Wingtip to Runway light protector Concepts

On Tuesday, January 3, 2017 at 1:54:01 AM UTC-5, Heinz Gehlhaar wrote:
Did you calculate the loads on the glider-wing/deflector as the glider strikes the angle of the deflector at landing speeds and considering the roll inertia of the glider? My gut-feel tells me that the angle needs to be much shallower.

No calculations yet. I wanted to throw the concept out for public comment before I sank any time into development. I figured someone else already could tell me of a current solution or a good reason to abandon the whole idea - such as saying the FAA would never allow such a thing.

You would need to figure out the forces and I was thinking this would be for when the glider was in it's last 1/3 of the ground roll, from ~20 to 0 knots perhaps. I agree with your suggestion that the angle would need to be shallower.

It is worth considering what would be worse to have the wing hit the light, or wing deflected up and other wing slammed down.

Also with either idea I think there would still be some scratching or denting damage to the glider's leading edge. The idea is to prevent the whole leading wing from being crushed in as far as the spar and leaving it unairworthy.