At 18:30 09 December 2004, Mark James Boyd wrote:
Here's a wierd idea:

Get longer wings. If the wings hit an updraft, they
will
go up, and flex, but the fuselage won't go up right
away,
kind of a 'shock absorber.' Then the wings will reflex,
giving extra thrust, and dissipating the G's. A few
oscillations
later and you'll feel real queasy, but you'll have
more glide
and less G's. Better all around, right?

OK, a bit off thread, but has anyone modeled this (dynamic)
interaction? Sure sure, we know about best glide,
but what
about the effect of long wings flapping like a seagull
in turbulence?

This does NOT seem to be the same kind of thing Gary
Osaba does in the Sparrowhawk or Carbon Dragon (with
super stiff
wings), but it seems related...

Any long-wingers care to comment?

I can't quote chapter and verse from memory but there
was quite a bit of discussion in the late 70s that
floppy wings (as in the ASW 20 and 17) could gain energy
in wing up flex from positive g gusts and then release
it in the down flex as lift/thrust. I always wondered
why it wasn't also discussed whether they would lose
a similar amount of energy in negative g gusts.

John Galloway