Questions tagged [sailplane]
Use with [glider] for sailplanes: a type of glider intended for soaring and designed with conventional aerodynamic control surfaces, else use [glider] only.
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Design Airbrakes Area (or choose) for Sailplane
I'm trying evaluate what airbrakes shape (area) need a sailplane to flight into thermal in minimun sink or approach.
The main idea was to iterate adding drag with different flat plates (or more ...
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Minimum Sink Rate in Sailplane
How do gliders ascend (either with an engine or thermal) at best rate of climb if it is very close to stall? Or they move up by sacrificing that best Rate of Climb. In image the best CL^3/CD is ...
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Program to make glider polars
I was using flow5 to make some speed polars for a glider with real dimensions, however I read about PGEN (polar generation software) that could simulate the thermal effect, but apparently it is an ...
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Incidence angle in Sailplane
I am determining the shape of the fuselage of a sailplane and I found something that gives me a little conflict, and that is that in most sailplanes it has an inclined tip, I read that this helps ...
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Design glider without aileron
What difficulties would it take to build a glider without ailerons? I read that "if you can control the turns with the rudder maybe you don't need ailerons." Well, apart from the fact that ...
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Use twist to improve stall characteristics in ideal distribution of lift coefficient
Is practical use twist (geometric or multiple airfoils to improve stall characteristics) when it has lift coefficient distribution ideal or near due to wing plataform?
I am analyzing a "Schuemann&...
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Cruise-climb in glider with electric motor?
I have been looking for the definition of cruise-climb for gliders that use an electric motor, but so far I have only been able to find a definition based on liquid fuel. I'm asking because that ...
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Trailing edge tapered and leading edge straight
It is true that a wing with a straight leading edge and a tapered trailing edge has good stall characteristics?. That is, we can assure that when it enters stall, it will first be at the root and then ...
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Effect of wing flexible in stall
How true is it that the deflection (due to large aspect ratio, flexible wing ) of a wing has a certain effect on the stall characteristics? I read about this in the case of large wingspan gliders. ...
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Irrational acrophobia-like anxiety caused by wave soaring
This will probably sound utterly bonkers to many and I feel very awkward coming out with this publicly - I'm a gliding instructor with 650 hours flying experience, and I'm scared of heights.
It's ...
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Making sailplane go faster
Sailplanes have much higher L/D than jetliners. But they are three times slower.
Is it practical to make a vanilla sailplane glide at 600mph by lifting it to a ridiculous altitude? If so, what would ...
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Are there any recreational gliders with a yoke?
All gliders / sailplanes seem to use a single central stick to manipulate the primary control surfaces. In other airplane types, we also find yokes and sidesticks. Are there any glider designs, ...
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How is a "turning polar" constructed?
To start with something familiar: here's a flight polar. As we learned, the best glide speed is found by starting at the 0,0 point, and drawing a line tangent to the sink rate line. The intersection ...
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What is the nature of the glider's vario lag?
I learned that glider's vario reading lags behind the vertical speed of the airmass. For example, when flying a steady circle and having a thermal not quite centered yet, the vario is reading a ...
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How to prevent dizziness when thermalling in the back seat?
I recently started learning to fly sailplanes. I am usually quite resistant against airsickness, both when flying commercially as well as flying in the front seat of a sailplane (either when the ...
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What are the three different altitudes shown in the Perlan II?
The Perlan II glider has two altitude indicators and an altimeter on the navi screen, each showing different altitudes:
How is each of the altimeters different? One indicator certainly shows MSL and ...
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Are there any gliders that can fly over the Himalayas?
Do gliders (sailplanes) use ridge and wave lift in the Himalayas to go to extreme altitudes, possibly above Everest's peak?
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Why don't [most] sailplanes use whole-airplane / ballistic parachutes?
My understanding is that sailplanes usually have the pilots wear the parachute on their back, requiring the pilot to bail out of the aircraft before they can use the parachute.
Given the maturity of ...
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Do the soaring and/or ballooning communities in the US recommend 123.5 as the preferred frequency for air-to-air and air-to-ground use?
Does the soaring community (e.g. the Soaring Society of America) or the ballooning community in the US recommend 123.5 as the preferred frequency for air-to-air and air-to-ground use by glider pilots ...
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Does the FAA or FCC recommend 123.5 as the preferred frequency for air-to-air and air-to-ground use by glider pilots or balloon pilots?
Does the FAA or FCC recommend 123.5 as the preferred frequency for air-to-air and air-to-ground use by glider pilots or balloon pilots speaking to other glider or balloon pilots or ground support crew,...
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Why are 3- or 4-seat gliders so rare?
Sailplanes capable of climbing in rising air (not troop transports, which can only descend after the towrope releases) have one or two seats. I know of only one type with more, the Schweizer SGS 2-32 ...
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Could the Perlan II glider be used for nearspace tourism?
I asked the same question about the SR-71 Blackbird, and I'm also curious about the Perlan II sailplane which travelled above 70,000 ft, and is planned to be flown to 90,000 ft, if it could be used ...
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Is it feasible to circumnavigate the Earth in a sailplane?
Would it be feasible and survivable to circumnavigate the Earth in a glider or sailplane without propulsion and without landing until the circumnavigation is completed, when you'd return to the same ...
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Why do sailplanes have such large tails?
Since a sailplane is focused on performance - what with tricky laminar flow airfoils and all.
Eo why this
Instead of this
It looks to me like that long tail is needed to balance the cockpit. Buy ...
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Do the rules used in modern soaring competitions forbid gyroscopic flight instruments, or forbid the use of AHRS-driven attitude displays, etc?
In the past, the rules for soaring competitions in the US and many other countries have not permitted gliders (sailplanes) to have working gyroscopic instruments installed, to prevent pilots from ...
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Is it fairly common for student glider pilots to have wing tip strikes, especially in gusty cross wind conditions?
Is it fairly common for student glider pilots to have wing tip strikes, especially in gusty cross wind conditions?
I understand gliders are landed level, slow down and then the wing drops onto a wing ...
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How much altitude can a glider gain only from losing speed?
Say we have a glider flying near its top speed. If pilot decides to "trade speed for altitude" how much can it climb before hitting stall speed? Assuming pilot will use most effective climb ...
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Would all these three things have the exact same effect on the flight duration of a glider?
Consider a glider trimmed to fly at some given angle-of-attack, gliding in smooth air (no thermal convection, ridge lift, wave lift, etc.). If air density is somehow kept exactly constant in all ...
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Is the time spent flying in a Sailplane concidered a valid flight hour for a LAPL / PPL license?
I live in the Netherlands.
In order to get a Light aircraft pilot licence (LAPL) license 30 flight hours are demanded, A private pilot licence (PPL) requires to have 45 flight hours.
flying in a ...
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How safe are sail planes? [closed]
I think sailplanes have to be pretty safe. Because if it falls it will gain speed, which will be converted to lift.
So unless you do something stupid sailplanes can't just fall out of air. Am I ...
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What are the takeoff and landing distances of motor gliders?
I'm doing some estimations of weight and thrust loading for a college project, and in the formula below the landing distance is not a variable, but should be estimated using similar aircraft and usual ...
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Is there an abnormal condition that could have caused this fatal accident involving a stall?
In 2009, a Grob 103 glider stalled and crashed at Richmond Field, Michigan, killing the passenger but not the pilot. (NTSB accident report: CEN09LA353)
The accident occurred after a failed winch ...
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How to deal with turbulence while flying glider? (Cautions in applying rudder)
I just watched video explaining how the American Airline Flight 587 crashed
It led me to think about glider flying. The cause of that crash was that the first officer ...
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What should I look for in weather reports in order to pick a day for glider flying?
I understand weather can change unexpectedly, and local sky condition (e.g. cloud types) can't be predicted, but if I want to fly glider at a specific location, say, some time next week, and use ...
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What happens if only rudder is applied in a turn without ailerons? Do the two have to be applied together all the time?
Fresh newbie in glider flying. I was told the joystick (aileron) and the pedal (rudder) should always be applied together when making a turn. My question is, what happens if I only pedals the rudder ...
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What is the difference between a glider and a sailplane?
The words "glider" and "sailplane" seem to refer to similar or the same type of aircraft. In particular, the Wikipedia articles "Glider (aircraft)" and "Glider (sailplane)" seem to be describing the ...
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Do thermals stop rising when clouds are formed?
Glider pilots know that one indication of thermal lift is the formation of cumulus-type clouds.
My question is: Does the rising air (that lifted the moisture to form the the cloud) stop rising after ...
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What PPL routes are available with gliding experience?
I'm an early solo glider pilot, with the long term goal of also obtaining a PPL (not a LAPL(A)). I am planning to do this after I have obtained at least my bronze badge, which I aspire to within the ...
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Can a kite take advantage of crosswinds to gain speed? [closed]
In a form off a kite can wind be redirected like a sail boat in any direction? Can cross winds around a jet stream be helpful in speed in such a design?
user20435
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When is a sailplane a sailplane?
A simple question that I could not find an answer to:
When is a sailplane a sailplane (from a regulatory point of view), especially a powered one of the TMG (touring motor glider) variety?
EASA has ...
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