Passive Reflective Devices

For brilliant strobe lights that are incredibly power
efficient contact Phil Manning. He is an engineer and
ex-glider pilot who has developed high intensity, flashig
LED's. They are 'cold' so can be housed in an aerodynamic
shape. His email is :-


For a reflective device, why not simply apply a reflective
caoting to the canopy? A bit like those mirrored glasses.
They are still available for use as automobile accessories.
They also make the cockpit a bit cooler. If anyone
thinks of adopting this approach, however, do also
ensure that your eyes have adequate protection against
UV light. A dark tint to the canopy will cause the
pupils to enlarge thereby exposing the lense of the
eye to more of the ambient UV light with concommitant
risk of cattaract formation.

At 06:36 11 July 2004, J.M. Farrington wrote:


Any other suggestions for passive reflective devices
will also be
appreciated. Suggestions and thoughts on active devices,
i.e. strobes
will
also be handy.

Regards

Henk Stander

Seeing that you are going to be using Lawrence Welk's
mirrored ball, you
should also attach his perpetual bubble machine, and
use it for thermal
location.

John

WHAT ABOUT REFLECTIVE TAPE?
GORDY

Interesting question - to give a "sparkle" to make the glider more visible.

I have a mirror in my search and rescue pack. The survival mirror has great
range. Mirrors have been spotted 50 miles away. However, they need to be
aimed. What you are proposing is to use an assembly that has multiple
reflecting surfaces so that aiming becomes unnecessary.

There are problems, however. As the surface number increases, the
reflections are reduced in magnitude. Fortunately, the original source is
substantial. A good mathematician could determine the probabilities of a
reflection, knowing the number of surfaces, the various possible locations
of the sun and the other aircraft and and the likely possibility of the
other pilot looking into an area that might contain the glint.

Some collisions are from below or above. The reflector would not do much
good in those directions.

If he (or she) has their head "in the cockpit", it will not be much good. I
fly a helicopter that has a strobe on all the time and it does not do much
good during the day. I still keep my eyes open to keep other things from
running into me (or me running into them).

I am installing a collision avoidance system in my motorglider, but it
depends upon the other aircraft having a transponder - not much good with
the glider circuit.

Colin


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Seeing that you are going to be using Lawrence Welk's mirrored ball, you
should also attach his perpetual bubble machine, and use it for thermal
location.

We had a real blast yesterday tossing out rolls of toilet paper
and slicing them with the wings. Also seemed good for thermals.
Harder to see than a glider though.

There is reflective tape that I've used before on boats...


--

------------+
Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA

Hi all

Thanks for all the replies. I would be lying if I said I got what I wanted,
but the time spent in replying is appreciated.

Henk Stander


"COLIN LAMB" wrote in message
.net...
Interesting question - to give a "sparkle" to make the glider more
visible.

I have a mirror in my search and rescue pack. The survival mirror has
great
range. Mirrors have been spotted 50 miles away. However, they need to be
aimed. What you are proposing is to use an assembly that has multiple
reflecting surfaces so that aiming becomes unnecessary.

There are problems, however. As the surface number increases, the
reflections are reduced in magnitude. Fortunately, the original source is
substantial. A good mathematician could determine the probabilities of a
reflection, knowing the number of surfaces, the various possible locations
of the sun and the other aircraft and and the likely possibility of the
other pilot looking into an area that might contain the glint.

Some collisions are from below or above. The reflector would not do much
good in those directions.

If he (or she) has their head "in the cockpit", it will not be much good.
I
fly a helicopter that has a strobe on all the time and it does not do much
good during the day. I still keep my eyes open to keep other things from
running into me (or me running into them).

I am installing a collision avoidance system in my motorglider, but it
depends upon the other aircraft having a transponder - not much good with
the glider circuit.

Colin


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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.713 / Virus Database: 469 - Release Date: 6/30/04

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 01:09:53 +0000, Gordon Schubert wrote:

WHAT ABOUT REFLECTIVE TAPE?

'Reflective tape' is normally 'retroreflective' - it reflects light back
to where it came from.

This only works when whoever you want to see you is shining a bright
light at you - for example cycle reflectors are great at night, but
not much help in the daytime.

VNE

How 'bout a disco ball helmet? That way you could
be seen even if you bailed out ;o)

I put Whelen strobes on my Salto for night flight and
night airshows. Took 6 months of paperwork and I had
to re-certificate in Experimental-Exhibition category.
On top of that, due to no generator, I'm restricted
to using the anti-collison lights only in Airshow Waivered
(sterile) airspace. Cost me a fortune, even though
Whelen donated the lights. Typical FAA!

Despite the limitations, I turn them on in crowded
air. (I dare them to try to bust me for that!) They
are the newer Whelen 'Comet-Flash lights. They fire
4 rapid pulses, 80 times/minute. They are easily visible
in full sunlight for quite a ways, and very bright
on cloudy days or at dusk.

BTW, ATC radar has no trouble picking us up. Give
them a call and ask them to give you headings for identification.
They'll have you make a couple of 90 degree turns
to identify your blip. After that, they'll know who/where
you are.





At 22:12 13 July 2004, wrote:
On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 01:09:53 +0000, Gordon Schubert
wrote:

WHAT ABOUT REFLECTIVE TAPE?

'Reflective tape' is normally 'retroreflective' - it
reflects light back
to where it came from.

This only works when whoever you want to see you is
shining a bright
light at you - for example cycle reflectors are great
at night, but
not much help in the daytime.

VNE

Bob C wrote:
BTW, ATC radar has no trouble picking us up. Give
them a call and ask them to give you headings for identification.
They'll have you make a couple of 90 degree turns
to identify your blip. After that, they'll know who/where
you are.

When you say "ATC radar has no trouble picking us up", is it because of
the lights? If not, what is the ATC situation: near or inside Class B or
C airspace, inside the Mode C veil, traveling enroute, or? I'm curious,
because our local Class does have trouble picking us up, and I'm
wondering what the difference is.

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Eric,

The controllers at the Raleigh-Durham (RDU) airport
ATC facility can see my glider with their 'primary'
radar. RDU is within Class C airspace (wanting to
go to Class B, but that's another story) and one time
I called them up while thermalling and they found me.
They kept an eye on me when traffic was light. They
didn't have time to concentrate on looking at primary
returns all the time, but I could and did listen to
them so I could help determine where the traffic was
that they were speaking with. During this one particular
flight as I circumnavigated the RDU Class C airspace,
I always remained outside of the Class C, but was probably
no more than 40 - 50 miles from the control tower.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA



At 04:36 14 July 2004, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Bob C wrote:
BTW, ATC radar has no trouble picking us up. Give
them a call and ask them to give you headings for
identification.
They'll have you make a couple of 90 degree turns
to identify your blip. After that, they'll know who/where
you are.

When you say 'ATC radar has no trouble picking us up',
is it because of
the lights? If not, what is the ATC situation: near
or inside Class B or
C airspace, inside the Mode C veil, traveling enroute,
or? I'm curious,
because our local Class does have trouble picking us
up, and I'm
wondering what the difference is.

--
Change 'netto' to 'net' to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

" wrote in message ...
On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 01:09:53 +0000, Gordon Schubert wrote:

WHAT ABOUT REFLECTIVE TAPE?

'Reflective tape' is normally 'retroreflective' - it reflects light back
to where it came from.

This only works when whoever you want to see you is shining a bright
light at you - for example cycle reflectors are great at night, but
not much help in the daytime.

VNE

I think he's talking about silver mylar tape. S&G had an article
about visibility markings on sailplanes and the conclusion was that
covering the control surfaces with something like this was the best
bet. The surfaces are relatively flat and move around a bit, so
produce frequent 'glints'. Of course, only works in sunlight, and not
very well from the front. So best results are if the target is
circling away from clouds.

-Tom