On Thu, 04 Dec 2003 15:20:17 GMT, "Steven P. McNicoll"
wrote:


"Mike Rhodes" wrote in message
.. .

All the Wright brothers had to do was observe the arrow, as it flies a
precise flight; and consider what might happen if they changed that
very simple design. And all they had to do was observe the bird in
its astonishing air-dance. Apparently they did not do that, and put
part of their tail feathers up front. That was really kind of dumb,
wouldn't you say?


No, I wouldn't. They had sound reasons for putting the horizontal surfaces
in front. One of them was crashworthiness; they understood that everything
may not go as hoped and wanted structure in front of them. Another was
their belief that the pilot needed to see the position of the control
surface in order to effectively control the machine.


Steven,

If they were trying for a stable machine first then the
crashworthiness problem might've been assisted with a simple (though
Heavy) structure up front built for that purpose.
The idea of 'full' control in flight might make the second argument
also difficult to get around. I would want to see the position of the
control suface. Birds, however, do quite well without watching every
feather. And bicycles, or any other vehicle they had during that
time, do not need to have their wheels watched to know what to do with
steering.
They likely did feel a strong need to see the position of the
control surface. But couldn't they have decided to trust the position
of the control stick? This if they had wanted to trust nature in its
flight design. I'm not sure they even saw it. Putting the elevator
up front, even from their perspective, is historically unusual. And
for aero engineers to expect me to accept it in that position (almost
without question) I feel is an insult to me. Hence the nature of my
previous post.

Mike