DESIGNING TOWARD A ONE FOOT PER SECOND SINKING SPEED

Authors

  • Bruce Carmichael

Keywords:

Atmospheric physics, Aerodynamics, Structures, Materials, Design

Abstract

Paul MacCready made a comment following the lecture, "New Approaches" , by Dr. August Raspet at the 1959 Soaring Conference. Paul said, "If a sailplane could be made with a sinking speed of one foot per second, it should be able to stay up on almost any day." This led me to do a study seeking out the parameters required to reach such a goal. I wrote, "There is no predicting what new information may come to light when we are able to explore a new regime of flight." Now, thanks to the flight experience of Gary Usaba in the Maupin/Culver Carbon Dragon, we are receiving reports of this here-to-fore unexplored regime.

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Issue

Vol. 20 No. 4 (1996)

Section

Articles

License

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