses become more dynamic and require some good active piloting skills to quickly and calmly recover. Collapses trimmed down were good enough that it was almost laughable. It was almost fun to let it collapse because of how well it recovered.
Don't Like:
The wing felt way too "collapse happy" trimmed out for my liking. I would love this wing a lot more if the wing was more stable trimmed out.
I would also like a bit of a more premium riser. It wasn't "cheap" by any means but it wasn't to the same quality as Ozone and Dudek.