At 12:06 28 December 2003, Doug Hoffman wrote:
From: Gill Couto

I want to ask you folks a question: why isn't there
a glider where
the pilot flies face-down? The Wrights did it, the
Horten (?) wing,
and hang gliders are about the only thing you can
fly facing the
earth. I don't see why a sailplane couldn't be flown
that way, but no
designers appear to even consider the possibility.
Ideas?

There's also crash survivability to consider. A head
first crash into an
object doesn't sound good. Feet and legs are relatively
expendable compared
to the head.

One might ask, why lay that way? I assume you mean
to imply that a fuselage
with a smaller cross-section, hence less drag, could
then be employed. This
has sort of been done in the HP-18 series of gliders.
In the HP-18 one lays
almost flat on one's back, fet forward of course, with
the head tilted
upward somewhat using a head rest. The HP-18 fuse
is pretty short compared
to most.
snip
-Doug

Actually, it is longer by 3 feet or so than my Discus.
A good bit of the extra length is in the boom.