On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 16:28:10 +0800, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 18:08:58 GMT, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

Canard designs are just a different approach to the compromises necessary
for aircraft development. What they gain in eliminating the horizontal
stabilizer downforce, they lose in other areas.

back to the guys original question, I take it that the "lose in other
areas" is why you dont see them as racers mixing it with the less
compromised.

Nor do you see many canard sailplanes, which place the highest demands on
aerodynamics.

I wonder what one could do with a canard if you eliminated the need to have
the main wing stall before the canard? Seems like a fly-by-wire sort of
system could sense when the wing was about to stall and limit canard
up-travel to prevent it happening. Or the plane could incorporate a system
to provide sudden downforce if the plane started to pitch up
(compressed-air jets in the nose, etc.). Seems a pity that you have to
avoid operations at the wing's highest efficiency points in an otherwise
efficient design.