New Glider Dream Elon Musk Flow

On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 3:18:37 PM UTC-5, Kiwi User wrote:
On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 05:36:39 -0800, ND wrote:

On Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 6:19:48 PM UTC-5, WB wrote:
On Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 2:01:41 PM UTC-6, Kiwi User wrote:
On Wed, 14 Feb 2018 11:06:11 -0800, ND wrote:

speaking of cars... this is a little nuts, but, airbags? i've
always thought that during a crash, you probably smack the **** out
of your head.

Airbags shouldn't be necessary provided that your straps are tight
and the anchor points don't pop off the hull, though your chin may
hit your chest quite hard. The stick is be short enough that your
head won't hit it and the shoulder + lap straps will stop your head
hitting the panel



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Martin | martin at Gregorie | gregorie dot org

That's assuming a straight ahead impact. A friend was killed when his
glider impacted in a yawed orientating (spin). The side of his head hit
the canopy rail hard enough to kill him. It would have taken side
airbags to have protected him, or a helmet.

side airbags is basically what i was thinking, to protect your head
during a yawing or side impact. like if you were going into a ridge,
caught a wingtip first, and impacted sideways.

I'd have thought that the tip would catch, causing the glider to pivot
round it through almost 90 degrees, putting the fuselage into the ridge
nose-first. Have I got that wrong?


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Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

yeah, it's not going to pivot on the wingtip and hit nose first. it IS going to pivot. but would probably pivot, stall, and begin to fall all while travelling sideways. the nose may be the first to touch the ground but i think the major force of the impact would be in a sideways direction, relative to the pilot.

i think you'll agree that it wouldn't be a horrible thing to have airbags deploy around the pilots head in this situation (i realize its not him catching a wingtip) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nsXL72S9OA