"Ernest Christley" wrote in message
. com...
See my website for PICTURES of proof. Crumple zones are not only
feasible, reliable, and light, but they've been flying for over 40years.

There's a lot of stuff on your site. I didn't see anything about crumple
zones. Please provide pointers to what you're talking about. I kept flipping
through your pages, doing searches for "crumple"....no hits.

test than any other homebuilt design. Why would you need to do
destructive testing? Do I have to break my wings to prove they will
hold me up in flight?

As far as I know, crumple zones are not reusable. Isn't that the point of
them? How can you test the design if you don't do it destructively? Am I
missing something here? Or are you saying that analysis is sufficient? Or
are you confusing crumple zones with something else? I don't get your
analogy, either. You test a wing structure by putting it under load and
showing it holds; you test an energy dissipation feature like a crumple zone
by subjecting it to an impact and showing that it crumples by the amount
predicted.

the landing to an acute angle crumple zones WILL help.

I didn't see the crumple zone features of the Delta that you are refering
to.

Crashworthiness should be part of the primary structure. Not a heavy,
expensive afterthought.

ALL of the crashworthiness considerations I've ever seen have been the usual
"this is the max expected design load, so make it strong enough to withstand
XX times that". Often, there is additional strength in components that
protect the pilot. But that's different than crumple zones.

When I sit in my incomplete project, I can look around at all the steel

Fine. If that gives you a warm fuzzy, then good for you. Me? I'll place my
emphasis on accident prevention - both by design, training, and proper
preparation.

There are not any electronics or flight systems that will ever make me
feel safer than
several feet of protection between me and the hard stuff.

Not even an angle-of-attack sensor? Dang. Given that they are available, I
wouldn't consider building a new plane without one. But your Deltas don't
have enough elevon authority to reach CLmax, so that's probably not an issue
for you.