RADIO CONTROL SOARING - 2003/03
FOR THIS MONTH Mark Drela
provided two interesting topics related to
airfoils. First, I asked him to make a list of
the airfoils he has designed for Radio
Control (RC) aircraft and briefly describe
their intended application. Second, Mark
wrote about tail deadband and how it can
be avoided.
RADIO CONTROL SOARING - 2004/12
WHAT GLIDER WOULD be good as a
first airplane? This month I’ll give my
recommendations. All of the gliders I’ll list
have excellent instructions. I will examine
trade-offs between durability and
performance.
Radio Control Soaring - 2004/01
THIS MONTH I’LL debut “the
condensation analogy.” This original
thermaling tip helps predict where the
base of thermals will be located relative to
the ground. I’ll also describe a gadget
called the LoLo, which is a tiny logging
altimeter for models.
RADIO CONTROL SOARING - 2003/01
A FolloW-up on Dihedral: The column
I wrote about dihedral in the September
issue generated a bunch of E-mail. This
month I will follow up on that topic; I’ll
clarify some things and re-emphasize
others. I will also discuss using a gyro to
augment spiral stability and give a source
for wing rods with larger bend angles.
RADIO CONTROL SOARING - 2001/05
This monTh I’ll feature some of Carl (Mac) McBurnett’s latest
airplanes. Mac manufactures composite gliders in San Antonio TX.
His Two-Meter Dartar was released roughly a year ago; in the fall
he worked with Pat Bowman to create a prototype airplane called the
DS-Demon, expressly for Dynamic Soaring; and the Texas Twister
discus-throw Hand-Launched Glider is Mac’s latest addition.
The Ds-Demon is the most exotic of the new airplanes. It was created
for the relatively new sport of Dynamic Soaring (DS), which is a way
of flying models through wind gradients to extract energy from them.
Imagine flying loops in a region where the air is moving faster up
high. The top of the loop is flown in the same direction as the fastermoving
air. Like the water wheel on an old mill, energy can be
extracted from the fluid.
