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Low & Slow is the world's monthly or faster journal fol: the 1·011owing 1:1anrominent flight regions: Hang-gliding, man-powered flight, m~ed kiting, fuaster kiting systems, and transcendental flight. L&S's attention s~ays focused on systems that are light weight, quie~i fuel-less, cha~lenging, novel enjoyable possible near home, most mobi e, and unemphasized by any other'journal. !£s members usually practice cooperative creative competing while advancing the arts, crafts, and sciences of low and slow flight. They realize the dangers of leaping before learning enough to be safe. Membership includes all rights and freedoms to fly responsibly fuel-les~l~ as . well as receiving 12 consecutive issues of Low & Slow. No advertising will appear in Low & Slow; but each member will receive the Low & Slo.w Supplement which will contain advertising, club notices, activity announcements, arid other variable information that may . be very dated. Low & Slow welcomes anyone to. send photographs and ideas in .any form •. No payment ~hall be extended for items sent to Low & Slow. Authors of ideas and articles may retain full rights to publish their materials elsewhere, but Low & Slow reserves the right to publish their offerings in the Low & Slow series. Cost of membership is $6 which provides only 12 consecutive issues of Low & Slow. Because of the pnrpose and intention of this organization, contributions detached from memberships are received and much appreciated. These contributions may be in any form - sta~ps, money, work, prayer, drawing, writing, direct mail insertions, referral.... Membership for countries requiring higher postal costs for L&S may be higher than the regular amount; L&S does exchange publications when such is to the mutual interest advantage of both groups. The business and editorial address for all mailing purposes is Low & Slow, 59 Dudley Ave, Venice, CA 90291. All ages and sexes are invited to taste the·delights of low and slow flights. All levels of talent in all disciplinesof mankind are challenged and invited to contribute an approach to solutions of low and slow flight problems. The dedication to fly free fuel-lessly under Mr. Everyperson's budget ~licits the best thinking and dreaming possible. L&S encourages all to keep a notebook out of which will come little and big items that can be shared with others through L&S. That L&S is a medium of idea and fellowship exchange is policy. Love and welldirected enthusiasm has been history's best producer of ideas, developments, and products •••• and super feats. L&S is directed to the well-being of men, women, and children via protecting budgets, environments, and health via low and slow types of recreation 1 endeavor, and practical applications. Enthusiasm seems to be generated by "the gratitude that one wells forth for being able to independently dream-up, design, model, build, and test-fly an entire man-flight flight system while staying within time and money budgets available to even the least endowed of mankind. The sharing of such accomplishment cannot but heighten one's personal enjoyment. Spread the word. Low & Slow is a business member of the Soaring Society of America and a promoting member of American Kitefliers Association. Low & Slow and the Kite Information and Technology Society of America are one and the same. Low & Slow will give 12 consecutive issues of Soaring magazine at a no-gain cost of $6. Such will not include any privileges of Soaring Society of America 1 L&S will provide application forms for American Kitefliers Association~AKA). AKA's membership is $2 which includes 4 quarterly issues of Kite Tales; Low & Slow has no special offer on Kite Tales. AKA SSA; and I.&S are no1; duplicative organizations, but are complementary. When one insists on using fuel in one's flight operations, Low & Slow recommends a fuel that will not hasten the death of Earth's environment. Low & Slow recomm·ends all members to conserve the environment in every possible way. Low & Slow will not assume the executive responsibility of organizing nor representing those who fly low and slow flight systems. Such office might best be left untaken. But if such is taken by some corporation the Low & Slow organization will remain and remain independent---dedicated to a free flying,non-narrowing search for solutions to low & slow flight ways. The pages of Low & Slow Supplement are now open and will be ope~ for any club or corporation that is active in the flight regions of interest to Low & Slow. Low & Slow invites the Federal Aviation Administration to use L&SS, if it feels the need, but L&S will not negotiate with the FAA on any _matter; but L&S will discuss with the FAA any mutually interesting topic. Low & Slow will never own a letter of patent but will publish all possible interesting information. Copies of Low&Slow are being archived in the National Soaring Museum so that ideas novel to the world that might occur in Low&Slow will be available to researchers. Someday an index will be developed for all issues of L&S. L&S archives are kept for the benefit of members; contributions are welcome. Archived materials .will be given to the National Soaring Museum upon the death of Joe Faust, L&S. Copyright
© by Joe Faust, 1971
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OTTO LILIENTHAL •••• FLY Oli: RESULTS OF THE GREAT UNIVERSAL HANG GLIDER CHAMPIONSHIPS, 1971: Cover credits: Center large original of Otto Lilienthal on front cover was a picture from the Smithsonian Institute via Richard Miller. The remair.der of the cuts came from George Uveges, Joanne Faust, Raymond Buchanan, and Joe Faust. Mail-ir, event was won by 11ike Flannigan: His Flannigan Sailwing N4678, an all a.luminum hang glider swept wing flying wing~ with a 0~49" (061T6 skin; constant radius airfoil, symmetrica.t, 100% thickness; aspecs ration Jf; wing loading 90 lb/sq.ft, was flo~n (It poured 24 times on the front slope of Rt. 3 near Box 482, Excelsior, all day at 14'30 hrs.CDT at a max.durationof 1.8 sec., max.alt. 22", for and a max. distance of 8' L". An engineering reevaLiation of Mike) the design revealed ti.at the probable reason for the difference bet;een calculated L/Tl (12/1) and actual (1/12 was due to the non-delivery of the last two 12 1 p~ece/ of 2 1 tubing, resulting in, due to the fact they were the 2 3 of the L.~., a reduction of wing area from 1 37 s~. ft t.o 2 sq .ft, since the Mylar could not be att ched thereto. Ti:is increased the take Qff SQeed to infinity from 24 mph, which I was "nable to reach. l t did reduce the emi:; ty weight, ti;ough ••••.• Flannigan. Almost 100 .illU)ple received an Otto Lilienthal flight certificate from Jack Lambie. Crewing qualified. Flying did. Trying :,ard did tc..,. Low & Slow Event Winners:
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Most Original Hang-glider: Richard Miller Flying Sail Wing. See issue. Most Durable Biplane hang-glider: Aluminum, steel, poly-e by Lambie 1 s. Most Carefully crafted Bii:·lane: ''Bean I s Bid" by Art Bean Best Performing Jib-sailed Rogal lo: Doug Ca rrr:ichael, J oLn Hancok ,i.crew. Most Beautifully Decorate,; Syster.,: Larry G. i)ighera. Most Assertive Flight: Ru,csell Hawkes Kited Landscape Leaping With Heart Full of Joy: Joe Faust Altitude With Le Ultimo Minimum Wing: John Dobroth, 7' 2; 11 Transcendental Flyer: Black Box by nigh school group. Best Warne~ Flyers: Katheri~e Kiceniuk and Barbara Carmichael Best Man-Li ft Na+.ural Wind Ki ting System: Parafoils by Paul Block Best Attire for Birdman or Birdlady: Mark Lambie ready for whatever Most Likely to Succeed Flying Machine That Ba:·ely Flew: 1 Mac' Riley Longest Self-launched Glide: Richard Miller--see center fold, L&S 5. Longest Kited Launch (man-powered tow) Glide: Tom Dickinson tie with ( same shp, different flights) Taras Kicenu U: Best All-around rilotage: Taras Kice3uik ••.• really sensational! Outstanding Team: Taras Kicenuik, Tom Dickinson, Katherine Kicenuik, Sr. Taras Kicenuik, and Steve Elliott. Best Happening Director: Jack Lambie and his student frier;ds r·!ost Intent Pilot: Scott Strom in his poly-e high wing-loaded Rogallo Youngest Flying TeAm: Matt Colver and Ernest Feher Best Model Kite Display: Roger Korn Most Imi;ressive Model Hane;-gL~ers: Ed Topalian's Chanute Replica and Matt Colver's Lilienthal Replica(SEE BELOW) Most Successful Flight wi tL Mos+, Disappointing landing: Bruce Carmichael. Worst Injury At Party: Wr,ile a-walking someone sprained an ankle. Best 'I was ready to fly, but I cannot': 'Buck' Buchanan came to the meet with pictures showing why he could not: Buck bailed out at 10 1 from a non-lateral control bipl~ne hang-glider to avoid flying into a car near :1ome. His leg and buttocks was too bruised for flying. Most tasty and timely Otto Birthday Cake: Rose Marie Lieber Most Wondering Potential Promoter: Doug Lamont of Soaring Society of America and Lloyd Lieber of same •••.
From John Hancok: TO .A.LL: CONGR.A.TUL.A.TIONS ON THE Great Hang-glider "Affair" of Sunday, May 23, 1971. It was a completely fantastic happening from the hour the landl!lwner said "have fun" until well after birthday cheers were sung for Otto L. My reaction to the cooperation between crews & the crowd's response to each "successful" flight as if A. Palmer had just sunk a hole-in-one was one of amazement. The complete ab~ence of commercialism & restraining authority in the middle of Orange County was also unbelievable. Meeting Richard Miller brought forth thoughts that he was once a great soaring bird who has been reincarnated as a man. It is as if he's been sent here to lead man into the heavens. *** (Ed: John was part of a group from San Luis Obispo flying a jib-sailRogallo. John was pictured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, Monday morning, May 24,'71) Editorial appraisal of meet: NEVER CAN THERE BE ANOTHER FIRST MODERN UNIVERSAL HANG*GLIDER CHAMPIONSHIP-opening to the world a refreshing renewal of that relentless desire of _man, woman, and child to fly freely into the ether that is our home. All the purity of intention commensurate with the historic significance of the big event was present. Such completeness came about much more by way of the spontaneity of people than by any one action of any organization. Transcendental, kite, model, jump, man-power assisted, zooming, moderate soaring, and hanggliding flights were all happening. Smiling, helpmanship, appreciation, sharing, and dream-power turned a cemetery hillside into a graveyard for many pessimisms, disbeliefs, and inactions. We look forward to practical low-cost near-home fuel-less flight systems achieving and surpassing current theoretically predicted levels of performance, The first and barely second-order flight systems that appeared for the meet hardly met performance levels that are possible, but the enthusiasm level will b~ hard to beat; jet-age super airliner test pilot felt no embarassment in helping guide the wing-tip of a newly fangled goodie footthrusted gliding kite system; father-daughter systems were evident (Bruce & Barbara Carmichael); brother-sister combinations flew (Taras and Katherine Kicenuik); Mother-son happenings soared (RoseiM:i.rie Licher and Dick Miller); _young couples made plans; and neighborhood groups cooperated. WE DID FLY FREE, low and slow. Our way will be one of creative cooperative competition while searching and sharing the mysteries of man-prominent fuel-less flight.
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SPECIAL gratitude and recognition must be extended to the following people: 1. The owner of the cemetery who graciously gave permission for the event. Perhaps he was looking forward to a mass internment; really. he was kind. 2. Jack Lambie, author of "Hang Loose II plans, builder of a replica Wright Brothers airplane and replica glider, famous soaring pilot, world-class speed cyclist, promoter of hang-gliding---for his expertise in directing the day. He gave 2 pilots' briefing; led students to mark out and measure duration and distance of flights; pre-designed, printed and sold to qualifying contestants and crew a flight recognition certificate; and reserved a dinner room at a restaurant for an honors and birthday meeting. 3. Mark Lambie, brother of Jack, who was part and strength of most of the efforts mentioned for Jack. · June 13, 1971, Mark organized a film "Gome all 1 n show" fest at his home recreation center at which 60 people appeared. Over 20 separate displays came forth including vintage footage by and of Volmer Jensen. 4. Mrs. Rose Marie Licher, wife and partner of Lloyd Licher -executive director of the Soaring Society of America- •••• who made a. beautifully decorated cake showing Otto in flight. Her presence and cake gift accentuated a spirited celebration of Otto's meaning. The cake, song, and honor giving significantly and solidly opened the modern era of fuel-less low-cost flight for mankind. (A speck of the original cake will be given to anyone at the asking by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to L&S.) 5. Russell Hawkes, who did the necessaries when and how they were needed to keep the field open for flights against the threats of a) F.A.A. spies· b) Police helicopters c) Land superintendents d) And crushing crowds. WE THANK YOU WHO DID INDEED HELP MAKE A'GOOD HAPPENING HAPPEN WELL .••••• *****************
As peaceful as the hillside site first looked, a number of problems surfaced: 1. Lateral control on ships were missing and spectators soon became participants by acting as a cushioned landing field. 2. Artichoke plants proudly paraded prickly pain-giving leaves. Ouch! 3. Dried weed stocks everywhere marched to spear socks and weak sails. 4. Fuel-less fellows periodically had to urge the exit of fueled vehicles from the fire hazard areas. Since no public facilities were evident, fire was not altogether feared.
5. Dry grass lured the pilots into butt-skid landings only to bring to mind the pre-meet published wisdom of remembering to bring a crotch protector.
6. The mass exodus of insects, once they saw us coming, caused a bit of dust.
7. The crowd almost panicked when watching Paul Block's giant parafoil kite pull a little boy up in the air (boy dummy, that is!).
5.6 Letter excerpts to editor: *I feel the Great Universal Hang Glider Championships was everything we could have asked for: some special grace must have been operating ~n our favor. ,, ••• Thanks to Dick Wilson, who provided the truck and trailer for transporting the wing, to Bruce, to you and the Lambie's, I had a very carefree and enjoyable day. R.M. Miller (Ed: We all did and do) * This is just a note to let you know that I have started gathering materials to build a Miller Sailwing. I am going to use chrome-moly LE 5s suggested by Miller. Also I have reduced the sweepback to 25~ from 30 to . increase the aspect ratio and also to reduce the roll stability so that it will be more responsive to lateral control. I am going to use either tip spoile~s or e~se control thetip re~lex to achie~e lateral control. T~e ship will be in two halves for easier transporting. C9ver: Dacron sail cloth. (Ed: Let's see now Frank: So far in your home lhangar?) you will have a Bamboo Butterfly by son Matt RC gliners on-going Montgomery hang glider, dynamic soaring experimentai models, and now a MFSW.J •.•••• ; Frank Colver, we do admire your aevelopment and wish you the best. * I'm always interested in "far-out" ideas---but what supplies the lift for "Transcendental Flight"? A little L.S .D. ? Guess I 1 11 never make it, as I ~ever touch the stuff myself!" Vance Phillips of Santa Barbara lEd: L&S stays FUEL-LESS ergo NO DRUGS TO ACHIEVE FLIGHT. Man-p?wered and man-powered assited flights achieved via customary food use is a compromise, perhaps ••• and perhaps inescapeably. The lift for ~he infinite types of flights that are transcen~ental_come? from: 1) Thought • 2) Imagination 3) Love 4) Grace 5) Combinatorics 6J *From Patrick Page:( Mission San Jose range report) This time a f@1 jumped into the blue, from the cliffs on the so called "lower ridge": 1800 1 AGL to peacefully glide to the flat land below!!! (ED: Pat, that group has joined L&S under the name of Dave Kilbourne. Dave sent me a sequence of 1 a ridge soaring experience with his 16 keel boom, sail-cloth, aluminum Rogallo. L&S 6 will show details. His longest flight from totally selffoot-launched mode has been 25 min. He's had over 1000 good flights) *Patrick Page: "Success, that was the word. My conclusion is that we are way off in the aerodynamics and control areas. Lots of ground to be covered, More fun than a barrel of monkeys. A whole virgin field ahead. I can see the sport is back in full swing. Here the interest keeps growing. Would not be surprised if we pull the same one you fellows did. •1m sending you more snapshots of my ornithopter. Herb Aldridge. (ED: Thank you, Herb. Many have enjoyed them. Thetoo writers from England in the man-powered movement there concur with you that flapping wing propulsion theoretically holds very high potentials for success. The construction of pro~er devices is here ~he big problem. We have a Mr. Gordon Codding partially on board who has just finished a most respectanalysis of the flight dynamics of the dragon fly. Herb, try and send us the address of the Ornithopter Society of America, please, Thanks. Our Don Zobel and others are followers of the flapping wing evolution. My project 56301 is a vertical flight flapping wing biplane affair. Anyone having more than common interest in ornithopters should tell me so so that I may group you through the mail. Stamps please. *No one has tried a combination of fixed and flapping wings. H.A. (RD: Dr. Martin Sultan constructed a fixed main wing Canard with separate flapping wing~ for propulsion. He was obliged to abandon Germany to settle in Palestine. I am wondering that after we all perfect some super hang-glider, say a XFSW-237, we might pitch in to get the pilot active durthose long cruises •. Having him flap a bit ~ill give propulsion, will reduce gross water weight, will extend the flight, and will make pilot healthy. *I hope to have a modified Miller Sailwing off the ground in the next month or so. About all that will remain will be the general configuration. --Mike Flannigan (ED: Is that all? See in this issue about Mike winning mail-in contest for May 23rd. Mike's unfinished symphony was given an FAA number: N 4678. The Minneapolis District GADO said h-gs are airplanes.) *George Congdon: 11 My wife was telling me something the other day, not all the facts are known yet; but some pe~son, a waiter at a v~ry high class restaurant in San Francisco called the Victoria Station, was seen on Mt. Tamalpais, a local mt. here in Marin County,about 2700 feet high, complete with vintage cap scarf and goggles with a hang glider of some sort prepared to make a leap. I was told that he was talked out of it." ' *All this may lead to an aviation curriculum for junior high boys. I'll keep you posted, ••••• Steve Baldwin of Mass. (ED: Exercise, optimism, challenge, sharing, cooperation, history-long traditional yearnings, non-polluting, and modern design-----these points from l&s can be for boys and girls. We wish you well. May your several wings lift the hearts of your students.)
MAN POWER~D FLIGHT LEADER
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John McMasters sends his spirit and talent: Icarus tried to fly with waxed-in feathered wings. He leaped before learning enough, but his idea of flying with man-power is still alive. One of our members John McMasters, teacher at Purdue University,has joined the contributing staff of L&S as our MPF leader. His friend Curtis Cole, also a L&S member, may also vector some MPF effort through L&S. Both are _published and respected authorities on MPF; their leadership in promoting the exchange of knowledge in MPF is unmatched in the U.S.A. McMasters has specialized in the study of projects that are practically leading towards a successful attempt at winning the $24,000 Kremer Prize (L&S 1.14). McMasters has offered to do a series amounting to a MPA directory. We here publicly invite him to do just that and here declar.e that he will retain all rights for further use. All factions of L&S can benefit from such, for the ultra-light-weight constructions and flight dynamics of these craft provide many lessons helpful to any low-speed manned aircraft system. Parallel with McMasters' efforts will be a development of unconventional low-cost man-powered flight systems. Dr. Sherwin of England (top English MPF authority) indicates that flapping wing devices hold a very high potential for use in MPF and MP-assisted fuel-less flight systems, but he notes that the design problems have held this type of craft in the unsuccessful category. Let !.&Snot be guilty of delay on design proposals in the face of unknown engineering solutions: Richard Miller could have had some tip flapping device converting some of -his semi-idle self into some propulsion just as he used some of the self-power for propulsion as is most evident in his system just prior to take-off ( see L&S 5. 10). Dr.Keith Sherwin, you are invited to use L&S for exposing food-for-thought SECRET SECRET to a community that is tuned-in to the hopes and problems SECRET SECRET SECRET .Jilii.... SECRET of flying fuel-less:ly with various degrees of man-power SECRET .....,,,,.. SECRET involvement. SECRET SECRET
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L&S received a review copy of Dr. Sherwin's recently published book MAN POWERED FLIGHT. To his publisher: "Our birdman gaggle will hover over and peck at - ~ seed tucked in the .leaves of MPF; our wings will grow stronger for such nourishment."
We also invite all members of SOARING SOCIETY OF AMERICA to observe that most high performance soaring pilots already send some of their energy into the airstream in order to effect longer flightsi soaring birds do not neglect to row a bit now and then. The soaring sport as traditionally practiced does not have to be forgotten in order to appreciate the sportSuch fulness of man-powering one's way out of a stable-air-tight-spot. man-involvement will break-up those long sitting periods and give health to one's circulatory system. Soaring pilots in high performance ships need only to increase their present arm and leg motions. Great·£~~t~, Birds, feel welcome to join McMaster~, Cole, Dr. Sherwin •••. and L&S.
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Pat Matzdorf ,age 21 yrs., on Saturday, July j, 1'.:l"/1, ceJ.eora-c"u uJ.a J.udependence from gravity by man-power flying with his arm-jersey winged aircraft system to an above-ground-level altitude of 7 feet 6{ inches to eclipse the world altitude record! Although i:-he F.A.A. would require hia registering his aircraft system, no enforcement proceeding nor local GADD reports were filed. We congratulate Pat on his fine efforts. Dr. Keith Sherwin of England, one of the world's leading authorities on man-powered flight ought to hold a conference with our own man-powered flight authoriti.es John Mc Masters and Curtis Cole (noted in U.S. journals;and I.&S members), to report on the.horsepower developed by Pat Matzdorf during his take-off in the self launched altitude flight. Pat weighee 172 lbs and stood 6 feet 3 inches. Assuming a knee bend before take-off and a take-off duration time of~ sec., then ONE PAT MATZDORF POWER UNIT WOULD EQUAL ABOUT 3.8 horsepower: Note: His center of gravity travel in the effort was probably from '30" to about 92", that is, a travel of 62 11 • Give 2 lbs. for clothing. 62 11 _ _ h.p. 120 take-off~. 172~• 2~ 33,000 ft-lbs/minute 12"/ft. 1 minute 1 Pat Matzdorf
about 3.8 h.p./ 1 Pat Matzdorf for each take-off of that caliber. This above calculation is partially in error because of the absence of consideration for conversion of the forward kinetic energy into vertical kinetic energy, but it took some effort to convert such! But f~rther, if one would include air drag on profile, jersey wing, long loo~e hair, and on air drag caused from compressing air between his body and the tigh jump crossbar, then one might move the power figure closer to 4 h.p,=1 Pat p.! Figures in Dr. Sherwin's recent book show 1 man-power at very short intervals at under 2 horsepower. Pat was using one foot launching system. A gymnast using simultaneous two foot ta~e-off system has achieved a leap over a bar of 8 feet 6 inches. The Watussi people's one-foot launch record is 8 feet 3 inches. Let's see, since man reportedly needs to produce about 0.3 to 0.5 h.p •. for sustained straight and level flight (usiEg the kind5 of craft that are being developed for con,peting in the Kremer. $24,000 prize competition), have Pat zoom to 8 1 for a start, have him rest in a 0.5 h.p. mode for a few minutes and then have him proceed to zoom upwards using 3 h.p. every so often. Pat, the Kremer prize might go to you, please see I.&S 1.14 for the rules of flight. Yo~r editor has flown in this arm-winf fashion to put his C.G. to 8 feet 1 inch, not clearing a bar, though(? 2" clear on other occasion). Also same has flown up from earth to kick a bar set at 10 feet 8 inches. These efforts are called high jumping! not pole vaulting. Below is a recent photograph of a 7 foot 2~inch rlight by John Dobroth. John is now studying for his bar exam. John's early style training came directfrom your editor. His jump here pictured was the highest in U.S. this until Matzdorf came along! .. . . John Dobroth:
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"Hang-glider": Kite with a shortened tether and a falling anchor. 2. "Hang-glider": Der Hangentailschwinger 12uschenpullen werker withde.fliegenwagen mittouten Airfloggenfan. 3. "Kite" : Enlightenment tethered by ignorance via book page fibers. 4. At Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers tested their glider by flying it as a kite. {Not a bad idea! Gust size effects, though, is a major attention.) 5.• One of us ought to follow up on this lead: Recently the Navy bought some automaticall" collapsible barrage biplane type kites for towing behind ocean research ships. Biplane nang-glider owners, attention! 6. Redundancy provides high reliability, adds weight, saves lives. 7. Just as using thin, non-fu'zzy, strong kite lines provides for less drag and higher angles of flying; streamlining and diameter reducing of struts and wires will let th.e hang-glider keei: its flying speed with · less power absorption. 8. Pneumatic structures for hang:--gliders can provide some very interesting and perhaps desirable characteristics: a. Foot operated air pump :Quick assembly ••• b. Bag it! Storage.·Mobility. Compact. c. Crash recoverability. Tape it. Crash cushion. d. Option ••• non L&S: Helium gas fill. e. General problems: 1~ Pressure maintenance, leaks, punctures 2 Degradation of materials, seams, valves 3 Manufacturing methods 9. Overheard •••••••••••• 11 I'm toying with the idea of building one" ••• L.L.; June 13, 1971; 11:45 p.m. (Let's all hope he does!) 10: Editor's fli~ht day with a carefully crafted heavily slotted shiJ?: a young observing girl: "Look at that man trying to fly a broken kite." 11. D~hin power for the low submarine fly-ers: National Geographies has a man anchpring the.tether tied to a dolphin. Train a team to tow you across tne Atlantic. 12. Hot ship flying in an environment of solid ice. Artie low flight ways. 13. Shorter people in l&S can use the benefits of material strength and low drag. Taller peoJ?le in L&S can catch the higher winds more easily. 14. Oilbirds have babies that become fatter and heavier than their parents. Upon reducing weight while growing feathers, the birds learn to fly. Such corous draE:Um reduction can be for many of us a big lift in life! 1.
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SAVE A SHIP:
L&S wing (air)
Storm rescue:
pulley L&S water drag
rock·s· disabled ship
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Water, water everywhere, no t1me to drinkl
16. White tape reflects the sun and gives longevity to the ·gum. 17. Water-wave surfers are tuning in on air-wave-near-ground surfing: L&S. · 18. Airspeed indicators: Do not invest more than $1. A chiropractor was'turned on'to hang-glidin€ recently, Chiropter means 19. bat, the animal. The chiropractor was introduced to L&S via the author of the Bamboo Butterfly or the "Bat Wing" glider. May our ailments of the hands and feet be minor ••• welcome Dr. E.E. Pritchard. 20. Some are forming clubs and seeking meani~gful names. We hear of the 1010 club or 10-20 or 20-20 club; Flying Free; but a highjumper got. toge- " ther with a cola firm and suggested 7-up. Others say,"Timid Feather Tether, 21. Higher performance from your involvement in flight via weight reduction, body density.increase, and body streamlining~ ••• (Notice how in L&S we think about the "person so very much! We fly .. J : *Personal weight: Is it exce.ssive? If. so, a few extra ups and downs £ while remaining att,lrit-iye to ,the joys of the mind I:" might well bring you to a longer flight habit. *Personal density: that is, the volume a pound of -flesh takes up can be varied. More healthy muscle takes up less ~ ~ space per pound than unhealthy tissue, Less drag. 1 ~ ::::::::*Personal shape: Streamlined muscles will fly better than bulky 1 's. *Personal apparel: Light weight smooth tights are better than fuzzy -:;;I_ and heavy clothes for drag reduction. But for hard q landing one might want to have some extra, so : *False sh~smetic clothing for landing and low drag: Use specially shaped balloons stuffed in pants and shirt to cause all to become tear-drop shaped. Low drag.
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(Ed: Below is a redrawing by L&S of the finer original by Richard Miller. Note: true scale is i" = 1' but the original was twice that here shown:)
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Scale: ; 11 = 1 1
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{Ed:Below is part of a bulletin Richa:rdMiller made to aid builders of XFSW-1. Not.e that point A is the place where the main cross-member (rt;: meets th_e leading edge spar.) . (t "-V
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T. he adjp.inin.g .d. iagram may be of help in estimating the ne- _o\~ .'1 CJessary.strenth of_the l.e. at the critical J?Oint (A) Lt:· w~ere ::ct goes cantilever. (B) is the centroid of "IL roughly:26 sq.ft. of wing arica. When thi;, is muler tipiiea by 1. 5 { wing loaaingJ, then by 4 { length · ,t 8 of.. the.'arm) and finally by 2 (safety factor) we arrive .. at a figure of 312 ft-lbs. We were advised by Doug. King, one of Bruce Carmichael's friends and i<rRftllll\)(;- f'!)GE co-workers, that what we needed to do the job was chrome:.moly tubing (4130) with an o.d. of 1-1/8" and . a wall ..of .065°. This has a yield stress of 70,000 p.s.i. and weighs .736 lbs. per linear foot, . The 2 G deflection figure (at tip) is 13". Some weight can .be .·save·d by telescoping sizes as you approach the tip, Furthermore, these calculations are based 01: the 1. e. bearing the entire tip load, so there is an e_iqtra m!J.re:in of safety in whatever strength the t.e. contributes. My feeling ·is that, with the above provision, and the flexibility of the airframe, a safety margin of two _should be quite adequate. This is not a recommendation,however. The builder must determine matters of that nature for himself.
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fil predicts: Flying sailwings will one day be designed for transportation on
bicycles, motorcycles, and buses, Assembly and stowage .times will be in the neighborhood of ten minutes. Weight will be from 15 to 30 pounds, Controls will bring enjoyably long duration flights "l"no~
1r;n" ,, .... +. nn •~ilR will· sn~.rk
an Air Att··Renais'sance.
BUILDING AND FLYING THE CONDUIT CONDOR .by
Richard Miller
flying the Aluminum Rogallo was fun, and I'c sure Bruce Carmichael enjoy'edit as Euc.b as .I cl.id.But after sessions at the golf course, when the ship was w~peid up and we were enjoying bracing cups of sassafras tea in the Carmic:lil.ael' s living room, Bruce would get aft.,r me to make some changes in the ship. He felt I should trim ba·ck the sail so as to ·increase the aspect ratio of the wing and then mount some ·sort of tail at the end of the boom. I wasn't enthusiastic about such ideas, principally because, as Bruce outlined them, they entailed cutting up what I considered to be a perfectly good flying machine. But out of these talks, gradually, came the id.ea of a new gl~der, a simply flying sail wing. The first step, and its one that always seems to pay dividends, was to build a model of the proposed design. The model. of the sail wing was made in a day using 3-ft. lengths of 3/16"dowel and a light plastic covering. It proved to have a very flat glide angle, to be quite stable in pitch and to have a·wandering quality which indicated marginal directional stability. In short, it was ideal and determined me to go ahead witn the full-size machine. Work began in the middle of October and the covering was applied five weeks later, on Thanksgivi~g Day. The primary materials used were 1 11 and 3/4" conduit and PVC tubing. The cond~it was employed because it was inexpensive and available. I was pretty well along with the structure before I discovered that it was possible to bend the 3/4" conduit, which I was using for the leading edge, over my kne.e. It was this little experiment that led to the addition of the reinforcing truss resembling the tag.ends of an Erector Set. Actually, it was made of shelf-bracket material. The PVC tubing, perhaps the worst material in the world for hang-glider construction, was used in the carrythrough area in the hope it would make the structure flexible enough to permit warping and the turni_ng of the machine by the exertion of the pilot. Mostly it just helped the glider droop, and a lot of it _was abandoned as construction progressed. Not enough, howeve·r. There was no real plan to building. The structure just sort of took shape with pieces being added, replaced," or reinforced as necessary. The secondary structure in the outer panels, which was devised from screendoor spreader bar, is an example of what I mean. Next to the basic integrity of the airframe itself (?) the most serious structural problem was building the tips so that they would deflect adequately to give the proper amount of wash-out to the wings for longitudinal trim. Basically, the method used was to put a vertical load on
5.14
on the ~ing-tip member at the 25% chord point using Bruce's fish scale and to estimate deflection against load. In practice this required a good deal of cut-and-try, but the G. G. fell at the 25% mark as planned, so apparently it was successful. The cockpit area got special attention. Successive layers of paper tubing were split and put one over the other and covered with padding on the vertical members and cross bar just ahead of the pilot as well as on the hang bars. The last touch added to the structure was a female PVC socket in the lateral bar behind the pilot. This was to receive the business end of the 3-ft. training bar, of which more presently. The covering - 4-mil polyethelene sheet - showed up just in time. Bruce discovered a mass of it on the scrap heap at Autonetics where he works, stuffed it into the back seat of his vw, and took it home. It was a little on the tired side, but the price was right. Two sizeable sections were cut out for right and left wing sails, joined in the middle, and attached to the frame with duct tape. An Indian cow bell, by way of stallwarning device, was .hung in the ·superstructure, ~nd we were ready to go. So far I'd spent about 50 dollars and had roughly 50 pounds of airplane to show for it. $50 1 50 lbs. and 50:1, I thought- in my dreams. Well, you live and learn. First Flights The covering job was complete by the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day and the first ground skims were made as soon as we could carry the glider the 100 f_eet from the garden walkway, where it was built, to a slope just behind the house. These initial trials demonstrated a combination of the best and the worst features we were to experience with the sail wing. It was quite clear, to begin with the positive points, that the machine, be it ever so odd, would actually fly. Added to this was the ease with which, when everything worked just right, the glider could be launched. A few steps down even a shallow slope were enough to get you into the air. Betting everything just right was the problem. Of the various things to be got right, the angle-of-attack is the most critical by far. Of the two ways to err, trying to take off with too high an angle-of-attack is certainly the least punishing alternative. Unfortunately, this method presents so much of the underside of the sail to the relative wind that you can't get enough airspeed to leave the ground. About the best you can do is to wallow around and perhaps end in a groundloop. It soon becomes obvious that this approach, while safe, is a waste of time and that, whatever the consequences, you've got to get the nose down to a point that will permit you to gain more speed. You lower it bit by bit until finally - inevitably - you go too far and pitch forward into the ground. This tends to happen very quickly and to be quite painful if you' re moving very fast at the time. It is not the sort of thing you want to do a second time. To our dismay, we did it repeatedly with XFSW-1A - but
we learned.
5.15 There were three factors that contributed to the pitch-in of the Condor. The first was luffing.
Those of you who have had experience with the
Rogallo undoubtedly know about this. At low angles of attack the forward part of the sail tends to luff and consequently to lose lift. The portion of the sail behind the center of gravity, meanwhile, goes on about its business as usual. The result is a sort of see-saw game in which ti:e more the big guy p.;.shes, the greater the leverage he has against the little guy. Once things go beyond a certain point there is no turning back. The action takes place almost instantaneously and the results, as noted, are painful. The second factor at work is the natural pitching moment of the surface due to the curve of the camber line. The Rogallo, being essentially a flat plate, is not particularly affected by this, but the sailwing is. Furthermore, there is no nice long tail arm, with surfaces attached as a counterpoise to the pitching tendency. As a matter of fact, at the beginning the run there is nothing to· offset it except the pilot's skill.
of
Thiring the first trials, with the sail freshly attached, the camber was -theoretically at least - only some 5 percent. At this time the pitching tendency was not troublesome. After being out in the weather for a couple of weeks, and being subjected to some high winds as we~l, the pitch-in was so bad that it was almost impossible t.o make a launch. Subsequently, examination of some photographs showed the sail camber had increased to at least double its original figure. The third factor contributing to the pitch-in during take-off took a little more time to discern. It seems simple enough in retrospect, of course, but so does everything else. The trim of XSFW-1A is achieved by wash-out at the tips and this wash-out is created by air loads. The tips then, begin to rise and to twist as you load the sail during the begin;:iing of the take-off run. The net result is a decrease in angle-of-attack. If, during your run, you are already on the borderline, and just holding your own against the adverse pitching moment, this slightly negative change in angle-of-attack can put you over center and start the luffing action. These varied factors are not insurmountable difficulties in the way of obtaining a good launch by _any means. As a matter of fact, with a welltrimmed sail the ship proves quite docile and has a good, positive feel. During the take-off run it is possible to raise and lower the nose through several degrees of arc so as to place it just where you want it. This does require a bit of experience, of course; but certainly no more than is demanded in other sports. There is still the possibility, through inexperience or carelessness, of getting the nose too low and inducing luffing. This is serious enough during the launch, but could be disastrous, at altitude, following a stall. It was to prevent this that I installed a set of false ribs (see photos) on which the sail could fall back for support in extremis.
5.16 Carmichael's Conversions These problems were by no means clear on Thanksgiving afternoon, nor for some time afterwards, and although we felt the sting of the stop-short start on several occasions, we were also able to see the better side of XFSW-1A. What was possibly the most heartening incident that day was a misadventure of Bruce's from which I mined considerable consolation. "Crash" had had his share of nose-ins this day, including a bad one on landing. This did not occur because landing is particularly difficult, which it isn't, but simply because we hadn't learned to do it yet. In the event, Bruce took off down the slope, still smarting from his last abrupt contact with the ground and determined, if possible, not to repeat his mistake. As a consequence, when he was about tippy-toe height above the ground, h9 threw himself abruptly back in the hang bars. To the onlookers, who didn't at first understand what was happening, the result was both dramatic and so funny we could hardly run to his rescue for laughing. He shot a good six feet into the air, stopped, dangled a bit, then settled to the ground with one wing in a clump of bushes. Bruce was all right and I was elated. Zooming was something new. We had never done it in the Rogallo because that design simply was not not capable of it, at least not under ordinary circumstances. It was obvious from Bruce's zoom, however, that the sailwing could convert fair amounts of potential and kinetic energy, and this even under the unfavorable conditions of 1) low aspect ratio, 2) short flight, and 3) light loading. (The aspect ratio is 6, the flight was about 100 ft. on an 8:1 slope and the loading, with Bruce piloting was about 1.2 lbs./sq.ft.) This inadvertent maneuver demonstrated, to me at least, that the performance of the sailwing was a considerable step up from what we had been used to. As soon as I had the opportunity, I survey~d the slope of the site and using this gradient, plus figures for the flight on which Bruce and I agreed, I made a force-and-vector diagram of the flight. From it I concluded that the Conduit Condor was gliding at a very shallow angle (for a hang glider) and sinking at a very low rate of speed (for any kind of a glider). Subsequent attempts to fly the ship before the winter set in were not particularly successful. That there was a marked difference from its performance on Thanksgiving Day, and a good reason for it, did not occur to me. When winter did set in, it was one of the worst in San Clemente for many a season. There were severe periods of high winds with battering gusts. Waterspouts were reported and one local resident had the roof ripped off his house by a tornado. I kept piling more lumber and more cinder blocks on the glider as the winds increased, and it looked nip and tuck for awhile, but the ship survived, although with most of the. sail torn off. By this time, having had several months to review the problem of pitching in, it was quite obvious that anti-luffing ribs would have to be installed, so the removal of the sail was no great loss. The work on the ribs was completed on Saturday, April 24th and on this same day the framework was moved to Dick Wilson's backyard. Dick offered the use of his yard at very low rates (no rent and plenty of enthusiastic help) and supplied the truck for the trip.
His house, on Camino de Estrella in
:lying the Rogallo, and to some low hills between the freeway and Camino ~apistrano which we had been considering as a contest site. It was to these latter hills, once a new sail had been taped on, that re took the Condor for its next flights. The best of these was a low mound facing the ocean, but somewhat more shallow than the .one we'd flown on pre1iously. Bruce and I had done a rough survey on it at one time and deternined it to be about 10:1. We were able to get off this gradient, however, ,nd made several satisfactory skims before a couple of bolts sheared (tsk, (sk!) and the wind {respiratory variety) gave out. The next day, Sunday, just a month before THE BIG EVENT, we walked the ,hip to the golf course for additional trials. Here we had what were probibly the most successful flights in the brief history of the Condor. It Jroved possible to get off the ground with a short run in a moderate wind . •nd make extended flights. All of us had gained some experience, be it ever so slight, and we were able to fly with a good deal more precision than had Jeen possible ear lier, although we still overcontrolled a lot. We made only one more outting before the 23rd, again to the golf course. rhe wind, if anything, was even more favorable than it had been on the precious occasion, and the slope it forced us on, a small cut, even better suited to hang glider flying than our previous location. But something was wrong. We kept backing further ana further up the hill and taking longer lnd longer runs, but all tte flights were disappointingly short. At the time I thought the problem was the splitting of the center section seam of the sail, which had to be patchea regularly. the real cause.
I still hadn't figured out
fayday Mayhem When the contest site was changed from Capistrano Beach to Corona del ~ar, I abandoned any thought of entering the Conduit Condor. The wing had oeen built to prove a point, and no thought had been given to making it ~ollapsible. Transporting it in flyable shape seemed out of the question. aut I hadn't counted on the persistence of Bruce Carmichael and Dick Wilson -mostly Dick. He was convinced we had to get to the contest with the ship, md so we did. To make his point, Dick .~upplied both the truck and trailer for transJOrt as well as the cardboard, line and glue needed to make and attach a set of wing covers. Because of the shapes of things it was necessary to lie the ship vertically to the outside of the trailer. The trailer was 12ft. long and rather low. The glider has a span of 30 ft. and an over-all fore-to-aft dimension of 12 ft. When the two were ~ated, it was the glider ~hat had the overhang. Our route was up the coast road, through Dana Point and Laguna Beach, md against us we had a brisk, quartering head wind off the ocean. Pushing 134 sq. ft. of sail area upwind for twenty miles is quite a job, even with i truck doing most of the work and three men with poles and ropes trying ~o hold down loose ends. At times the wing tips were bowed three or four '.eet out of place and the framework was so badly bent after the first few
S. 1 B miles that I gave up any thought of flying in the contest. The frame, however, bent back into shape -more ·or less- about as eacily as it had been bent out, ~,ich proves that ccnduit and dime-store aluminum ain't all bad. The coverjng was another matter, t~t at t'.e time I didn't realize it. What! did realize, once flying started, waE that I had to take an inordinr,tely lor:g run down a fairly st8ep ~lo;ce anc into a fresh wind before getting into the air ---and that I was tack or. ~r.e ,::ro·md much sooner than I had anticipated. I al~o found that it was ~@cessary to hold my leg<' well forward, much moreso than on ar,y previous occasions, indicating that there had been a forward shift in the center of pressure. It was not until some days after the 23rd that the pieces of t~e performar.ce puzzle began to fall into place. Everything was then quite clear and quite simple, We had had o~r best flights im~ediately after covering the ship or. Thanksgiving Day and after the recovering, April 24th. Almost immediately afterwards there was an unaccountable (at the time) degradation in the glide angle. With a new sail it was possible to get off the ground with only a few steps, even on a shallow slope a::ci ia a very iight >:ir,c. Subsequently, on a steeper slope and with a fresf:e,r w!.nd, it was necessary to take a long run in order to get airborne and then the glide was disappointing. This was par·ticular1y true at Corona del Mar where, ir. the face of a fresh 10 to 12 mph wind, I had the feeling I was running ilalf way down the mountain with uothing happening. It was quite obvious, then, that the polyethelene covering was stretcted out of shape w!1en the ship was flown and that it deteriorated furtl1er when the glider sat in the open between flying sessions; and that it was at its worst after the special bit of stretching it got during the trip from Capistrano Beach to Corona del Mar. This stretching shows very clearly in the close-up photos George Uveges took of the ship in flight. When the Condor was recovered the sail was pulled tightly down over the ribs, wl,ici: r.ave about a 5 or 6 percent camber. In trle photograp!.s the camber a1°pes.rs to be on the order of 15 percent, at least at •. 1·:e center secticrn wr.er-e the taped seam is clearly visible. This is the equivalent of a solid wi:::g section of 30 percent thickness and certainly explains the FOOr glide angle of the ship the day of the contest. The action photographs also revealed the shortcomings of the springloaded trailing edge. While this was perhaps a good feature from the point of view of relieving gust loads on the outer section of the sail, it was n.ot an unqualified success. It permitted the trailing edge, wbch (~ike everything else) was flexible (only more so) to bow forward and res:.:lted in a very heavy camber over a large proportion of the span. So, to put it quite bluntly, the sail, on whic~ the performance of any sailwing quite literally hangs, was in extreme,y r,oor shape during most of the flying life of XFSW-JA. The problems with the sail are being put ,own in sorr,e detail in the hope that they will not be repeated by those wLo follo...- the lure of the sailwing. These cautions apply in a way to the entire ship. Like the Bamboo Butterfly, XFSW-1A was a very quick-and-dirty job intended o:::1y to
determine if the concept cf a flying sailwing was worth while. There is now no question in my mind but what it is. and that the type offers an extraordinarily high level of performance for- the work_ involved. For those of you who do take up the development, and wish to save as much of your skin as possible, r would like to offer the following suggestions: 1) Increase the wing loading from 1.5 to at least 1.6 or 1.7 lbs/ft2 2 ) Increase the aspect ratio from f to at least 7 or B. . a cantilever leading edge of 4130 chrome-moly and aluminum for 3) Use most of the rest of the structure. Fiberglass tubing, unless it proves to be too flexible, would seem an excellent alternative. George Oglesby brought some samples, obtained from a pole-vault manufacturer, to the contest. Although the samples were short, they felt quite stiff. They are also available in telescoping sizes. 4) By all means retain the ribs as anti-luffing protection (see photos) or, alternatively, use battens. Do not neglect this! 5) Do not USP polyethelene sheetingl which distends and distortsl but-i:lacron or a comparable sailc oth with spanwise and possib y bias ribbing to take up handling and landing loads. And while you're about it, make the sail bright and colorful! 6) Make the structure collapsible, either by folding the outer panels over the middle third of the wing (four double-centered hinges needed) or by folding from the apex. Either way is going to require some figuring, but the ability to fold the ship and carry it on the top of your car should more than make up for the trouble. 7) Employ a tempcrary sacrificial structure at the apex to absorb punishment from nose-ins during the early learning period. Also pad the cockpit area well, expecially just ahead of the pilot. You might also consider installation of a restraining harness of some sort. s) Devise a positive, effective method of lateral control. ) Install and employ a training-bar just behind the pilot (see 9 l.l:S 2:10 left bottom) and use it in a regular and consistent manner while learning to fly. Careful, coordinated teamwork is essential if you hope to get consistently good flights. One of the better features of the flying sailwing is that it permits a helper to run along just behind the pilot or student during the take-off run and apply (or retard) thrust as well as direct the &lider. He can also carry on a lively little patter (get your ~%*@¢?# feet off th~ ground, you-----) and, if all else fails quickly detach the bar and give the student a smart whack on the noggin. 10) Add a small wing seat below the pilot for extended flights. **************
Building.and flying the Conduit Condor has been a very stimulating experience. Despite the lliany ups and downs, the bruises and the knocks, the impression that remains of the ship is a very friendly one. So far as I have been able to determine, it has no inherently dangerous or ornery characteristics. On the contrary, it handles with ease. Furthermore, it appears to offer exceptional performance for so simple and economical a flying machine. I believe that a sailwing incorporating the suggestions listed above, with the pilot in the prone position ~nd his body partially faired, should be able to achieve a very low rate of sink, one so low that I am ashamed to mention the figure. Such performance, and the soaring potential it offers, will only be realized, however, as t~e end result of a great deal of careful thought and by endless fussing with many details. But it leads inevitably to that magic moment when you take a few steps down the hill into the quickening wino and step off into the air for one of life's truly unforgetable experiences. (J
A