Amazing soaring facts?

Looking for some help from the group... I'm putting together a presentation
(might be overhead viewgraphs and/or a series of posters) for the general
public on soaring and I want to catch their interest and imagination. For
instances might be: the world altitude record for a glider is close to
50,000ft OR gliders have been used in WWII to deliver troops and equipment
to the battlefield OR you can solo a glider at age 14; before you can get a
drivers permit OR famous people (astronauts) who soar because of the
challenge OR....??

If you have material and or just ideas I'd welcome them.

Thanks in advance

Doug Easton

A shade over 3000km in the time from sunrise to sunset.

Ian

"Doug Easton" wrote in message
ink.net...
Looking for some help from the group... I'm putting together a
presentation
(might be overhead viewgraphs and/or a series of posters) for the general
public on soaring and I want to catch their interest and imagination. For
instances might be: the world altitude record for a glider is close to
50,000ft OR gliders have been used in WWII to deliver troops and equipment
to the battlefield OR you can solo a glider at age 14; before you can get
a
drivers permit OR famous people (astronauts) who soar because of the
challenge OR....??

If you have material and or just ideas I'd welcome them.

Thanks in advance

Doug Easton

"tango4" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
A shade over 3000km in the time from sunrise to sunset.

Ian

Why are record trials of gliders and motor gliders limited by the time from
sunrise to sunset? Motor planes does not have such restriction.

George

George Vranek wrote:

Why are record trials of gliders and motor gliders limited by the time from
sunrise to sunset? Motor planes does not have such restriction.

First, in most countries, gliders are allowed to fly day VFR only. Ok,
there are some countries where day IFR is allowed, and at least in
Poland, night VFR is an option too, so this isn't the reason.

The true reason is another. There were several duration flight records
in the sixties? seventies? Anyway, the IGC decided to not longer honour
duration records because there have been a couple of fatalities when the
record attempting pilot simply fell asleep. So the daytime rule was
introduced.

Stefan

That's an interesting theme. Neatly plays off public ignorance of what we
do/have done.
Here follow some surprising thoughts that spring to mind easily (a mainly
USA perspective).
For more, see my blogs at:
www.soarcsa.org/ssa/ssay/soarfaq.htm
www.soarcsa.org/ssa/ssay/sailyth.htm
www.greeleynet.com/~jhpc/FAQ.doc
www.greeleynet.com/~jhpc/Interview.doc


Records:
- The first human soaring flight of 1 minute was in 1903 (USA)
- " " 1 hour was in
1922 (Germany)
- " " 1 km up was in 1926
(Germany)
- " " 100 km across was
in 1929 (Germany)
- " " 1,000 km across was in
1964 (USA)

Natu
- About half of all animals (and most insects) fly. Of those animals that
fly, most soar.
- The larger and heavier the animal, the more flapping flight gives way to
soaring.
- The scale of atmospheric convection is about 5:1 cell width to height,
which means that entities
with glide ratios well above that can soar all summer day with reasonable
probability.
- The scale of low level winds is such that upwind progress can easily be
made.
- Conjectu the sailplane (1930s on) is better tuned to take full
advantage of the
atmosphere than later devices (Hang-gliders 1970s, paragliders 1990s) that
make
concessions to cost, portability, launchability, physicality, and "being
in the wind".

Science:
- Many Aerodynamics stars (Von Karman...) worked in the fields of sailplanes
and soaring.
- Many Atmospheric scientists (Kuettner...) soar, forecast for pilots, or
gather data from them.
- Soaring is mainly Galilean relativity: gliding downwards through air
moving upwards.
- Soaring is solar-powered from convection and advection, the power source
is external.
- A 40:1 L/D sailplane weighing 900 lb, moving 60 mph, requires only 3 kW (4
HP) to fly level.
- A typical thermal entrains tons of air with MW of power 4 times faster
than the sailplane sinks.

Engineering:
- The modern sailplane, with lift/drag (glide) ratios near 70 is the most
efficient aircraft ever.
- A 30m wingpspan, 1 m wide and 10cm thick is a structural, let alone aero-
engineer's dream.
- fiberglass aircraft were common in the early 1960s as sailplanes, carbon
fiber in the1980s.
- Natural laminar flow airfoils (NACA for WWII military) are "natural" on
sailplanes (1960s on).
- Engineers famous in academics (MIT, Illinois...), industry (Boeing,
Lockheed...), government (NASA, JPL) have done much in or with soaring:
Paul Bikle, John McMasters, Burt Rutan...
- The much-heralded Paul MacCready, Jr. was World Soaring Champion in 1956.

Celebrities:
- Aviation: 1930s figures took up soaring or at least cooperated in
publicizing glider flying as an avenue into aviation for youth: Charles
Lindbergh, Frank Hawks, Amelia Earhart...
- Space-flight. Some astronauts are or have been sailplane pilots and/or
owners: Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad, Story Musgrave...
- A few media stars have been glider pilots: Christopher Reeve, Cliff
Robertson, Hugh Downs...

History:
- With the public news of the Wright Brothers and the first airshows, glider
building and flying became a fad among youth and University students ca
1909-1913, but soaring was limited.
- Soaring grew by leaps and bounds in the 1920s in Germany, as a flying
outlet under post WWI restrictions for air-minded pilots, engineers,
scientists, and students. Despite a desperate and scary start, it worked so
well it quickly came to be thought of as sport and education.
- Between WWI and WWII (the peace decades of roughly 1920-1940), all the
modern elements fell into place -- sailplanes developed from hang-gliders,
the full variety of launch menthods, two-seat trainers, durations in days,
altitudes in kms, distances in 100s of km. A rare case, some might say, of
aviation progress not being spurred by war.
- WWII saw the use of gliders as delivery means for troops and materiel,
first by the Germans, then by the Allies. The D-day invasion required
training hundreds of combat glider pilots, for which all USA civilian
gliders were requisitioned and hundreds more gliders purpose-built.
- The Soaring Society of America was founded in 1932 and grew to a
membership of 16,000 in the mid 1980s. SSA sanctions Regional and National
competitions in several classes.

--JHC

George Vranek wrote:
Why are record trials of gliders and motor gliders limited by the time from
sunrise to sunset? Motor planes does not have such restriction.

This is not correct. From FAI Sport Code Section 3:

====
4.5.4 Night Flight

A flight which continues beyond the hours of legal daylight in the
country concerned shall not be validated, except where the glider
and pilot comply with the laws of that country for night flight.
====

Night flights by glider are permitted in the US (and likely many
other countries) if the gliders airworthiness certification is
not restricted to day only, and it is equipped with navigation
lights.

Marc

Earlier, "Doug Easton" wrote:

...I want to catch their interest and imagination...

Sailplanes are powered by a large nuclear fusion reactor. Energy is
transmitted from the reactor to the vicinity of the sailplane via a
wide spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Every year, millions of
people recieve first- and second-degree burns from stray radiation
from the reactor.

Of course, it's really just the Sun...

Bob K.

I hate to disagree with you, but sailplanes are "powered" by gravity, not
the sun.

Bravo-Squared

"Bob Kuykendall" wrote in message
om...
Earlier, "Doug Easton" wrote:

...I want to catch their interest and imagination...

Sailplanes are powered by a large nuclear fusion reactor. Energy is
transmitted from the reactor to the vicinity of the sailplane via a
wide spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Every year, millions of
people recieve first- and second-degree burns from stray radiation
from the reactor.

Of course, it's really just the Sun...

Bob K.

Forgive me for disagreeing in return. On a non soaring flight, sailplanes
are powered (mostly) by the internal combustion engine. Gravity just
reclaims the energy expended by the use of fossil fuels. Any gain in height
after launch is indeed "nuclear" powered.

Evals

--


All outgoing mail is scanned by Norton Antivirus software
"bsquared" wrote in message
nk.net...
I hate to disagree with you, but sailplanes are "powered" by gravity, not
the sun.

Bravo-Squared

"Bob Kuykendall" wrote in message
om...
Earlier, "Doug Easton" wrote:

...I want to catch their interest and imagination...

Sailplanes are powered by a large nuclear fusion reactor. Energy is
transmitted from the reactor to the vicinity of the sailplane via a
wide spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Every year, millions of
people recieve first- and second-degree burns from stray radiation
from the reactor.

Of course, it's really just the Sun...

Bob K.

Earlier, "bsquared" wrote:

I hate to disagree with you, but sailplanes
are "powered" by gravity, not the sun.

Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree, then. To say that gliders
are powered by gravity would have to involve a definition of power
with which I am not familiar.

Bob K.