seat belts and restraints

Eric Greenwell wrote:
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?

You don't have to go to long wings to enjoy this effect, but just buy an
ASW20 ("A" or C model, though the B was relatively flexible, too)!

Or a Pegase of the first series, which had soft wings. This is indeed
comfortable in gusty air.

--

Michel TALON

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 08:44:36 UTC, (Michel
Talon) wrote:

: Or a Pegase of the first series, which had soft wings. This is indeed
: comfortable in gusty air.

I had great fun flying one of Brian Spreckley's Pegases is France few
years back, and this energy storage in the wing was very obvious. When
you hit a thermal you could see the tips move up, then catapult the
glider a little later.

It's also important in, for example, rowing eights. Having the boat
slightly flexible means that some of the initial thrust from each
stroke is stored in the hull, then released as the rower pull more
gently towards the end of the stroke. One reason that the early
carbon-fibre eights weren't terribly successful, and were replaced by
more flexible moulded wooden ones.

Ian


--

Michel Talon wrote:
Or a Pegase of the first series, which had soft wings. This is indeed
comfortable in gusty air.

--

Michel TALON

While physically comfortble, I did not find it comforting. In strong
turbulence, whenever I looked out at the Pegasus' wings flapping
around, I felt compelled to review the bailout procedure. Eventually, I
stopped looking.

These flexible wings can also be a problem on field landings. If they
flex down and catch on a furrow, or in the crop, you are in for a wild
ride.