Kugelsicher
Member
I was at the beach this past weekend, and I had the opportunity to see and study a good many Pelicans in flight: both overhead and close the the water.
What can we learn from these amazing creations? These birds are absolutely awesome. Graceful and effortless in their flight, they have relatively short fat bodies (virtually no tail volume) with long graceful wings (high AR) and low wing loading - the American Brown Pelican has about a 6ft wingspan and only weighs about 6LBs. However, they appear to be highly maneuverable and fast when needed.
Anyone have any thoughts on what we can apply to GA design?
What can we learn from these amazing creations? These birds are absolutely awesome. Graceful and effortless in their flight, they have relatively short fat bodies (virtually no tail volume) with long graceful wings (high AR) and low wing loading - the American Brown Pelican has about a 6ft wingspan and only weighs about 6LBs. However, they appear to be highly maneuverable and fast when needed.
Anyone have any thoughts on what we can apply to GA design?
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