| Day 1: Building a Walkalong Glider Instructor: Phil Rossoni Course: Walkalong Gliders Date: June 28th, 2004 Location: Museum of Science, Boston |
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| On the first day of class we will go through the steps of building a walkalong glider from Zepron material. Emphasis will be placed on trimming the glider for flight. We will touch breifly on why a wing produces lift but we will spend most of our time balancing that force to get the glider flying properly. We will then learn how to launch the glider, getting a feel for the speed and attitude so as to achieve stable flight. By adjusting the position of the forward weight (ballast) and elevons we will then further trim so the glider flies as far as possible. What's a Walkalong Glider? A walkalong glider is a light weight (3g) aircraft able to soar in the lift produced by a suitably positioned paddle (see photo above right). References: Scientific American Frontiers episode "Flying Free": http://www.pbs.org/saf/1109/segments/1109-6.htm How to Build Your Own Walkalong Glider: http://www.oocities.org/x_surfer2004 Constructing the glider: References: Building from Zepron Material: http://www.oocities.org/x_surfer2004/zsurfer1.html Trimming the Glider for flight: We will adjust the position of the forward weight and elevons to get stable flight. Launching the glider: We will see how a good launch affects how far the glider goes. Fine Trimming for Maximum Distance: We will experiment further with ballast position and elevon position to maximize the distance traveled. References: Tuning a Walkalong Glider for Flight: http://www.oocities.org/x_surfer2004/tuning.html What is the best airspeed to fly? http://home.att.net/~jdburch/polar.htm Free Flight Distance Competition: At the end of class we will hold a distance competition, recording the longest distance of three flights for each student. Copyright Phil Rossoni, 6/3/2004 |