Stunt News Cover

It's difficult to see but if you look hard on the cover of recent SN the lines are visible from the plane out to the pilot's hand. That bow in the lines is evidence of the windspeed Sunday at the VSC. Nice pic! Best regards,

>It's difficult to see but if you look hard on the cover of
>recent SN the lines are visible from the plane out to the
>pilot's hand. That bow in the lines is evidence of the
>windspeed Sunday at the VSC. Nice pic! Best regards,

Well, I'm not so sure that this is lot different than normal. It's only about 2'.max. and that's not really all that unusual with a light airplane like the Tucker, at pretty high speed.

Dr. Soule's original line drag paper had an equation to calculate the shape of the lines, and finding the max deviation would be a simple matter. Assuming of course I could find a copy of it.

> Dr. Soule's original line drag paper had an equation to
>calculate the shape of the lines, and finding the max
>deviation would be a simple matter. Assuming of course I
>could find a copy of it.
>
> Brett

Brett,

Try

http://marlongofast.tripod.com/pdf_files/LineDrag2000.pdf

More of Pete's writing on "Flight Mechanics of Control Line Wires" as published in the 1971-72 Aeromodeller annual is copied at

http://members.cox.net/microair3/indexa.htm

You probably already have this, but you can find a number of Pete Soule's papers at

http://geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Galaxy/4707/Aeronotes/pwscol.htm

I have copies of most of Pete's Round & Round columns in Model Airplane News.

It all makes for interesting reading.

Whenever there is a racing event at Whittier, Pete normally will show up as will Don Jehlik. Both are really neat guys to talk to.

I went to the marlongofast address that Kieth gave and about all I could fathom was "line rake angle is independant of airplane speed. ...But wind will vary this accordingly...". My planes rarely show the huge bow that is apparent in Ted's cover picture. If they do, I'm already on my horse running the other way to keep line tension, or at least getting prepared to do so. Compare the picture of Frank's Vulcan on the next page. The lines are barely perceptible, but they definetly don't sag the same amount- he's either with the wind or flying on a calmer day. (Frank's plane was 39 oz.) Just out of curiousity, when you flew at the Nats on "that" Friday, did you notice extra sagging as you came into the wind? Long story short- it was a windy day and to punctuate the fact I noted the bow in the lines.

Just out of curiousity, when you
>flew at the Nats on "that" Friday, did you notice extra
>sagging as you came into the wind?

Only about half the time...

I did a similar program awhile back. Line bow is proportional to line diameter divided by airplane weight. Hence, I am seeing less bow in the lines of my own airplane as time passes. Line bow is independent of speed.