Dynamic Soaring Blows My Mind

[Tiger Tim]

The RC speed record has been pushed up - by a glider.

I need to read up on this dynamic soaring stuff, it must be fascinating.

 

[Dana]

Dynamic soaring (taking energy from the wind gradient) isn't new, but 548 mph... wow!

 

[fly2kads]

Wow, indeed! How many G's was he pulling in those turns?

 

[Marc Zeitlin]

Wow, indeed! How many G's was he pulling in those turns?

Up to 120 G's.

 

[Victor Bravo]

Who can even see and control the model at that speed and closure rate?

 

[henryk]

Up to 120 G's.

-I was withstand on my legs >500 "G" pushing overlouds ...(yellow, 4 x 0.3 ms !)

=NO seriouse ingurants !

 

[Tiger Tim]

Who can even see and control the model at that speed and closure rate?

The guy in the video, I guess. You bring up a good point though that he’s likely not flying with 100% precision and as a result so there’s probably more speed to be unlocked.

 

[Jay Kempf]

Baby steps. You sure don't start out being able to keep ahead of 500+MPH. The previous record was way over 500MPH and the video of it was pretty hard to follow. You could probably program an autopilot to get some more.

 

[Pops]

Practice and practice and take small baby steps. I use to practice about 2 hrs each evening and 8 hrs on Sat and Sun. I lived in the country so was able to use a field on the farm.

 

[BBerson]

How do they measure the airspeed?

 

[jedi]

There was some mention of radar.

 

[Jay Kempf]

Radar was for speed measuring. Police unit. So hard to tell how accurate.

 

[Tiger Tim]

How do they measure the airspeed?

They’re just measuring groundspeed with a police-type radar. No official record keeping exists for this so the measure won’t be perfect and of course airspeed and groundspeed are different.

 

[poormansairforce]

How do they measure the airspeed?

Easy, my smartphone camera can record at 480 fps so it would travel about 1.674 feet per frame. All they need is the length of the glider which they obviously have. I would think that they have done this already.

 

[Aerowerx]

Uh, where was it?

After the launch I didn't see anything except the camera waving around, until the landing.

 

[harrisonaero]

Burt Rutan told me that he went out to a dynamic soaring site (probably this one) and that it was the single most impressive thing he has seen in aviation. The speeds these gliders were achieving were terrifying. True story.

 

[Dana]

Here's one (older, and not as fast) from an onboard camera.

 

[malte]

Ingo Renner did that in manned gliders back in the 1970s. First with a H301 Libelle and then in a PIK20. It is mentioned in Helmut Reichmanns book about cross-country soaring. I have had an article on the flights, too, but can't find it at the moment.

 

[jedi]

This is a combination of ridge lift and dynamic lift. How much is ridge and how much is dynamic soaring?

The Wright brothers flew from level ground to officially make the first powered flight. Should dynamic soaring flights be made over level ground if they are a demonstration of the capabilities of dynamic soaring?

To clarify, a level surface with some surface roughness as in the open ocean where nature demonstrates dynamic soaring.

Still - Very interesting!

 

[Tiger Tim]

This is a combination of ridge lift and dynamic lift.

I thought I had heard (read?) somewhere that these RC guys operate on the lee side of the ridge for a greater shear so ridge lift ought to be minimal.