Gliding lecture slides

toad wrote:

The original posters slides look like a pretty good explanation. I
think that it is more information than a pilot really needs, but
some people won't relax and actually learn until they think they
understand "why" it works.

That's probably the best reason I've heard for teaching pilots about
aerodynamics.

Despite my deep interest in aerodynamics, my observation and experience
is knowing the aerodynamics doesn't seem to be an asset to flying
correctly, and that it is really all about keeping the airspeed up and
horizon in the correct place on the canopy. When I fly, thoughts of AOA
and pressure distributions are not flitting through my mind, and things
happen too fast to be deriving your next action from first principles.

You definitely want the designer of your glider to understand
aerodynamics, but the pilot - completely optional!

--

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (netto to net to email me)

- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

On Apr 16, 4:17*pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
toad wrote:
*The original posters slides look like a pretty good explanation. I
*think that it is more information than a pilot really needs, but
*some people won't relax and actually learn until they think they
*understand "why" it works.

That's probably the best reason I've heard for teaching pilots about
aerodynamics.

Despite my deep interest in aerodynamics, my observation and experience
is knowing the aerodynamics doesn't seem to be an asset to flying
correctly, and that it is really all about keeping the airspeed up and
horizon in the correct place on the canopy. When I fly, thoughts of AOA
and pressure distributions are not flitting through my mind, and things
happen too fast to be deriving your next action from first principles.

You definitely want the designer of your glider to understand
aerodynamics, but the pilot - completely optional!

--

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (netto to net to email me)

- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarmhttp://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz


I found the following website to be somewhat easy to understand and
extremely interesting, especially the last 1/2. The videos of lift and
pressure on a wing also good.

http://knol.google.com/k/why-it-is-possible-to-fly#

Brian

On Apr 17, 10:14*am, brianDG303 wrote:

I found the following website to be somewhat easy to understand and
extremely interesting, especially the last 1/2. The videos of lift and
pressure on a wing also good.

http://knol.google.com/k/why-it-is-possible-to-fly#

Brian

If that website is easy to understand, I'm stupid. I'll spend more
time researching their topic, but from a quick scan it looks pretty
confusing.

Todd

On Apr 17, 8:16*am, toad wrote:
On Apr 17, 10:14*am, brianDG303 wrote:



I found the following website to be somewhat easy to understand and
extremely interesting, especially the last 1/2. The videos of lift and
pressure on a wing also good.

http://knol.google.com/k/why-it-is-possible-to-fly#

Brian

If that website is easy to understand, I'm stupid. *I'll spend more
time researching their topic, but from a quick scan it looks pretty
confusing.

Todd

Todd,
I was pretty confused by much of what was posted but started to get a
clue when I researched the whole Kutta Condition thing, which was from
your post. THAT made sense to me, and led to the site I referred to
which starts off disorganized but gets better I think, anyway it
worked for me so I posted it. Perhaps my sense of understanding is
just a more complex form of confusion. Anyway the movies of lift on an
airfoil at different airflow speeds are pretty.

Brian

On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 09:18:41 -0700, brianDG303 wrote:

On Apr 17, 8:16Â*am, toad wrote:
On Apr 17, 10:14Â*am, brianDG303 wrote:



I found the following website to be somewhat easy to understand and
extremely interesting, especially the last 1/2. The videos of lift
and pressure on a wing also good.

http://knol.google.com/k/why-it-is-possible-to-fly#

Brian

If that website is easy to understand, I'm stupid. Â*I'll spend more
time researching their topic, but from a quick scan it looks pretty
confusing.

Todd

Todd,
I was pretty confused by much of what was posted but started to get a
clue when I researched the whole Kutta Condition thing, which was from
your post. THAT made sense to me, and led to the site I referred to
which starts off disorganized but gets better I think, anyway it worked
for me so I posted it. Perhaps my sense of understanding is just a more
complex form of confusion. Anyway the movies of lift on an airfoil at
different airflow speeds are pretty.

Brian

http://www.av8n.com/ is a good, no-nonsense source.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Apr 17, 5:51*pm, Martin Gregorie
wrote:

http://www.av8n.com/is a good, no-nonsense source.

--
martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org * * * |

That's my favorite. Thanks for posting. I had lost the link.

Todd

brianDG303 wrote:
On Apr 16, 4:17 pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
toad wrote:
The original posters slides look like a pretty good explanation. I
think that it is more information than a pilot really needs, but
some people won't relax and actually learn until they think they
understand "why" it works. /snip/
You definitely want the designer of your glider to understand
aerodynamics, but the pilot - completely optional!

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (netto to net to email me)


I found the following website to be somewhat easy to understand and
extremely interesting, especially the last 1/2. The videos of lift and
pressure on a wing also good.

http://knol.google.com/k/why-it-is-possible-to-fly#

Brian


I read this URL with interest.
While it is not a laughable piece about "I'm a physicist so I must be
right", it does suggest that they have their explanation right, and
everyone; Newton, Kutta, Bernouli, Uncle Tom Cobley an' all, have it
wrong. In a word, they exaggerate the value of their approach.
Still, it is interesting and helpful, in my view.

Brian W