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10.2 ----~----~---------Keep flying free--~--~----------~----SHOllTS AND POLICY: 1.Excellent idea: Ed Lockhart and Herb Aldridge and others have sent your editor some STAMPS. They seem to understand,• the hundreds of letters it takes to make a movement gel. 2. You may renew with $6 anytime for your next L&S issues #il'through #24. And how does this sound: L&S as a gift to a special light hearted friend? The more participants in L&S that we have - the more info. we'll share.
3. Low & Slow is changing'printers this month toward a process that will assure us higher quality photographs • Please do send in yGur photos to share with others. Just have a second print made of your story-shot and send it in. We will all appreciate your effort. 4. Lambie's phone recorder tells us that he is continuing his work on his "film". Maybe in your local theater you'll be able to see a hang-gliding "Endless Summer." I hope he arranges that fliers filmed will get free tickets to see themselves - the stars of the show. What do you think?
5. Ernest Feher flew 4; minutes ifi a Rogallo kite using the natural beach wind on October 24, 1971. He and Matt Colver spent $10 on their k:it e whic,. doubles as a hang-glider under mild wind conditions. Their labor brings the value to $40. They will sell the device in good condition if you will sign that you will buy it as a non-manable kite and release the seller from liability as to the use and safety of the device. It folds to 23' long. 6. EVERY MACHINE MADE OF PARTS GAN FALL APART GIVEN CORRECT GIRGUMSTA.l'(ES. Every machine made by man wears out, fatigues, crumbles, and passes a moment whan usafulnass is absent. FLYING IN MACHINES THAT ARE NOT CHECKED PRIOR TO EACH FLIGHT FOR SIGN OF WEAR, DAMAGE, MARGIN OF SAFETY, AND TASK GAPABILITY •••• is folly. What can keep us from making this check: a.Anxiousness to fly. b. Fatigue c. Unawareness of the importance. d.Suicidal tendency
7. We are to be nearly 450 member-readers by the time you read this. Do carefully consider what powers of communication you can exercise to communicate to the 2,000,000 people in the U.S. wishing to find a way to self-launch fly around this wonderful Earth! We need 900 soon. 8. The F.A.A. is not involved in giving federal permission to ski jumpers, flying trapeze gymnasts, cliff divers, donkey water divers, motorcycle slope jumpers, high jumpers, runners, long jumpers, wrecked car leapers, rock throwers, farzan pendulum releasers, and others that fly through our air. Federal tax-supported hours should not be spent on any control of low altitude hang-gliding and hang-soaring. Whe'!l. a man-slip system intends and goes into circumstances that endanger or could endanger other aircraft and people and property, then the F.A.A. has a job to do as well as the pilot. But the flying activity of most all low and slow self-launching flight systems should be respected as surf-board water flight systems. The S.S.A. seems to not see that per.manent changes 0 o 0 Copyright ($) by Joe Faust , 1971 Booklet series; monthly or faster; $6,#1-12; $6 ,#13-24; Good deal! Please spread the word.
10.3 ought to take place in the F.A.A. regulatar-y structure to respect a kind of gliding art that should never have been left undeveloped. Low & Slow hopes that S.S.A. will withdraw their prohibition of plans of low alitude gliders that do not infer that F.A.A. approval is needed for low anQ slow picnic self-launch flying. We also hope that the s.s.A. aids the low and slow movement in winning a brand new category for the systems that fly independent of the airspace used by others. The F.A.A. has for 20 shown that they do not really want to mess with us; I htp,pe that the S.S.A. will not pursue their apparent course thatforces action that would equate modern sailplanine with low and slow picnic gliding.
9. EVERY SHIP CAN BE A SOURCE OF SUCCESS FOR YOU. ALL FAILURES CAN GTITE YOU GEMS OF' INSIGHT WOR'T'H ALL YOUR EFFORT. 10. ENLIGHTENED EXPERIMENT: Use compressed air to help you spray a pod of, dust while you are in flight. Have someone be far to the side taking photographs every so many seconds. With such photos one could calculate the airspeed and sinking speed and L/D of flight. 11. TEST YOURSELF ON JUDGING SLOPE ANGLES BY SIGHT. Choose any slope and guess the pitch of the slope. Then measure the pitch. Compare. Repeat until you are good at this. Many people judge slopes as being steeper than they really are. 12. Icarus builders •••• see and keep up on all Icarus Wing Tips found in L&S issues. Some of the wing tips will be matters essential to your safety. Also be sure to keep upfated on any suggestions from the author of Icarus No. 1. When you modify the Icarus system• please keep L&S informed of the modification and the results.
Was this the world's first two-man self-launch hang-glider flight? (1971, Torrance, California) -~
10.4
HANG-SOARING or fly your kite as sailplanes never could ..•.• Glass 2, almost 3 self-launching: A day of flight with Taras & Icarus Taras proves the safety and performance of his new system (see, though 'Icarus Wing Tips' for food for thought), yet demonstrates the need for certain skills, awarenesses, checks, and requirements. The free falling kite anchor, Taras Jr. himself, towed his kite wing Icarus via arm ligaments and a wide nylon seat belt on a series of special flights on October 10,1971. At 4:30 p.m.,Taras foot-launched his kite into a steady marine air above the Torrance, CA, beach for flight #8; he touched down exactly 5 minutes later before the incredulous eyes of 200 witness~s • .Aii unknown beach going tourist happened to catch the flight on 8 mm. film; selling the film to KNXT permitted tens of thousands of others to view the historical event: 40 pounds of Icarus being towed by 145 pound Tarzan of the skysurfing world off a ten foot cliff met by a 40° sand slope. Please follow the fine sketch given by Bob Lovejoy. Flight #8: Within 3 seconds of free-flight after self-launching, the Icarus was banked left by simple. operation of the left tip dragger. Tarus crabbed south with a very low ground speed. No net drop! Staying in the best lift region of the slope, he carefully ·drifted in and out according to the contour of the slope. Momentarily he would level then rise gently under positive control. Once he was give company by a flapping-less gull. Still on his.first south leg while rising to some 40 feet above his takeoff altitude, we all stood silent. This was being done in a mildly fresh breeze, not a gale or even a strong wind! We were witnessing some very refreshingly new ways of quiet man-flight. Those with keen vision saw the intrepid pilot release hold of his controls to adjust his swing seat. Icarus maintained course. At the end of the first 1~ minutes Taras properly (we were glad for that) entered a 200° turn. 'His air.speed, direction, and turn radius properly guarded, Tara's ground speed picked up as he began a fast return to a point about 40 ft. above his take-off spot. Waving down at us with a wide smile midway around his second 200° turn, Taras expertly maintained vigilance over his airspeed and position relative to the slope winds. A]]. this was Taras' first solid taste of self-launch 'hang-soaring', and he had never ridge soared in his own Olympia sailplane. Heading back south int~ the wind in his second turn, Taras and Icarus were once again warmed by the face of the sun and a near zero ground speed. Tar.as crawled contouringly back up into the heavens high above the slope top, forward of its ridge edge. Leaving us behind spectating a new kind of modern bird -winged man- Taras climbed once again, •••• frequently work:img his two independently operated tip rudders. His height gain on this leg was about 70 ft. over take-off altitude. At the end of this longer leg he negotiated a small radius (not too small •••• he did not want to fall from the sky) 150° turn, then straightened out and flew toward the shoreline where he turn again about 50° which put him on course for a straight and (See the fine sketch by Bob Lovejoy on :ien ,"'<cse of Flight #8; see also the start of this flight on 10.,, - ·, i )
10.6 long glide. This last leg was with an oblique trailing wind that reduced in velocity quite fast as Taras neared the ground. He used up his altide by passing the starting area and continuing on for another 100 yards. Tl:B downwind landing was within the capabilities of the system since the wind at ground level 6 1 was not very great. Still Taras did have to r~n fairly when he landed. He was careful to maintain ample airspeed all through the period •••• It can be noted, though, that in such a downwind landing the ground speed can become less as one slides down the wind gradient. This is opposite to the time when one is making an into-the-wind-landing. Regard-less Taras kept the airspeed required and settled on the beach without incident nor without any shock of sinking -his sink speed at touch-down was zero or just slightly more than zero. With a heav~er wind Taras would have planned to land into the wind for safety. All this cries out the relative low speed performance of Icarus. Five minutes flat was Taras' deliberately cut-short flight. The awe of all of us electrified the warm breeze. Mac Cready could have sensed the space charge. Smiles broke into high aspect ratio doves and remained until the •••• such dove~ are still soaring on the faces of all who witnessed the ecologically, economically, existentiaily exhilaratingly important flig~ of modern youtlr into a marine air that hopes to be kept clear ---clear so that ages of youth to come may enjoy the· .uulifting influence of a most wonderful world -a world where intelligence, dedication, cooperation, and a desire to do well can have us give the effort and sacrifices that can bring us to a non-damaging way of doing better what we are doing damagingly now. We congratulate Taras for his contributions. SAFETY and PERFORMANCE of the ICARUS (Preface: Review all 'Icarus Wing Tips' if you are going to build Icaru;s or other similar craft. If even once you fly in Class 3 hang-soaring, then buy the training text from Low & Slow, called Joy of Soaring for $6 All Olass 2 pilots would greatly appreciate this large hard cover book.) The stall comes gently and forgivingly •••• but do not stall without enough altitude to recover. The wash-out permits partial stall for the sake of recove·ry. The center sections of the wings stall first permi tt~ a gentle pitch forward-down so that airspeed can be regained. One must remember to return the controls to neutral weathercock position when coming out of a stall so that the system is free to move forward most easily. Stall during straight gliding is easily known and corrected. Distance andtime are short for this operation. Five distinct stalls were noticed.in the 14 flights of Oct. 10,1971. The only one that gave a problem was one flown by Tom Dickinson in a Class 2 hang-soaring flight. The stall occurred at the same time he enterred an area of relative sink caused by the changing contour of the slope. The accident averted could have been a rough but non-serious stopping of his flight, but he had just enough room to recover and fly out of the situation. Those five stalls do not count the stalls entered when intending to land Icarus. The landings are special, delightful, controlled, and almost But landing accidentally when too close to dirt on one's always gentle.
left or right,causes one to drop airspeed and ground speed in a hurry. :rhese special factors are further uncomfortable because one usually braces to not damage the wing, sometimes at the expense of some bruising. When with the wind these flight terminations are low momentum situations; however, the possibility of the wing swinging in a loop and banging a ground mound is very real and produces spar dents and bends. Oct. 10, saw 14 flights by Icarus without any dents or bends. This is not to say that it did not get some jars and sha.kes, •••• which jars and shakes added to the fatigue history of the system ••••• Study 'Icarus Wing Tips'. TARZAN GOES NATURAL ••••••••••••• but trash spoils. Sandy slopes, ice plant, white level beach, and ocean, ••• and air ••• the environment begged to be clean -crystalline- ••• and a protected gift of gratitude presented by man to his Creator. But all was not there, however much Taras tried to present a completely wonderful time of creative play. Taras bared his feet as a sign that youth wished for all to make ground worthy of bare feet, bared his sparkling eyes as he peered through the front of his wing into a sky darkened by smog •••• hoping that man would decide to go to non-polluting patterns of energy dispersions. Taras' courage in truly foot launching was more courageous by having to face a particle-filled air, a littered beach, and a possible dunking in a scummed ocean. However, our Bomba lifted and landed from a 1! minute flight. Touching down at the water's edge, he pmt down his wing and bared himself except shorts and took a one-minute low and slow body-water-surfing fligit. An Afternoon of Icarus In 14 Flights At the site is an excellent training slope fit for O'to one Flight 1: span width altitude glides with practice on S turning. Sand is beneath one at all times. When the wind is perpendicular to the face of the slope,hardly a better training place could be found. However, at this site during heavy winds one could be in trouble during a right turn. A wall is in the way about 80 1 to the right. In mild afternoon breezes the training slope provides gentle take-offs and landings for all. A system with an L/D less than 4 would not fair well here. Fl.#1 was launched off the half-way point of the slope for a 12 second glide by Taras without use of his swing seat. Taras'pilotage brought Icarus in for a smooth and slow touch down. Taras, Sr. seemed to change his mind about flying the Icarus upon seeing the low effort in Fl.#1 •••• it appears that at such kinds of sites he may don Icarus for Class 1 hang glidi:rg. Let's hope so. In such proper and good conditions flights will not put any more stress on the pilot than accelerating and bra.king a bicycle. Taras sat in a garage-hung swing seat for 10 minutes as practice for hoped-for flights on this Oct. 10th afternoon. Having failed in an attempt to use the wing-held swing seat on a flight two Sundays before, he prepared to use the seat in Fl.#2. Flight 2: A bit higher up higher on the same slope, Taras strapped himself into his seat. Running forward and then settling into his seat put him in-
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10.8 to his first successful sit-down self-launched fuel-less flight, 17 sec, Flight 3: Tom Dickinson (centerfold of L&S 9), Taras friend, neighbor, and Icarus helper, seated and launched himself to show us the effect of feet-up streamlining. 18 seconds. Flight 4: Taras went to the top of the training slope and executed a smooth 70° turn just before landing. 20 seconds. Two people carried Icarus up. Flight 5: Tom took off for the first Class 2 hang-soaring flight of the day •••• perhaps he soared up one foot from a relative low point as he came around a bluff just left of the training slope. He effectively sustained 6 seconds longer than he would have had he not turned to catch the more stiff updraft of the slope to his left. 26 seconds. Flight 6: Taras was warmed up; he had assessed the conditions with eyes of a trained eagle. His Tarzan spirit did not overcome his wise patiene and scrutiny of site and condition parameters. (In retrospect one can see that more attention should be given to checking the ship carefully before each flight and further keep a record of all special stresses in the ship!s history.) Intrepidly he launched into a 51 second soaring flight from a point atop the slope just windward from the more mild training slope. Carefully noting that ridge launching requires a modified procedure his team coordinated information and off ne went. Flight 7: Tom kept too close to the hill and lost more airspeed than he desired. His feet touched and re-launched not unlike a bounding mountain goat. His landing at the next knoll was not as graceful,though,as his animal cousin's, but all was fine. Tom was careful not to swing the wing into the hillside. The contour hang-soaring flight ended within 8 seconds, While Tom rested, Taras showed the world how to 'hang-soar selflaunchingly' and 'sky-surf contouringly' in his nylon-belt-towed Icarus wing for Flight #8. Flight 8: See the diagram accompanying the story of this flight in this issue entitled "Hang-Soaring ••• or fly your kite as sailplanes never could." See why some key people in the soaring movement tell how Icarus today is changing the whole soaring movement in the United States .•.•• ;L&S predicts changes in the entire world for all time to come. This flight was done NOT IN A STORMY WIND CONDITION, but in warmed marine air -pleasant to be in with only a T-shirt. The 5-minute-flat flight was done with a one-m~, nowing-tip help condition, off a sandy slope at Torrance Beach, CA by one Taras Kiceniuk, Jr., age 17, inventor and designer of the Icarus tail-less bi-plane. The flight ended after 675° of stable turning in four flight legs ending deliberately in the mild-downwind conditions with a short-run sand landing holding stand-up posture and no ground looping. Flight 9: Tom had another 8 second flight. Flight 10: Tom soared along the slope and landed heading into the wind on the beach after 40 seconds of fine pilotage. His flight began a bit beil:er yet he was able to show good ground skimming while contour.hang-soaring. This near-ground flight appeared to me as the most interesting of Tom's.
10.9 Flight 11: Taras, inspired by the control Tom exhibited, followed the contour of the in-and-out hillside for 1~ minutes. Most of this time was in level flight. Flight 12: Steve Rlliot\ the third member of the hang-soaring trio, foot launched off the training slope for a fine experience including a 60° turn. Steve has helped on many occasions and has received good talk and examplle by Taras and Tom. He too is patient and serious. The hope of building and flying his own craft looms before him, however, the trio might fair better by continuing their mutual cooperation. Two carry the craft well. Steve could find a fourth partner and develop an extension to the Icarus squadron. 20 seconds. Flight 14: Steve Elliott closed the day with a 40 second flight silhoRetting the sunset; two S turns and a gentle beach landing concluded an afternoon of Icarus in 14 Flights. ((Include considerations given in L&S's article 'Icarus Wing Tips' if you are building or flying an Icarus)) TOTAL FLIGHT TIME: 10 minutes and 10 seconds. *********************************************************************~*********
WONDERING ABOUT THE ICARUS We were wondering what,would happen if the 16 Icarus struts were streamlined1 the drag reduction would be equivalent to the drag of the pilot. Also, what would happen if Taras blew up a vinyl encapsulating bag to streamline his body? A pants I pants? Taras is almost convinced on the wisdom of carrying a quart of water for drinking while flying near the sea; he recalls the .Ancient Mariner's "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. 11 Heat exhaustion is something all "hang-soaring" pilots must watch for during flight _sessions. Being sun-affected, fatigued, or ill, places one in danger of flying witiliout needed senses -which is, of course, senseless. Carrying Icarus back up the hill was easy compared to Bat Gliders and Hang Loose ships. ·Had the wind been of cooler air for the 14 flights (see far above articE) and more directly hitting the slope rather than at the glancing angle, no more wind velocity would have been required to permit Taras to carry Icarus up to 1/ 4 slope and there begin a flight that would put him into a landing ati,the top of the slope. Thus Taras would have eliminated the need to ever carry Icarus up the slope. Launch and land at the same elevation (not at the same point bec.ause of the different requirements of launching and landing). Drink some of the water or juice while hang-soaring. A picnic on the beach below could set the scene for a wonderful family outing,
I
WHAT IS YOUR SELF-GRAVITY FACTOR? (Design by Bob Lovejoy,CA)
lU. 1 I
10.10
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B: Rolling left turn to begin crabbing upwind
A:· Taras on Icarus #1 just after take-off; See p. 10.4
C: Mild breeze hang-soaring first l!lo• le& be
E: Returning to start point, turn initiated
10.12
ICARUS WING TIPS 1.Skin with Tyvek or eurathane impregnated'nylon-ripstop ••• if you want not to have to be sooo careful about putting holes in the skin during ground handling and transporting. 2.Assembly and disassembly solution for some people: Take the four root connections apart •••• and stop there. Have the wing in two halves in which each half consists of a half top and a half bottom panel 15 1 long. These two big parts will tie to a car top in two ways •• ;either way will be under 8 1 wide. Assembly time will be reduced to less than 5 minutes! Vehicle top rigging can be figured out to fit VW's or larger cars. But do watch the prevailing or gusty wind environment, especially on small cars. 3. IF one made an Icarus-type so that the upper trailing edge ~ar root joint and the lower trailing edge spar root joint,together formed hinge points, then disassembly could consist of simply disconnecting the two nose-root joint connectors. Disconnect and hinge the two wing tips together so that the two sets of trailing edge spars kiss , then assembly and disassembly time for car-top transportation could be done within one minute by two people and about two minutes by one person! However, this process would form a vee-shaped set-up because of the stagger angle on the wing. Hinging the noses instead of the T.E. would give a tee-pee set-up. People going near home on surface streets in mild wind conditions with a heavy car would have little trouble. A universal joint might help a bit. The most neat method might be to follow 2. above to permit the chord plane to sit parallel with the road. 4. IF the struts and tubes and wings of this type wing were watertight, then 3. above might be accomplished after landing in water. Some wind protection Mylar (metallized for insulation) could be unfolded from a rescue compartment and tied to the newly formed survival raft to make a warm little floating compartment. Fishing gear could be handy. An H20-still could be rigged. The aluminum frame would be a good radar reflector. (Comforts of home) Better yet: Check weather before flying. 5. BEST OF ALL TIPS: Send in your tip to help perfect this type as well as other types of systems. It only takes a minute to jot it down! Your tips may save thousands of man-hours for mankind •.••••• 6. Inadequate air speed combined with too tight of a turn may end you •••• Study the training manual recommended for all class 3 low and slow intrepid pilots: Joy of Soaring, $6 from L&S, 59 Dudley Ave., Venice, GA 90291. This manual almost misses nothing in its 134 pages that should accompany clasa 3 self-launchers. The hard-cover book is big, a full B!x11 inches; although the photos in it are not of ultralights, the fundamental knowledge presented by Carle Conway is a must. If you do not went to keep the book, return it and I will take the loss. This is mainly for those self-launchers who do intend on flying class 3. The Icarus flight featured in this issue of L&S was probably class 3;
10.13 it will not be difficult to fly class Jin the Icarus system! Some think they may be increased in size to ~rovide quicker reactions. 8. Honeycomb sandwich construction might work perfectly for the wing draggers, wing ribs, and pilot's treasure box for goodies to eat. 9. Taras has not man-powered towed his Icarus No.1 either manned or unmanned. When you try this, have three lines to three towing people and have a helmeted set of wing tip guiders. Experiment with bridle points for a two line towing system and then proceed to find a one
7. Consider the size of the wing-tip draggers or rudders.
line towing system for the unmanned mode. Then proceed to adjust bridle as a hanging manned mode is experimented with. Watch out for over-stressing and stalls. We do not yet have from anyone a good set of calculations nor measurements that give the air speeds of Icarus. Because of the apparently good glide path of Icarus a flat-land tow system (man-powered) ought to work well. I expect safe and satisfying developments from this area of Icarus flight; but proceed in such way that there remains no doubt as to procedures and possibilities for towing flight. 10. Needed: a. Less assembly t.ime b. Streamlined struts c. Prone alternative with least amount of device d. Final swing seat arrangement •. e. Tested stress reports with finalized choices of materials f. Extreme condition and situation testing so ..·could know what might happen under high gust, dive, or spin recovery loads. Send your ideas and experimental test results to "Icarus Wing Tips". 11. Convert -wire, vertical strut., mid- t.urntiuckle system into a Warren truss affair without any wires, turnbuckles, nor special gussets needed for the wired system. Simplified connectors could be made. • ••• Doug Lamont, CA. 12. Needed: Icarus type craft could be sold in kit form and packaged at 50 pounds with assembly instructions included. Product insurance could be bought. A roaming pilot could fly Icarus around the "fair and show" circuit and palls out information on how one could puy the "ready" self-launch system through the mail for $xxx.xx.. The Rogallo sellers sell systems for $400 to $800. Because of the superior quality in the same weight, the Icarus could similarly be priced from $600 to $1500. I am waiting for someone to show up with the following-two kinds of Icari: Neat type: Carpet-core bamboo struted Icari with skin of clear poly-e, cardboard ribs, and borrowed bailixg wire •••• all obtained from trash. A bit neater type: Chromed thin wall steel or gold anodized aluminum tubing using stainless cable and stainless swaged fittings and stainless or chromed turnbucklea ••• and wings with skins of metallized Mylar bonded to honeycomb. 13. Construct an Icari modification that has it that two full halves of the full wing can fit inside of each other. Rotata'ble rib's, sli~htly progressively smaller ribs for ~hordal taper, and pro-
10.14
greasively shorter vertical atrutb or truss frames will make it possible to fit one side of an Icari into the other side, especially after removing the fore to aft diagonal struts of the wing half that will form the outer shell during transportation. 14. L&S recommends that one build in more strength in the following pJaces: A. UPPER AND LOWER TRAILING EDGE SPARS AND ROOT JOINT: Reversethe spar splice position on these two spars. Increase the diameter of the short splice part, and its wall thickness. Fill the splice with foam - pour in place (or bond in a balsa core or pine core). Before doing that, insert a root connector rod that is properly prepared: The internal end of the connector rod ought to be a bit tapered and deburred so that no sharp e~ges cut the internal surface of the spar splice; a blob of epoxy bond can be placed on the internal part of that connector. When foam filling, the foam will set right up against that epoxy blob and connector end. Solid connector rod for the upper trailing spar root connector should extend beyond the point where the fitting for the vertical strut lie. ALL DENTS. DINGS. SCRATCHES, BUMPS.ABRASIONS ON THE UPPER AND LOWER TRAILING EDGES ARE IMPORTANT ITEMS •••• very important. These changes will necessitate some modification on the size of the connectors and fittings in the affected places. (Include upleading edge spar in this modification scheme.) B. HANG TUBES: These tubes should be .060 to 065 11 wall at H to 2" diameter and should be filled with pine straight grain core to prevent kinks and failing bends. (E> C. Put in a set of barely taut wires as diagonals to the parallelograms that immediately are at either side of the pilot's chamber. The upper aluminum root rib could be foam-plywood or foam-aluminum sandwiches that bolt together and permit full airfoil thickness and automatic closure of the upper root joining line. (bolted) D. The pair of N diagonal struts that are closeat to the root should be increased in diameter and foam filled ••••• and streamlined when jL if you have extra time ••• 15. DO NOT NEGLECT TO throughly familiarize yourself with all flight characteristics of the Icarus. Do much flight play and practice prior to anything very ambitious. Discover problems in yourself and in your entire flight experience prior to a time when you might wish you had done just that. Your editor proved this point's worth.
16. Swing seat operations are different from arm-pit operations. Be sure to become skilled in either pattern before attempting anything too ambitious ••• whatever that means. Skill in one mode does not assure one of proper reactions in the other mode. When changing modes review and flight practice the requirements of the other mode.
10.15 17. You might consider filling all tubes with foam (pour in place) except as suggested above in 14 A. and B. 18. Airspeed and attitude of your system relate to your control of the system. Attitude is related to the gro~nd or the relative wind. One will not fly well nor safely without taking the time and effort to practice. Practice would be spread out throughout many .sessions under many various weather conditions. Use a mild slope during the many first practice sessions. Learn the many interesting detailsaf ground handling the system. Discover the running speed down a cePtain slope during no wind that is required to take the weight of the wing off you. Get coordinated at ostrich running. Develop your senses so that the sounds of your system and the 3-D orientation of your system become very familiar to you •. Go to straight glides. Use smooth slope winds on a slope that is fairly clear of obtacles that will damage you or the ship. Feel the controls. Do flights until you control straight time after time. You will be wise to get to the point where you can control straight with smooth take-offs and landings every time. Master this even though it will be very tempting to go off to the clouds. Do not uice steep slopes for this purpose. From the start proceed in acts and in conditions so that you do not bang the ship nor yourself. KEEP A LOG BOOK ON BOARD YOUR CRAFT: The first priority item to note in the log book is the date, force, and described damage done to the ship for any reason. When you do progress in your skills and wish to use stronger weather conditions or enter into Class 2 flight, you will have something to look at to help you decide whether your sh:ip is fit for the task. Failure to be careful to note all sharp stress experiences on the ship may bring in-flight failure that will be the end of an exhilarating sport for you. 19. Scratches on the surface of tubes provide a place for further tearing, bending, corrosion, kinking, degradation of strength. 20. In dives the hanging or swinging pilot tends to permit his weight to shift forward which maintains or increases his dive. The steeper is the dive the more muscle power it takes to put the weight where one might want it to be. This can happen when the pilot is also much occupied with working the sleeve controls in combination with efforts to put his weight to either side. If the pilot happens to muscle a shift backwards and does so too fast, he will put very much stress on the compressed spars. He will also put very high stress on the hangtubes. If the ship is not built to meet the stresses of this proposed dive recovery action or if the ship has become in such condition so as not to be able to hold the stresses of this maneauver, then the pilot had better have high and strong hopes that his manea~er was executed in class 1 flying conditions or at high enough altitudes so
10. 16
that he could dro~ away and use a parachute safely (For Class 3 flying please join Soaring Society of America, get your system F.A.A. approved, get some training under the United States Parachute Association). High speed dives can be obtained in Class 2 L&S flight at steep angles relative to the normal glide angle of the system used. These are sometimes entered into deliberately by a pilot that is using the force of gravity to drop down a steep slope until he obtains enough airspeed to leave the slope and begin normal glide paths. Your ship should be strong enough for this mane~er and you should be sure that landing conditions are good enough should you not obtain normal flight. Better yet: Try to obtain flight speed from running down the slope so that you will not have to enter such a steep dive. 21. Class 2 flying will have one recover from stalls (deliberate and non-deliberate) and enter turns that will_put similar stresses on your ship and yourself. You will not want to have heavy doubts about whether or not your ship will be able to take the stresses. These topics are essentially related to Icarus Wing Tip 14. These tips have grown out of actual experience in Icarus #1. 22. Know what alloy and temper you are using. Keep within the allowable limits of bend for your material. Write to Reynolds or Alcoa. 23. Have you heard of any results of tests that tell you the limits of operation of the Icarus design? And if you did,would you know how different would be those limitations after certain changes came in your ship after certain handling or flight experiences? You can take many kinds of chances in Class 1 and Class 2 kinds of flight, but not so many in Class 3 flying. The perfection of the Icarus will posit a design that is fit fer Class 3 flying, but the design is not quite there yet. Class 3 flying will a.lso require a Class J pilot. Class 1 and 2 hold enough treasures to challenge and_ satisfy the most talented among us. 24. In fresh smooth wind on a mild slope, try your Icarus without using the tip draggers. What would happen in Class 3 flying if you lost one or both of the tip draggers via disconnection of the nylon line or the piano wire? 25. It will not be too long before an SSA pilot certifies his Icarus, dons some warm clothing, a parachute, some minor instruments, goggles, and maybe a book of maps, and takes off footingly and lands 50 miles away from his starting point after coming out of some thunderclouds. He ought to wear a helmet to protect against hailstones. His wing cover ought to be dacron for the same reason. Who will he be? 26. PRAISE to POLYETHELENE- the low cost skin of Icarus No. 1. Taras carefully washed some 2 mil-thin poly-e and covered his wings months ago. He is still flying the same skin. In warm breezes the skin is slightly less taut. In hot airs in sunshine the skin js a bit more less taut but satisfactory. Patches taped over there are, but integrity remains. The skin material cost was only a few dollars. My
10.17 praise goes out to poly-e and Taras' covering method (see his plans). The detergent washing of the plastic permitted better sticking by pressure sensitive tapes. Polyethelene is truly the low costmaterial FOR SOME PURPOSES. Its strength is low, stretch high, price low, repair simple. It is nonporous and water·repellent; its sun-resistant is good, It does not readily continue rips nor create rips from small punctures. The seemnegative features of the material do not take too heavy a toll when used on the short chord and mild rib-separation distance found on the Icarus wing. The situation here is much different than that found on large area Rogallo wings where sail tension permanently distorts poly and distorts j t unevenly so that ripples cause le.ss lift and more drag. See 8,17 for further discussion, especially concerning TYVEK by DuPont. Mylar covered Icari will no doubt appear, (and Tedlar) This cover will be more stable as temperature changes. A more taut covered will be obtainable both in the chordwise and spanwise direction even with a reduction of total skin weight. Metallized Mylar will give some neat appearing Icari. Etched one-side Mylar will give a nice white Icari. The ability to stress the skin more spanwise will put less dip between the ribs and permit one to direction toward optimized airfoils and eventually a SMALLER ICARUS with improved over-all performance. Nice! Repair will be a bit harder than with polyethelene; punctures will travel faster in Mylar, but the rib lines can act as rip stoppers. c26: One can visualize an Icarus wing built along the method being used by Northrup Institute of Technology man-powered aircraft group. The wing is a hollow shell without ribs and with skin built up from sheets of 1/4" nylon impregnated paper honeycomb in the "overexpanded" condition with Mylar sheet bonded to both sides of the.honeycomb. Skin ene:rgyabsorption will not distort the airfoil lines as much with this kind of wing. Knockaboutability is the parameter that brings in or keeps out the following kinds of real costs: 1. Re-covering time, material expense, ship characteristics re-determination time. 2. Time cost to care for the skin while field handling, transporting, packaging, storing, and repairing other parts of the system, 3. Time and concern cost as one deals with the flight changes or lack of changes due to weather and ageing. Ageing may mean stretch, rot, fade, sun-damage, or smog damage. 4. Volume costs. If one wanted to store Icarus for travel or home or car keeping then one must consider the amount of volume that one is willing to spend to keep his Icarus. The system could lenc itself to storage in very small packages. But to the degree that one wants his system compacted, the cover will experience a proportionate degree of co~pactin6 avd handling. If one wanted to 'bag the sail' for tight st.owi.ng, then appropriate material would be chosen. The logistics of one's chosen ~ethod of assembly and disassembly bring certain burdens to the skin. Back-pack mode of the Icarus has not designed yet. (Walk and fly across the U.S.A.)
Ed Kytta from Massachusetts: I just got a set of plans for 'Icarus' and I've already projected so many modifications I' r:. going to have to call it 'Icaroid'. I'm communicating with Taras about it, so there's a chance I may live to tell the tale. **PLEASE SEND L&S COPY OF ALL ICARUS TYPE NOTES AND IDEAS SO ALL CAN SEE THE DAY CI.EAR FOR SAFE AND SATISFACTORY ICARUS FLYING!! !
10. 1 B
Flight Master Dave Kilbourne: Ridge Soaring Safely Some may say that ridge soaring a 1 lb/ft2 Rogallo is dangerous and foolhardy ••••• If someone tells you this don't laugh and say 'Well, others are doing it" ••••• He just may be right. But, if you are going to do it anyway, here are a few pointers to help do it as safely as possible. *1. MAKE SURE your wing is good for gust loadings of better than 40 mph. l good way to check this is by lashing the wing to the top of an old car and drive at 40 mph with the wing in flying attitude. *2. Reduce the drag of the wing and system so that the free flying speed can reach at least three times stall speed ~o tha;t you will be able to handle gusts and fly out of marginal area, along the hill. (See diagram)
•3. Use some sort of harness or seat to keep you secure when encountering gust loadings, weightlessness, and occurrences following weightlessness. ~4. Do not attempt to land near your take-off point. The same wind that makes take off safe, that is, lifting air that quickly put you up to safe maneauvering altitude, makes landing impossible.
•5. Use hills or ridges with flat tops to eliminate dangers of uncontrollable flight in the "waterfall" of down-rushing air on the back side of the hill.
•6. Fly fast enough near the ground so the difference in airspeed caused by gusts does not put you into a stall close to the ground. (I know that a well balanced Rogallo will parachute in a stall, but you lose your lateral control and could be steered involuntarily into an obstruct1on or the hill itself.)
*7. Check your equipment. "8. Check your wing and self and all aspects of your system.
*9. Check your equipment rigorously before flight #1. Take some extra care to extra carefully check. *10., ••• check it again
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Miller Sailwing Paper Model by Matt Colver: Fold 11" paper in half to get 5f". At the creased edge from one end,measure off two points called N and T. N is 4" from the crease end and Tis 2" from the same place. On the edge of the _paper which is parallel to the crease, mark a point Wat!" from the corner as shown, Cut line N-W and line T-Corner as indicated by the dotted lines, Open the paper; Mark a point i" back of Non the crease line; pencil a line from this new point to w and w • 2 1 Set alternately the lines just drawn over the edge of a sharp edged table and bend a slight wing camber equally for each wing. Then within the 2" closest to the wing tips, curl a reflexed surface, Place a paper clip onto center crease on the N side; proceed to test fly until the ship flys as nicely as your editor's trial flew,,,,very
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~---""=~====---.4~ Please reference Matt's father's 32" hang-glider model plans on L&S 8.19 Frank Colver has finished a 5 1 model that improves on all smaller models. Review again L&S 5.10-5,19. See this issue or next:"Frank's letters~' *Frank Colver has added lines that permit one to build a 60 11 mcidel of the Colver Sail-Wing, These plans by Colver should be the minimum starting point on our way to perfecting the kind of system that was introduced by Richard Miller at the Otto Lilienthal meet, We should not forget that that ship was the only one that was completely self-launched, Dan Heflinger has finished a model similar to these types; on Nov. 5,1971, Dan's version was stably staying aloft much easier than the seagulls. SPECIAL ROGALLO AND SON OF DAEDALUS REPORT We have given birth to a special kind of bird: Eipper Bird, Dick Eipper 3 months ago saw Dan Heflinger in a big Bat Glider Rogallo; that night and next day Dick finished his first of now/(> 'kites: as he calls them. After 311 flights, 50 talks with various artisans, 6 sessions with L&S, careful reading of a few key reports, keen observation of some pros, and continuous brainstorming,designing,and building •••• on Nov. 7,1971, Dick proudly completely self-launchedly flew a perfected Rogallo 'from the top', He does not wish anyone the knocks that he experienced in the over-large bamboo ships; he is n9w convinced of the merits of symmetry, stable size, careful construction techniques, good design, good materials, and a safe approach to practice sessions. We will hear more about Dick Eipper. Look forward to seeing Dick in some National Broadcasting Company news-TV. See his photography: L&S 10,10-11 and 9,10-11 of Icarus #1 flights. Dick and friend Chris Jones are building themselves each an Icarus. Dick is calling his wing "Daedalus". It will have flown Nov.28,1971 at the Universal Turkey Fly at Torrance Canty Beach.
"Hang Loose"
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Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a gala of air, Jack flew down and spoke hie crown and Jill came soaring after, JPF
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