would an AOA indicator be helpful in a glider?

On Jun 9, 1:45*pm, bildan wrote:
On Jun 7, 2:14*pm, bildan wrote:



On Jun 6, 6:21*pm, "
wrote:

Some good info on AOA systems for lightplanes, including theory and
installations, at:

http://www.advanced-flight-systems.c...s/AOA/aoa.html

This system uses flush ports on the top and bottom of the wing, along
with pitot and static inputs, to measure the Cl of the wing in real
time (and derive AOA). *No probes or vanes needed.

With a glider, you would have to connect the tubing when rigging - but
you could use pitot/static quick connect for that.

Too bad our market is too small *- a dedicated system for gliders,
installed at the factory, would be nice - especially if integrated
with an glide computer to share processing power, etc.

There was also a totally passive Cl meter (using pellet-in-tube
technology!) that was described in detail in a old (70s?) issue of
soaring.

Kirk
66

Careful reading of their installation manual suggests that it might
work with nose ports.

I just got an e-mail from Advanced Flight Systems indicating that one
of their units has been installed on a glider with top and bottom
nosecone ports. *The glider was apparently a Sparrowhawk and the unit
works great.

Since the AFS system is available with flap position sensors and
standard LED displays, it appears to be exactly what we need.

Cool. They need to cost-reduce it. $890 is a bit steep for a glider
installation.

9B

Wayne Paul wrote:
There are several thing in this post to which I take exception. However, I will mention one. A carrier approach is NOT flown on the "back-side" of the power curve.


He did NOT say power curve, he said drag curve - whatever that is.

Tony

On Jun 14, 9:36*am, TonyV wrote:
Wayne Paul wrote:
There are several thing in this post to which I take exception. *However, I will *mention one. *A carrier approach is NOT flown on the "back-side" of the power curve.

He did NOT say power curve, he said drag curve - whatever that is.

Tony

Tony,

Not quite sure where you got your training, but the Drag/Power curve
is the curve that describes the total drag of the aircraft and the
thrust needed to counteract that drag. In all fixed-wing aircraft the
trust and drag are opposite in direction but equal in magnitude, in
most steady-state flight situations. In the case of a glider the
thrust is the forward vector of weight from the pull of gravity. The
power plane gets to add energy to the system, as long as it has fuel,
and thus can maintain a level altitude at one airspeed. The glider is
constantly trading potential energy (altitude) for thrust to overcome
drag. and so must normally constantly lose altitude. (Our great joy
comes from the fact that air rises.)

A very good site for understanding aerodymanics is: www.av8n.com/how
This is an online book by John S. Denker and is very well written. I
insist my power students read it for the very clear descriptions of
the aerodynamic forces in all aspects of flight. The first chapter is
very good at describing the "energies" of flight. If you look at
John's descriptions, especially the constant-power discussions, you
can usually apply most of it to our glider aerodynamics.

For another great website, on a very different aviation topic, I also
reccomend www.pilotpsy.com. It is the application of sports
psychology to airmanship and is very thought provoking.

Have fun.