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#81
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Robertmudd1u wrote:
Gear up (soaring): set it a little below normal thermalling speed (about 46 knot setting works on my glider with my 302). Gear down (landing): set it a little below the typical pattern speed (about 50 knots would work on my glider). Some may think this a cheap shot, but what the heck. Believe it or not some pilots fly gliders with fixed gear. They even fly them X-C and make land outs. They even stall/spin them. I was trying to keep the discussion simple and focused on the air speed alert idea. It'd also failin a retractable gear glider if the pilot forgot to put the gear down. Fixed gear gliders could use a switch for "landing mode". Perhaps one switched on by opening the spoilers during the pattern checks that stays switched on even when the spoilers are closed after the checks would be better. The pilot would manually reset it after landing, or after using the spoilers while soaring. Too many people in this sport think you need ALL the bells and whistles and a $100,000+ glider to be a "real" glider pilot. That attitude is hurting us. Agreed, but the discussion isn't about being a "real" glider pilot, but how to help the pilot when his piloting fails. People spinning in are definitely hurting us. If the airspeed alert idea is useful, it can be cheaply implemented by pilots using the Cambridge 302 and similar high end varios. That's got to be good. Extending the protection (if it is protection) to pilots that won't buy an expensive vario, or the $1100 DSI from DG, would be the next challenge. If proven to be of value (and having people using the idea via 302/DSI route would be one way), I think you'd see it popping up in cheaper systems. A special unit that did only the airspeed alert for landing would be a lot cheaper than the DSI. The DSI itself might get a lot cheaper if these kinds of things began selling, and competitors appeared. -- ----- change "netto" to "net" to email me directly Eric Greenwell Washington State USA |
#82
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Robertmudd1u wrote:
Some may think this a cheap shot, but what the heck. Believe it or not some pilots fly gliders with fixed gear. They even fly them X-C and make land outs. They even stall/spin them. Too many people in this sport think you need ALL the bells and whistles and a $100,000+ glider to be a "real" glider pilot. That attitude is hurting us. Robert Mudd I certainly would not use the word "need" with respect to a glider AOA indicator. And yes, cheap and simple is important. Perhaps the cheapest idea is simply the ol' harmonica style Cezzna AOA indicators, one mounted on each wingtip of a 1-26 (easier to install on a metal wing, and the 1-26 is a glider with more than it's share of stalls leading to fatalities). Then, if added complexity is warranted, a small switch on the spoilers which deactivates the audio vario when the spoilers are out, so one can now just barely hear the stall horns. Ideally, it would be nice to have removable wingtips, so one could experiment without modifying a whole wing... Perhaps there are other types that would have this feature to allow inexpensive experimentation. Then maybe try the electric AOA tabs too... -- ------------+ Mark Boyd Avenal, California, USA |
#83
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SAILPLANE STALL WARNING SYSTEMS - Recent History
Because of concern about sailplane stall accidents, during early 1987 OSTIV announced that they would sponsor a "Competition for Development of a Special Flight Instrument for Stall Warning of Sailplanes". We of the Dallas Gliding Association decided that entering that competition was certainly a worthwhile project. The offered prize for 1st place was 2,550 DM, and 1,000 DM for 2nd place. Those prizes were awarded after flight-testing judging and during the 1989 OSTIV Congress at Weiner Neustadt in Austria. Over a 2-year period we studied various candidate configurations, and performed developmental flight-testing with 5 or 6 different experimental stall warning systems. While most of the flight-testing was performed with my Ventus A, several other sailplanes ranging from a Schweizer 1-26 to a Nimbus 3 were included. Flight testing included flying into moderate rain showers, and flying with many natural bugs along the wing leading edges. We judged our best overall stall-warning configuration to be a small floating vane mounted well aft on the top surface of the wing, and entered that configuration into the 1998 OSTIV Competition fly-offs at Weiner Neustadt. The Polish entry was judged to be the winner there, but our configuration placed 2nd. The weakness in our design was that its external mounting was subject to damage during club use. The Polish design used the differential pressure measured between the fuselage nose pitot tube and a small flush orifice located on the bottom of the nose several inches aft of the pitot. It is essentially an angle-of-attack indicator, and I believe that it is still marketed today. Although its external mounting makes it subject to handling damage, the DGA design performs well in my opinion, even in rain and with bugs and various flap settings. I have used it on my sailplanes continuously since its development, and feel my flying is safer for that. Its design is shown in the 7/90 issue of Soaring, and I believe it was also published Sailplane & Gliding about that time. Dick Johnson |
#84
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"Mark James Boyd" wrote in message news:4054b43e$1@darkstar... Robertmudd1u wrote: Some may think this a cheap shot, but what the heck. Believe it or not some pilots fly gliders with fixed gear. They even fly them X-C and make land outs. They even stall/spin them. Too many people in this sport think you need ALL the bells and whistles and a $100,000+ glider to be a "real" glider pilot. That attitude is hurting us. Robert Mudd I certainly would not use the word "need" with respect to a glider AOA indicator. And yes, cheap and simple is important. Perhaps the cheapest idea is simply the ol' harmonica style Cezzna AOA indicators, one mounted on each wingtip of a 1-26 (easier to install on a metal wing, and the 1-26 is a glider with more than it's share of stalls leading to fatalities). Then, if added complexity is warranted, a small switch on the spoilers which deactivates the audio vario when the spoilers are out, so one can now just barely hear the stall horns. Ideally, it would be nice to have removable wingtips, so one could experiment without modifying a whole wing... Perhaps there are other types that would have this feature to allow inexpensive experimentation. Then maybe try the electric AOA tabs too... -- ------------+ Mark Boyd Avenal, California, USA Tape two yaw strings (which then become pitch strings) on each side of the canopy at the lowest and most forward part you can still see. Fly once with a grease pencil to mark the inside of the canopy at the string positions for best L/D, minimum sink, and stall. By using a string on each side of the canopy, the error introduced by inadvertent yaw is obvious and can be eliminated with rudder. The string position for best L/D, min sink, and stall will always be the same whether the glider is ballasted, empty or in a steep turn - although the airspeeds will be very different. The string angle difference between minimum sink and stall is large so the bright red, wiggling strings angled up steeply are a good visual stall warning. Bill Daniels |
#85
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Hi Robert,
Read the story at http://home.wxs.nl/~kpt9/gear.htm and you may have second thoughts. Karel, NL "Robertmudd1u" schreef in bericht ... Gear up (soaring): set it a little below normal thermalling speed (about 46 knot setting works on my glider with my 302). Gear down (landing): set it a little below the typical pattern speed (about 50 knots would work on my glider). Some may think this a cheap shot, but what the heck. Believe it or not some pilots fly gliders with fixed gear. They even fly them X-C and make land outs. They even stall/spin them. Too many people in this sport think you need ALL the bells and whistles and a $100,000+ glider to be a "real" glider pilot. That attitude is hurting us. Robert Mudd |
#87
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Hi Robert,
Read the story at http://home.wxs.nl/~kpt9/gear.htm and you may have second thoughts. Karel, NL Sorry Karel, I am missing your point. I did not say such systems were not a good idea just that they need to be designed for fixed gear glider too, and not be expensive. On my retractable gear glider I do have a warning horn for airbrake and landing gear. The information in your link is interesting, Ia m sure some will find the schematic valuable. I sure saved it. Robert Mudd |
#88
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Speaking of simple warning devices:
How about a simple hookup to a horn which is activated when the airbrakes are opened while the towhook is engaged David Noyes had such a system on his Ventus CM. There was a micro switch mounted so that the trigger blade was moved by the oval Tost ring as it was inserted into the tow hook. Robert Mudd |
#89
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We judged our best overall stall-warning configuration to be a small
floating vane mounted well aft on the top surface of the wing, Beechcraft used this system on the early models of the Bonanza. Robert Mudd |
#90
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"Bill Daniels" wrote:
Tape two yaw strings (which then become pitch strings) on each side of the canopy at the lowest and most forward part you can still see. The string angle difference between minimum sink and stall is large so the bright red, wiggling strings angled up steeply are a good visual stall warning. That must be true only for unflapped gliders, or it's valid only for one specific flap setting in a flapped glider. Or you have to make different coloured markings for each and every flap setting. Aldo Cernezzi |
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