![]() |
If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
![]()
Thanks, very informative. Al
wrote in message oups.com... Ok, what if one of the wings is a canard? If the elevator pushes down to support the nose, and a canard lifts, doesn't that make a canard more efficient? No. Take a look at the success of Rutan's Solitaire. The disadvantages with a canard or a tandem wing plane is that it is hard to use flaps, and to keep the plane pitch stable you end up with a plane that won't develop the same maximum total lift coefficient as a "normal" plane because you can never use the aft wing to it's full potential. This means that you end up having a higher minimum speed for a given wing area or need more wing for a given minimum speed. What all this means is that the speed range for efficient operation will be less than that of a comparable "normal" plane. You can tune the plane to be efficient at one speed by matching the airfoils and relative areas and this is how some of the canard homebuilts manage to show such good cruise performance. But they all suffer from high landing speeds. About the only way I see to improve on the standard glider - might - be to develop a flying wing with some kind of weight shift to increase it's speed range. The canard/tandem wing planform does have some advantages for powered planes but even there I've decided that a negative stagger biplane with a conventional empenage (Durand Mk V is an example) is more efficient than a pure tandem wing or canard ..................... and why my Q-2 will fly with a V-tail and flaps if I ever decide to finish it. ======================= Just my opinion Leon McAtee |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Air Force One Had to Intercept Some Inadvertent Flyers / How? | Rick Umali | Piloting | 29 | February 15th 06 04:40 AM |
48.4 hours !? | [email protected] | Soaring | 49 | April 28th 05 12:12 AM |
Wing tip stalls | mat Redsell | Soaring | 5 | March 13th 04 05:07 PM |
Unintentional fully-developed spins... | Marc Ramsey | Soaring | 62 | February 12th 04 05:52 PM |
Latest Newsletter Pipistrel Motorgliders | Michael Coates | Soaring | 20 | September 19th 03 01:25 AM |