LO-120S - Ultralight Trainer

LO-120S is a german ultralight kit plane. More about it in the next link.

http://www.ltd-technik.de/html/lo120s.html

Lift Formula L = cV^2

Lift is proportional to some constants and the square of speed. Yes... square.





So if you are travelling faster your wing can be very small and vice versa.

And the factor of the speed is the most meaningfull in that formula since it is squared. Other factors have clearly less importance. So one should first fix the speeds for cruising and landing since that will affect the whole planning of the plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyfYeaSQbiA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz-b05dQ430&NR=1

Airplane Valhalla in Mojave California

Where do all airplanes get at the end? "Eyetwist" seems to know something.

http://flickr.com/photos/eyetwist/sets/72057594104227077/

Innovative Airfoil Designs

Designers in Israel have invented (actually again) to fly always with flaps extracted. See the airfoil above.

The whole text is in AIAA-2003-603:

http://www.smart-uav.re.kr/lib/download_info.asp?path=file&filename=proceedings03.pdf

Check that for UAV wings also.

Aircraft Flutter Prevention

Check this YouTube video to find out how flutter occurs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFZNrTYp3k&feature=channel_page

The following general principles are suggested to be observed for flutter prevention on ALL airplanes in the design of control surfaces and control systems.

1. Structural stiffness.

2. Elimination of all play in hinges and control-system joints.

3. Rigid interconnection between elevators.

4. A relatively low amount of aerodynamic balance!

5. High frictional damping (see ***1).

6. Adequate wing fillets and fairing.

7. Sharp leading edges on movable surfaces should be avoided.

*** 1. One idea might be to use gas springs at the control surfaces to get more damping and friction . See picture below.

Orion Cockpit Mock-up

Orion project engineer Jeff Fox shows some details of the design

YouTube video: "A Look Inside Orion"

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Who was actually the first?

More about Karl Jatho:

http://www.karl-jatho.com/html/we_were_the_first.html

It is also possible that Gustave Whitehead was the first on.

http://www.flyingmachines.org/gwhtd.html

Here are some pictures of Karl Jatho's project.

Workshop.

Karl Jatho

The motorized glider.

Air Berlin Obtains Cat III-B Approval

"Air Berlin said it will be the first airline in Europe to carry out Category III-B instrument approaches with its Boeing 737NGs. The airline obtained approval for its fleet of 40 Boeing aircraft from Germany’s Federal Office of Civil Aviation (LBA). With Cat III-B authorization, the airline will be able to conduct landings with visibility down to 75 meters, reducing diversions to other airports. "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfFyZbO2dcc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_landing_system

Super NLF Airfoil with Vortex Generators

Or extended run NLF airfoil.

Net drag reduction of 8 % (?) could be achieved. NLF airfoil was redesigned to have a longer laminar section and the aft flow was recovered by using small vortex generators at 75% or 85% chord position.

Some explaining pictures follow. The full text is in AIAA-2003-0211 "Enhanced Airfoil Design Incorporating Boundary Layer Mixing Devices".


Y-axis is the section lif coefficient cl and X-axis is the drag coefficient cd.

Vortex Generators

Strange small devices found in many places. Do they really give you 5 % fuel saving and / or reduction of drag?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f80a9jssUFU

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_generator

http://www.microaero.com/

http://www.buyairtab.com/

http://www.fuelsavers.com.au/

The following video is telling no fuel savings (or too small).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We8LWkqjdX4

The following source is telling other benefits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L508itf3oy8

Acabion GTBO - Very Fast Motorbike

Told to be 750 bhp, 340 mph (550 km/h !!) production motorcycle. Very nice shape indeed:

http://gizmodo.com/346802/340mph-acabion-gtbo-motorcycle-now-in-production

R.T. Youngman Full Span Flaps

Robert Talbot Youngman invented and patented full span flaps for small low wing airplane year 1946. Later these flaps were used in a test plane called Youngman-Baynes HL.1.

The innovative high-lift wing designed by R T Youngman was wedded to a re-designed Proctor Mk IV fuselage to evaluate fullspan slotted flaps. As VT789 the type was designated P.46 and flew on 5 February 1948 conferring excellent low speed lift. It was evaluated By RAE and later sold to the designer as G-AMBL.

General characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 29 ft 0 in ()
Wingspan: 33 ft 0 in ()
Height: ()
Empty weight: 2,380 lb ()
Loaded weight: 3,500 lb ()
Powerplant: 1× de Havilland Gipsy Queen 25 6-cylinder inline, 250 hp ()

Performance
Maximum speed: 180 mph

Caproni Ca 161 - Altitude Record Aircraft

CAPRONI Ca 161 bis was a world altitude record aircraft in piston powered propeller category.

As of 2007, this record still stands for piston-powered aircraft. On 8 May 1937, Lieutenant Colonel Mario Pezzi broke the world altitude record with a flight to 15,655 metres (51,362 ft). The following year, Pezzi broke the record again in the more powerful Ca.161bis, making a flight to 17,083 metres (56,032 ft) on 22 October 1938.


Specifications (Ca.161bis)

General characteristics
Crew: One pilot
Length: 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)
Wingspan: 14.25 m (26 ft 9 in)
Height: 3.50 m (11 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 35.5 m² (382 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,205 kg (2,657 lb)
Gross weight: 1,650 kg (3,638 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Piaggio P.XI R.C.100/2v, 560 kW (750 hp)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM4fCz6HjqM




























































Special pressurized suits were used during attempts, forefathers of modern space suits.

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Stearman-Hammond Y-1S - Trainer Airplane

Another interesting plane similar to Abrams Explorer is the Stearmann-Hammond Y-1S. The designs are almost identical and both were made just before the WW2. Y-1S is the smaller one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp3_vGRLewc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve2SOo-3hUA&feature=related

1937
150hp Menasco C-4S;
span: 40'0"
length: 26'11"
load: 768#
v: 130/121/39
range: 480

Project was dropped in 1938. Maybe both planes were too strange and uckly for the pilots of that time?

Superpaper

Maybe soon full size planes will also be made of paper. Sweds have been able to make 7 times stronger paper.

http://www.livescience.com/technology/080705-nanopaper.html

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Abrams Explorer - High Altitude Mapping Airplane

Picture shows the Abrams Explorer airplane. Here is a link to YouTube story about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsaAeLaNr60

And here is the Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrams_P-1_Explorer

Year 1937 this plane must have been very special having nose gear, twin boom and pusher configuration. With small modifications this might be a nice "new design". The plane was also offered to Finnish Airforce 21.11.1938.

The plane is stored somewhere in USA waiting for restoration.

Abrams Explorer 2007

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