New Glider Dream Elon Musk Flow

On Friday, February 9, 2018 at 1:31:46 PM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Was so tried of the hard deck discussion thought I would try a discussion of dreams. After seeing the vision of Elon Musk with his Falcon Heavy, I had to pinch myself. Those two boosters landing in sync..

What are some of the innovative, new technology, original thought, scifi dreams, would you like to see in a brand new glider design? Let your inter Elon Musk flow.

We have seen the New Ventus, the JS-3 (very innovative), Dianna 3. So far the South Africans have shown the most original thought.

If you were to design a glider what are your dreams?

18/21 or 15/18 meters

Sustainer, jet, electric, two stroke?

Light weight: I would love to be able to get to 7.5 pounds with a 220 lb pilot+chute and up to 12ish pounds wet. This might take new manufacturing methods and materials. Perhaps pre-preg, vacuum bagging...?

Pedestal mounted wing?

interesting idea about smaller battery and a generator for FES.

would also be nice to have harnesses that retract like in a car. so that they arent flopping all over the cockpit. they'd be easier to reach too.

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.

To me, most "pilot damage" is either feet (cockpit eggshells) or vertical loads that damage/break the spine.....assuming not a major hit.
Taken from someone that has "broken their back, twice", but not in a sailplane.
Only looking at accidents I have read or been an early party to recovery.

To me, airbags (unless maybe under the pilot) are a ton of cost with little to no benefit, just my opinion......

"If airbags were so great, why don't ANY auto motorsports require them?".
Because, a good set of well anchored belts will be about the best bet.
Aircraft crashes tend to have a vertical motion, belts don't help there. Crush structure does.......most wouldn't put an airbag under your back/butt where most damage is done.
Cockpit structure for your feet/lower legs HAS been done.
Ask Andy Gough.......I helped first responders during his incident many years ago in PA.
Glad to see him return to contests.

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

That said, I've been shown photos of lap-strap anchor point failures
during a BGA safety talk. Some of the older gliders used steel rod with
four bends to form a joggle for the lap-strap to go through. These were
attached to the hull with patches of glasscloth glued on over the
straight bits at each end of the rod. Stop suddenly enough with a heavy
pilot on board and the patches tear or pull off the hull, but IIRC that
usually causes the pilot to submarine under the panel rather than hitting
his head on it.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

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



--
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.

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



--
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.

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



--
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?


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

On Friday, February 9, 2018 at 11:31:46 AM UTC-7, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Was so tried of the hard deck discussion thought I would try a discussion of dreams. After seeing the vision of Elon Musk with his Falcon Heavy, I had to pinch myself. Those two boosters landing in sync..

What are some of the innovative, new technology, original thought, scifi dreams, would you like to see in a brand new glider design? Let your inter Elon Musk flow.

We have seen the New Ventus, the JS-3 (very innovative), Dianna 3. So far the South Africans have shown the most original thought.

If you were to design a glider what are your dreams?

18/21 or 15/18 meters

Sustainer, jet, electric, two stroke?

Light weight: I would love to be able to get to 7.5 pounds with a 220 lb pilot+chute and up to 12ish pounds wet. This might take new manufacturing methods and materials. Perhaps pre-preg, vacuum bagging...?

Pedestal mounted wing?

I would like to see instrumentation that could be like radar that would give a graphic representation on the flight computer screen that shows lift and sink, possibly in color represented in color scales between green and red.. Either that, or a HUD/holographic projection on the canopy to give a visual depiction of the movement of the surrounding air (lift, sink, wind direction).

On Friday, February 9, 2018 at 1:31:46 PM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Was so tried of the hard deck discussion thought I would try a discussion of dreams. After seeing the vision of Elon Musk with his Falcon Heavy, I had to pinch myself. Those two boosters landing in sync..

What are some of the innovative, new technology, original thought, scifi dreams, would you like to see in a brand new glider design? Let your inter Elon Musk flow.

We have seen the New Ventus, the JS-3 (very innovative), Dianna 3. So far the South Africans have shown the most original thought.

If you were to design a glider what are your dreams?

18/21 or 15/18 meters

Sustainer, jet, electric, two stroke?

Light weight: I would love to be able to get to 7.5 pounds with a 220 lb pilot+chute and up to 12ish pounds wet. This might take new manufacturing methods and materials. Perhaps pre-preg, vacuum bagging...?

Pedestal mounted wing?

How about a standardized and reliable BlueTooth communication protocol between the electronic gizmos we have on our panels today? Eliminate all these data cables and only run power to them from a bus bar.
Uli
'AS'

I mean if we are going to dream,

- Deployable drone cloud that helps find and center lift. Fun in gaggles!
- A minimum speed of say 20 knots for landing and climb
- Expert system flight computers that anticipate pilot need based on the phase of flight, making real-time display and sensor adjustments and offering guidance.
- Fly by wire controls that integrate loading and maneuvering inputs with flap movements
- Cloud recognition software that does shape analysis using time lapse
- Smart system learning vario that learns the pneumatic inputs of the particular glider it is installed and the day factors in real time so it gets smarter the more you fly, even with a day factor.
- OK not glider but rigging integrated into trailer design
- Something that will mask the height from the Hard Deck analysis software.

On Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 2:49:20 PM UTC-6, John Seaborn (A8) wrote:
I mean if we are going to dream,

- Deployable drone cloud that helps find and center lift. Fun in gaggles!
- A minimum speed of say 20 knots for landing and climb
- Expert system flight computers that anticipate pilot need based on the phase of flight, making real-time display and sensor adjustments and offering guidance.
- Fly by wire controls that integrate loading and maneuvering inputs with flap movements
- Cloud recognition software that does shape analysis using time lapse
- Smart system learning vario that learns the pneumatic inputs of the particular glider it is installed and the day factors in real time so it gets smarter the more you fly, even with a day factor.
- OK not glider but rigging integrated into trailer design
- Something that will mask the height from the Hard Deck analysis software.

Hey A8, A lot of your ideas should be doable with current tech. Cloud recognition software is an intriguing idea and could be done now. The drone wingmen idea is an idea that I have heard kicked around jokingly during hangar flying. More often the conversation is about having a drone wingman to shoot video. Apparently I hang around with a bunch of narcissists .

It would be a huge boon to soaring if we could get our stall speed down to 20 knots without killing our top end. A 20 knot off field landing would sure be a lot less likely to hurt somebody. Heck, on a day with a stiff breeze, one could back into a parking space.

How about LIDAR for identifying thermals at a distance? Lasers and optics are certainly getting small enough to make something like that feasible for a glider. I read somewhere that the sailing guys have LIDAR for reading the wind out ahead. Not sure if that LIDAR is picking up backscatter from sea spray or what. Thermals usually carry some load of particulates (that annoyingly accumulate on our leading edges) that the laser could see. I'd try to make one myself if only I knew my amps from a hole in the ground.

WB