![]() Let me add that this project is to prove a design concept and not to sell gliders or make any money (it’s going to cost me a lot). I’ll give a more detailed answer below, but the short form would be that I’m going back to over 40 years and not taking the branch that hang gliding followed to the good performance gliders we have today. You ask what am I doing that hasn’t been done over the past 40 years, so ‘ll try to answer that question. ![]() The whole purpose of my project is to try and make it easier to get new pilots trained. I agree that hang gliding is diminishing and the general age of the pilots is getting older (I’m about to turn 84). Thank you for contacting me regarding your conversation with Jim about my “HG Basic Trainer” project. REPLY TO A LETTER ASKING: “WHY DO THIS”? 1/5 scale model free flying & soaring the bluff at Dockweiler Beach, CA The ends of the tips could be done the way it is done on current glider wingtips. ![]() I envision the sail tension along the LE’s to be a grommet with a line extending out to the corners with the tips to pull tension outward. If successful, this glider will not be for getting from point A to distant point B it will be for getting from easy launch to easy landing with well damped pitch and quick roll ability along the way, traveling at a slow speed and low sink rate. The other reason for the design’s short span is for easier ground handling. Then of course there is the goal of keeping the whole mess to under 40 lbs. Another stated goal of the design is to reduce the sail cloth weight which will further reduce the spanwise weight since I’m trading span reduction for chord increase (keeping sail area about 300 sq ft). The short span also makes the pilot’s sideways weight shift more effective as a greater portion of the span. For every foot I bring the tips inward there is the corresponding reduction in the effect of the weight of the tip portion. One reason for the design’s short span is to lessen the effect of the spanwise weight. Actually before the battens ar made I hope to get some input from him on the exact cut of the trailing edge curves for distribution of loading and airflow without flapping edges. Now beg, conjol, plead, with Steve at WW to make me a sail for it. At this point it won’t be complete with control bar or king post. Next will be the construction of the full scale airframe and getting battens made by WW. Probably going to be some physical full scale modeling done here. Although I have an inclination to trust more the structural integrity of the cable braced approach.ģ) Design detailed junctions of folding components and other hardware components. 049 6061 cable braced may not be much of an advantage over 2″ x. It may be that with the short span that 1-1/2″ x. Make any changes needed from results there.Ģ) Decide on tubing sizes and cable bracing methods, where used.Īt this point I will need to evaluate the tubing size/weights for “complexity vs benefit”. Maybe the L/D will be in the neighborhood of a large paraglider.ġ) Test the flight performance in a 1/5 scale model. I’m assuming a low sink rate with a glide ratio somewhere between that of the old standard rogallo and today’s single surface flex wings. Shooting for a all up weight of less than 40 lbs using thin wall 7075 aluminum tubing and thin light sail material. This is strictly a “training hill” or “dune gooning soaring” glider. Many people taught themselves or took lessons with gliders that were easy to ground handle and fly but lacked the good parts of the fixed camber airfoil (battens) and reflex of today’s flex wings. My intent is to build a glider so easy to ground handle with good roll control response in flight and good pitch damping + slow flight and landing, that we almost return to the days of the rogallo but without the bad characteristics of that flat flex wing design.
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