"At Skyline we came up with a reflective material that is used to make
fishing lures, but I don't
think anyone ever stuck it to a wing for fear it would damage the
finish. "

What about making a reflective finish?



"Fred" wrote in message
oups.com...
This is a question we debated at great length when I was flying with
the Skyline Soaring Club in Front Royal, VA. It was clear to all of us
that having a reflective panel to bounce the sun back at other planes
would make us stand out further away. My addition to the conversation
was that I can remember seeing dugout canoes miles away when I lived on
an African river, and the first thing I would see (they sat very low in
the river) was the sun glinting off their wet wooden paddles. (The
wetness was the reflective part.)

As far as seeing red wing tips, I now fly tow planes or gliders about
29 days a month, and I've never noticed another glider because of it's
wing tip paint -- red, orange or whatever. Usually the first thing I
see is the top of a wing of a circling gider, and for reasons of
avoidance you probably don't want to be showing the top of your wing to
another A/C coming your way in a hurry -- you want to be showing them
your tail! (Joke -- but you certainly want to be getting out of their
way, though).

Since we fly in day VFR conditions, reflective tape seems like
something we should look further into. At Skyline we came up with a
reflective material that is used to make fishing lures, but I don't
think anyone ever stuck it to a wing for fear it would damage the
finish. This reflective tape sounds better than the fishing lure
material, but the same question about damaging gel coat still applies.

Please let us know if you try this, and if so, what you think about it.
This is an important issue and I look forward to more traffic on it.
Fred