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PatriciaJB
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Posted: Tue Mar 25th, 2008 03:58 pm |
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This thread is for the discussion of manned ornithopter safety.
We are approaching the time when there may be several manned ornithopters being tested. At the moment, I'm the only ornithopter pilot here on this forum so I'd like to start this thread by listing some of the things I learned when I was the test pilot of the UTIAS manned ornithopter [1995 to 2001 inclusive].
I'll be making several posts over the next few days .
Cheers,
Patricia
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MiloA
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Posted: Wed Apr 23rd, 2008 12:41 am |
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Dears, all been mentioned before
I was not sure to post this 'heavy' thoughts in the name of friends, which have ' sacrified their lifes ' teaching us about security and the idea, not to repeat
((with the bad joke) ? how to dye in the test, leaving the problems to the surrounding friends, and not end worse ! )
They told me, think first !
!!! but often there is no time, to do so !!
and when too many informations can confuse us, a 'self-injection' (release), of noradrenaline can occur easily, (that's a longer story though),
partially paralyzing us, while at the controls of a flying 'bomb' ?
so we'll get 'short of time', and in those situations, only training and experience count,
and can't be improvised
too many accidents happen cause to the lack of training and experience, (in adequate conditions)
with the examples of switching from pendular ultralight, to aerodynamically controlled aircraft, or simply from one aircraft to the same, with a different layout
neuro-science shows clearly the interactions of the nerve-systems, the memories and all the hormones involved, which we are underling completely
adequate reflexes are required, and gained by enough training and positive mental preparation
which is fun, too
felicidades miloLast edited on Tue Jun 17th, 2008 02:19 am by MiloA
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PatriciaJB
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Posted: Wed Apr 23rd, 2008 01:17 am |
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Yes, in an emergency there is no time to ponder for awhile ! You have to act ! and people act spontaneously in the way that they are most used to acting. This is a huge problem if you are flying an aircraft which has controls which function in the opposite way to the aircraft that you are most used to flying . eg: If a trike pilot is flying a 'normal' aeroplane and if he/she is not trained and experienced in this kind of aircraft [ie. Most of the pilot's experience has been with trikes].... then in an emergency, eg: spin... the pilot will revert to what they know best and automatically try to correct as if the aeroplane was a trike. Since a trike has controls which operate in the opposite way to those of an aeroplane, this will make the spin worse and a crash will result.
The whole point of training and experience is to enable a person to automatically act in the correct way in an emergency. So it follows that if your training and experience is for a type of aircraft that is radically different from the one you are actually flying then you are not going to be able to act in the correct way.
I, too have seen many examples of this.
Patricia
Last edited on Wed Apr 23rd, 2008 01:57 am by PatriciaJB
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Richard
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Posted: Wed Apr 23rd, 2008 04:35 am |
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| In the very early days I released the tow rope on a standard Rogollo and found myself at zero airspeed many feet up in the air. My instinctive response was to start running furiously. Luckily the old crate just parachuted to earth.
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Richard
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Posted: Wed Apr 23rd, 2008 09:25 pm |
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I kept my last post short because it wasn't on ornithopters. However there might be a lesson in it for some reader out there somewhere.
About tow testing:
Why was the glider left at zero airspeed after I released the tow rope?
Answer: the rope was attached to the bottom of the A bar instead of to a point which coincided with the centre of gravity. So it was being towed along at an angle of attack higher than its stalling angle.
Lesson: Dont attach a tow rope to a point behind the aircraft's centre of gravity!
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MiloA
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Posted: Thu Apr 24th, 2008 12:36 am |
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aloha Richard,
You were lucky ! , we did the same devilish things with lashed bamboo-gliders and crazy 20 and some years of age, with only brain-capacity for girls and adventures, (and all that after training during 4 seasons with gliders and single engine-aircraft, and military-flight-trainings for several weeks !), but age, adrenaline and 'being bored', is a special security-issue
as there was another towing-fatality, there is a discussion about, at the 'OZ Report'
? so, the delta-kite-glider served as parachute with tubes ? who knows, the leading-edge-vortices in the nose saved You from these neck-breaking negative-pitch-momentums ?
towing is a very efficient flight-method, and well defined, as teamwork is required
ton's of security-literature are available, about those height-gaining-devices with the engines running on the ground,
about string-materials and rope-tension-control, (which is most important),
quick-links, weak-links, hook-knifes, takeoff and emergency procedures
I like to 'live' accidents in 'theory-mode', love flying, but walking too
felicidades miloLast edited on Thu Apr 24th, 2008 05:01 pm by MiloA
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Richard
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Posted: Sun Jun 29th, 2008 12:43 am |
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MiloA wrote: aloha Richard,
You were lucky ! , we did the same devilish things with lashed bamboo-gliders and crazy 20 and some years of age, with only brain-capacity for girls and adventures, (and all that after training during 4 seasons with gliders and single engine-aircraft, and military-flight-trainings for several weeks !), but age, adrenaline and 'being bored', is a special security-issue
as there was another towing-fatality, there is a discussion about, at the 'OZ Report'
? so, the delta-kite-glider served as parachute with tubes ? who knows, the leading-edge-vortices in the nose saved You from these neck-breaking negative-pitch-momentums ?
towing is a very efficient flight-method, and well defined, as teamwork is required
ton's of security-literature are available, about those height-gaining-devices with the engines running on the ground,
about string-materials and rope-tension-control, (which is most important),
quick-links, weak-links, hook-knifes, takeoff and emergency procedures
I like to 'live' accidents in 'theory-mode', love flying, but walking too
felicidades milo
Hi Milo,
Patricia's recent posts about safety have brought on a flood of memories. My first hang glider is shown in the picture. I flew at 3 feet altitude but my friend pushed his weight back and shot up to 20 feet. I stopped towing in shock and the glider , which had no dihedral and a tiny fin, rolled onto its side and fell to earth where the crumpling structure saved his life. A normal size fin with no dihedral might have been fatal. Next we built Rogallos based solely on a photo in a magazine. Built from 7/8 inch common aluminium. Their flight path described a parabolic curve rather than a straight line . Therefore you were safe as long as you landed before the parabola started to point straight downwards....like a cat I must have had 9 lives
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MiloA
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Posted: Mon Jun 30th, 2008 12:31 am |
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8
dear Richard ,
We are born naked, wet, and hungry.
Then things get worse. --unknown
introduction to aviation, as a kind of a step by step approach, (equipment, local meteorology, etc., etc.),
flight-trainings with a dedicated instructor on a ' double-seater',
and if a single-seater is used, (or prototypes), best would be an additional 'hidroplane-rig', and to be towed over water by a boat, (with safety equipments), the instructor managing a (pay-out)-winch, helping the student, (through the 'umbilical cord', and with a boat-driver paying attention to the instructor as well !)
though, to reach this level of prudence, I survived unhurt several crashes, similar to the one You got on Your picture
felicidades milo
(in critical times the hardest thing is not to do the right thing, but to know what the right thing is)Last edited on Mon Jun 30th, 2008 12:44 am by MiloA
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