New Glider Dream Elon Musk Flow

Interesting, as in sailing we have kevlar sails, but spectra lines.

On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 8:40:38 PM UTC-8, WB wrote:
On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 10:07:11 PM UTC-6, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
No, and spectra is way too expensive to use for deck lids, fenders... It is in a lay up.
On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 5:44:57 PM UTC-8, Tony wrote:
You mean the tethers that keep deck lids, fenders, and the like from flying into the crowd?

Probably not needed in typical Sailplane crashes...

Spectra is a brand name for aramid fibers better know by another name: kevlar. I believe kevlar is used in the cockpits of the "safety cockpit" Schleicher gliders and probably others. A mix of carbon/kevlar seems to be common in the seatpans of new gliders these days.

On Mon, 12 Feb 2018 20:52:28 -0800, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:

Interesting, as in sailing we have kevlar sails, but spectra lines.

Yes, and that 'Spectra' is a high density polyethylene, not aramid. I
used to use it as towline for F1A free flight competition models.

About 3-4 years ago my gliding club started to use it on our winches. Its
much better than steel cable: less stretch/energy storage and light
enough that two people can easily pull the end back to the launch point
if a launch was abandoned during the ground run.


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