Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
es330td wrote in news:5a4af2c5-b74c-4e6f-be32-
:

Last weekend while doing my hour of going around the pattern in
preparation to solo my airfield was visited by a Dyke Delta home built
(link to a picture of one below.) I did a little research on it and
learned that it truly is a delta wing aircraft with a single
horizontal surface (some of these have a small T-tail but this one did
not.) Seeing it made me a little curious about the mechanics of
flying it. It has a vertical stabilizer and a rudder so I assume the
plane has pedals but with only one horizontal surface the movable
parts serve as both elevators and ailerons. I'm also guessing that it
doesn't have flaps, just as the main wings on canards don't have flaps
as additional lift that far aft would result in a rapid descent.

Does anyone have any kind of experience with an aircraft like this
that can enlighten me on their flight characteristics?



I know a bit. They fly pretty much just like an airplane. The biggest
difference is that they don't stall in the same way as a "conventional"
airplane in that in most of them the flow doesn't seperate from the top of
the wing. What happens is as the airplane slows the drag rises but so does
the lift. When the drag rises to the point that thrust is overcome they
start to decelerate and the game is over. So, given enough thrust, you can
fly them at ridiculous anges of attack and insanely low airspeeds.

OK, so then what happens?

Do they then tend to just decend level like an Ercoupe, tend to tumble
out of the sky in a totally uncontrolled fashion, or something else?

--
Jim Pennino

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