Elastic Launched Gliders B

[IvanGe]

Freedom Flight's kits are very durable and gets me and my partner some pretty good times... Guru is not as good (in my opinion) but works fair enough.

Around what times are you getting? I've had a different experience with FF for my first couple though. Once the wings were glued on, the plane broke very easily. The elastics helped a lot during practice but the moment we got rid of them for comp the plane starting breaking.

[SonicSpeed]

Freedom Flight's kits are very durable and gets me and my partner some pretty good times... Guru is not as good (in my opinion) but works fair enough.

Around what times are you getting? I've had a different experience with FF for my first couple though. Once the wings were glued on, the plane broke very easily. The elastics helped a lot during practice but the moment we got rid of them for comp the plane starting breaking.

Being honest here, th wing broke off once, but after re-gluing it, it still worked. The times were decent for the plane

[builderguy135]

How do I control my plane from not shooting upwards when I launch it? The incidence is 0". Is there any way I can fix this?

[waffletree]

How do I control my plane from not shooting upwards when I launch it? The incidence is 0". Is there any way I can fix this?

It means that your glider isn't balanced, and it's probably much heavier in the back. Try adding something like clay or putty to the nose of the glider a little bit at a time until it flies normally.

[builderguy135]

How do I control my plane from not shooting upwards when I launch it? The incidence is 0". Is there any way I can fix this?

It means that your glider isn't balanced, and it's probably much heavier in the back. Try adding something like clay or putty to the nose of the glider a little bit at a time until it flies normally.

My plane is 3.50 grams right now and the CG is about 1.25" behind TE btw. I think your fix above is for stall, but my plane isn't stalling. It's just launching upwards and I want it to launch straighter.

[waffletree]

Ohh did you mean that it went up without you wanting it to? Sorry, I thought you meant that it would go up the fall back down and crash or something

[bjt4888]

Builder guy,

How much are you banking your glider? Both inclination angle and bank angle are important. Zero bank usually (not always) causes a sharp nose up moment during launch followed by an extreme stall and steep descent to the floor (crash). With the basic non-flapped glider that my students use, the initial flight bank angle might be 10 to 20 degrees.

Brian T

[builderguy135]

Builder guy,

How much are you banking your glider? Both inclination angle and bank angle are important. Zero bank usually (not always) causes a sharp nose up moment during launch followed by an extreme stall and steep descent to the floor (crash). With the basic non-flapped glider that my students use, the initial flight bank angle might be 10 to 20 degrees.

Brian T

My inclination angle was about 70 degrees from horizontal and bank was about 15 degrees. It flew ok at LISO but it got all broken up from testing. That plane flew straight up and worked very normally and consistently, and controlling stall was very easy. I've since built 2 more gliders, but after gliding them in my house (no rubber band) I found that they always tend to fly upwards when more force was applied. I haven't had time to test it in a gym yet, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to get the height I need because it will fly upwards. What can I do to correct this?

Thanks!

[bjt4888]

Builder,

“Flying upward” as you describe when hand throw test gliding is called stalling. Hand test gliding accurately is actually more difficult than it sounds. This is the step I always teach first to my students and few can learn it in one session (I demonstrate and they attempt several times usually with the same result you describe).

The arm and hand motion for a test glide should be very linear, like throwing a dart that is very light, and aiming at a spot on the floor about 15 o 20 feet away. Any bigger or “arcing” arm and hand motions usually result in a slightly “nose up” release, which results in a stall.

Brian T

[builderguy135]

Builder,

“Flying upward” as you describe when hand throw test gliding is called stalling. Hand test gliding accurately is actually more difficult than it sounds. This is the step I always teach first to my students and few can learn it in one session (I demonstrate and they attempt several times usually with the same result you describe).

The arm and hand motion for a test glide should be very linear, like throwing a dart that is very light, and aiming at a spot on the floor about 15 o 20 feet away. Any bigger or “arcing” arm and hand motions usually result in a slightly “nose up” release, which results in a stall.

Brian T

I just tried your suggestions about hand throw test gliding it. Its not stalling much anymore, and it honestly flies pretty well. However, my concern is that with the extra force used in a rubber launch, the plane will still stall and loop upwards.