BTD10: The 835kph Sailplane and Dynamic Soaring

[@EnniodBleu]

Good stuff. I was present for a similar lecture by Joe Wurts himself around 2000 when he was visiting Christchurch, NZ for a gliding competition. I remember then trying to DS with my foam flying wing in the Port Hills. Did 1 and a half turns before the wingtips clapped hands. But I was super impressed by the incredible whooshing airspeed sound of soft foam and flappy packing tape from my beatup slope glider made just before it snapped.

[@mrmadmaxalot]

Wow, the algorithm brought me gold this time. I love finding something unexpected like this that just sucks me in. Fantastic presentation!

[@7cle]

If one assesses the quality of videos and subscribes only to quality content and removes trash from one’s KZbin history, it improves one’s experience. One gets less crashes and more quality. Hard work though.

[@williambunting803]

That’s very exciting. As you were describing it i was thinking of the website “how flies the Albatross” and then you moved right into it.

[@dougcronkhite2113]

Spencer just went 548 mph yesterday with his Transonic.

[@captarmour]

any video?!

[@captarmour]

Is he using the new swept wing he said he would be working on? Does it have the Prandtl Bell Shaped Wing Loading?

[@rmosley111]

@@captarmour Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apapdZKNn5uXns0&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1N9zSOfgNkSFDCq83_T93cvrVMCK1fBvweMmgPpTydLXTA4wVSeEGr3go

[@captarmour]

@@rmosley111 man o man how is this possible!? beautiful bird!

[@captarmour]

@@rmosley111 any canard gliders out there?

[@ccarlsson3171]

WOW! I just love this presentation being an engineer and an RC model flyer since I was 12 years old.

[@Peter-er3cd]

This man is god level not only in aerodynamics but in transmitting it. Wow!

[@lohikarhu734]

so this is a pretty special version of albatross flight...the performance and ruggedness of these aircraft is, well, "freakin' amazing" !

[@eastcoastandy2905]

As a flying and sailing freak for decades I must say what an excellent lecture. Thanks. Well worth watching.

[@tolson57]

Just found DS yesterday. WOW, just WOW.

[@TechNed]

Fascinating! About 40 years ago, I watched a couple of RC gliders flying back and forth across a windy section of a place north of Wollongong, NSW (possibly, the Bulli Pass). It surprised me, how fast they were and although it was quite gusty, maybe they were picking up extra energy by flying in and out of the moving air.

[@glike2]

Very impressive looking at this as an Aeronautical Engineer

[@GNARGNARHEAD]

great talk, loving the format

[@peterdvorak802]

The plane speed can be easily measured with 2.4GHz or 5GHz flying beacon and ground based Doppler shift measuring receiver

[@grongrod]

Finally, a scientific and serious video about DS. Great too see. I can't believe I am posting the first comment to this. I learned a lot, great job!

[@awuma]

A superb presentation. This is the best explanation I've yet heard of DS, and the technical details Spencer presented are fascinating.

[@captarmour]

@@awuma I love the snap lap concept

[@glennllewellyn7369]

Five years just went by. G’day mate! Australia

[@leonardmilcin7798]

So this is interesting, it means you can maintain sailplane practically indefinitely as long as you can find reliable air speed gradient. You could theoretically recover whatever amount of electricity you need from a small RAM-like device and basically keep it there forever until you loose the gradient or the device parts wear down.

[@douginorlando6260]

He tells the story of doing the best engineering I may have ever seen. I’m impressed

[@billtaylor3499]

Stunning presentation, and amazing timing. I spend time most days watching absolutely superb natural dynamic soarers between my house and the beach, over the Kahuku public golf course. Mating flights of 6 ft. wing span Albatross, and the not explained few minutes of DS by Wedgetail Sheerwaters before landing at their nests just after sundown are entrancing. The Albatross are majestic flyers, the just over half their size (Meter wing span) Sheerwaters move at far faster air speeds and maneuver tempo, smaller 'circles' (more figure 8s) and stay lower. At sea, this is harder to understand as the scale of the wind gradient is tighter and more turbulent. Over the golf course, the beach front slope and vegetation creates a low level relatively stagnant ground layer of air, and a velocity gradient as altitude increases. Where the birds choose to DS seems far enough back from the edge of the beach incline, and associated bushes, to have no turbulent separation layer. Maybe a beach fire soon will offer enough smoke for visualization of the flows in real time, as opposed to educated guesses. The tradewind is usually 24/7. I'd grasped the principles, but not the high speed potential now being explored with RC planes. It may be helpful to close a bit of the control gap of remote piloting using what all this DS family of seabirds have, very sensitive tubes on their upper beaks for Nature's Own pitot tubes. Forward facing beak tubes give both wind speed and direction, in relation to the momentary orientation of the beak. The birds don't seem to do much hunting of head angle. A radio link back to an earpiece of the pilot might give both some sense of air speed, and turbulence. Dual channels of sensors and earpieces offer more choices. Musicians offer clear evidence the brain can use several sound channels simultaneously and process information from each independently. Thermal soaring at full scale (and some RC?) uses this for real time non-visually communicated information on both the plane's altitude changes (Altimeter), and the relative vertical movement (total energy probe variometer?) of the air mass the plane is flying in. Maybe more, since I've been out of touch with full scale soaring for over a generation. dskinetic.com has no info I can find on cost of any of the models, but I probably don't really want to know.

[@myotherusername9224]

I think AI is going to solve the control problem, there is no way a human pilot is going to process all the inputs necessary in real time for DS . If you want to visualize flow at a soaring site, what about mylar streamers on a pole?

[@billtaylor3499]

@@myotherusername9224 AI is a current popular meme, but is completely unnecessary for 'drone piloting', self-piloting Unmanned Air Vehicles. Several KZbin videos discuss programmable flight control systems with affordable hobby computer cores, I'll post the name when the memory returns. May be mentioned in earlier comments on this video? AI offers learning 'self-programming', which may be advantageous. I suspect AI is more valuable where the basic physics or other principles are less understood, or situations are too complex for most human mental modeling. Flight in most regimes is not one of these areas. Not saying AI doesn't offer optimization potential.

[@bikerfirefarter7280]

@bill taylor. I like this idea of wind sensors, and it would be easy/cheap to implement, akin to negative feedback, into servo sensors/control. Almost like ABS on a road vehicle is a 'fit and forget' as it does its thing only when needed and is way faster than mortal ability. Brilliant. The idea of feedback to pilot is also a genius suggestion, not just 'ears' but also force transducers that would give instant physical feedback of wing dynamic loads.

[@claudevieaul1465]

Just discovered this and I find this absolutely fascinating!! Not only did I fly RC planes back in the day, but I'm seeing some relevance to harnessing wind energy too - probably around tall buildings and cityscapes, as size doesn't really matter in this.... Food for thought! Thanks for sharing this 👍🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@paulhope3401]

What a fantastic talk.. very well presented. I love this kind of stuff.

[@LuckyLAK17]

Very nice presentation indeed and congrats for the record. Marco Maceri, Head of Flight Physics at Pilatus Aircraft and addicted glider pilot.

[@smartcatcollarproject5699]

548 mph now... this little wing is flying faster than your jet now ?

[@messid74]

Great presentation - Spencer knows his stuff!

[@georgehunter2813]

Right man at the right time and place.

[@banzaiib]

need to get the Slow-mo Guys in contact with Spencer!!!

[@rlbunce]

Is anyone looking into using Dynamic Soaring idea in design and placement of wind turbines to generate electricity?

[@elixir220]

cool!!! back in 2001 i lived out in Los Angeles. i would say i was a fairly competent slope soaring pilot. i flew foam delta wings of different densities. one day the guy that built the foam cores that i used to fly said im going to take you to a place that is legendary for slope soaring. so we went to parker mountain. parker mountain is a ridge that you get to through fire roads in acton ca. we get up there and i see this guy walking around barefoot. i make a simple mental note and carry on. since there is really no setup for a delta wing we throw out have two short flying runs to get a feel for the place. so i look the barefoot guy almost has his glider setup hes taping up the seams in the wing. composite plane much heavier hitter than i or my buddy that showed me the place. at that point my buddy had heard of ds but i hadnt. so the guy throws out his glider takes a couple turns in the front and shoots down the backside im thinking what did the idiot just do? so i watch thinking this guy is about to lose his fancy plane. i watch him make a hard bottom turn and the plane is heading back up the hill it hits the rotor and heads back down tightening up each pass. with two or three passes the glider is doing well over 100 mph. i was so blown away to what i was witnessing. of course i aint see this type of flying but this huge glider is moving and where you park is along the fire road i get behind my truck for safety. at the time i didnt know it but he kept going back and forth on the backside looking for energy and in that he made a few passes over my truck. it truly sounded like a boeing 737 just passed over my head. so after barefoot guy lands and had settled down near hit pit i went over to him and said" bro you gotta break down for me what i just witnessed" he explains to me about ds and at the end of the conversation he introduces himself as Joe Wurtz. i got to see and learn first hand from the guy who started the craze with rc aircraft

[@awuma]

About the same time I was once more living in the LA area, trying to get back to the level I had achieved there over 20 years earlier... After one thermal contest, there was this guy practising landing after landing: it was Joe Wurtz IIRC. I realised that I'd never catch up with these guys who flew almost every day in the soaring paradise that is Southern California.

[@douginorlando6260]

Eddie Acoba ... I never heard of this until one hour ago when I came across this youtube video. At first I thought it must be fake (speeded up video with normal speed sound track). I am really impressed ... And his engineering skills are the best I’ve seen

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

I'll never understand glider pilots. Let alone toy glider pilots. Woo, you get to go fast in tiny little circles. Exciting. How many times can you fly in circles before you say "Well, I've done all I can in this field." and move onto something better?

[@7cle]

Faster than any RC jet, but NO engine.

[@jackd1582]

@@dr.lexwinter8604 drag racing has entered the chat ..... Bonneville has entered the chat ....Nascar has entered the chat

[@Brakballe]

This IS awesome. Finally analogue basic dynamics that always have existed for longer than us is translated into a physiscs performance that sets world records. Highly educational. Congrats mister! This is exceptional! :)

[@peterfynn]

You mentioned the 'T' tail configuration, but did not amplify why it has an advantage over the classic fuselage mounted stabiliser and elevator. Also is your horizontal stab a fixed stab or is it what I call a 'full flying stabilator' ?

[@johnnyllooddte3415]

why cant you film it in slow motion..i dont see anything

[@josephcooksley3219]

This is an amazing bit of research .... the possibilities are endless we are only scratching the surface in a wide range of areas only limited by ones own imagination ... also materials science to step beyond the next level ... we only just have the realization that migration of Birds and Insects over fantastic distances , that theres a tremendous amount of knowledge still to be learnt and understood by open minded application of ideas ... This was an amazing Presentation thankyou the application of this back of slope Soaring opens up a whole range of possibilities and application is almost endless ... Thankyou

[@ierson4880]

How can we use it to make electricity. Like a electricity miner.

[@JulianMakes]

Absolutely fascinating talk. I had no clue about these awesome rc aircraft before this, they are incredible! I wonder if the speed difference in layers can be exploited for power generation? Brilliant talk thanks

[@KJQHFKJHSFKJH]

Thanks for making this public!

[@kaarrff]

I won’t bet on the DS staying below Mach 1! Good to see some real science and aerodynamics at work at the hands of some very bright guys. Until I saw this I thought my favourite subject (helicopter aerodynamics) was top of the tree! Thanks.

[@microbuilder]

As far as the human side of things go, I wonder if something like forced feedback in the sticks would help in some way...you could tell how much load was on the control surfaces by the tension in the sticks as the plane made its laps.

[@ophello]

It's a shame this only has 500 views. This shit is awesome.

[@drdistorzion]

Looks like the algorithmic overlords finally realized how cool this is, up to 47k views when writing this, that's more in line with what this video deserves! :)

[@biko9824]

50k now! This looks like something straight out of KSP

[@tonywilson4713]

Feb 18 2021 and its 85,655 views but only 1.4K Likes. I guess too many people were confused by the brilliance of this.

[@DennisGentry]

About Jet Stream energy recovery: There is often a dramatic difference (20 knots or more) in head/tailwinds by climbing or descending a few thousand feet, which I've discovered through many flights in the 15,000 to 28,000 foot altitude range in my turbocharged piston powered airplane. Regional airliner, turboprop pilots, and "Center" ATC personnel are familiar with this too.

[@jackd1582]

It can be hundreds even???

[@josephcooksley3219]

Yes developing an algorithymn to use this free energy then ATC operations that can accomadate these fluid changes is yet another interesting area ...

[@Triple_J.1]

Now, if only we can get FL18-FL23 into Class E/G so Turbo piston GA can actually utilize their full potential without being stuck IFR at the mercy of ATC.

[@turnbank3492]

I hear a boom in the future.. A couple boat tie line whips and a light cargo net to catch that baby on the landing. Thank you for sharing

[@pirminborer625]

Wow, fascinating. Didn't expect that you can harvest so much speed in the lee side. I only knew that you can pitch down in upwinds to store energy as speed insteadof height.

[@wbwarren57]

Wow! A tour de force! Thank you for a great video!

[@shaunybonny688]

Wow, talk about interesting stuff. This is crazy. Harnessing this phenomenon in the jet stream would be amazing too.

[@stonelaughter]

Could this technique be used by pilots of full-sized gliders to recover when they get "behind the hill"? I don't think for a minute we could get full scale gliders flying at these speeds (the G loading would kill the pilot even if the glider survived) but the technique could be used as a life saver on a smaller scale if it were taught properly?

[@DriveManual]

he is such a great presenter

[@nzsaltflatsracer8054]

I found this very interesting. My world is about speed but my goal is 500 mph in a piston engine wheel driven vehicle. In order for these guys to go supersonic they are obviously going to have to move away from a straight wing but as Spencer pointed out, a delta wing was unsuccessful at low speed. I would expect the way to get around this would be a swing wing / delta combo design. The SU-24 & the Tornado are the best examples of this that come to my mind.

[@banzaiib]

easiest way to explain DS is a merry go round... you know, those death traps we no longer have on our playgrounds. Imagine someone standing still while you're on it, and every time you come around, that person pushes. Same basic concept, every time the glider shoots above the peak, it picks up more kinetic energy and then dives down in the the calm air for the return trip.

[@Johnbobon]

That's a relatable analogy.

[@jaybarua7095]

Wow fantastic! What this technology leads to is an open question, especially on other planets.

[@xiphosura413]

I remember my dad doing slope soaring with custom designed foam flying wings in NZ in the 90s, I wonder, have you guys considered flying wings for DSing? Would have the sweep but also favourable weight distribution & much lower drag.

[@craigwall9536]

Because the more general definition of "soaring" is "gaining energy in the form of speed OR altitude" (kinetic OR potential) by exploiting the momentum differences between two fluid regions, it includes sailing (as mentioned)...but also even simpler paradigms: e.g., two simple kites: one kite is flown until it enters an air mass moving relative to the anchored end of the kite string (as evidenced by a distinct "bend" in the string)...and then a second kite is attached to the string and BOTH kites are lofted when the second kite is released. They will remain aloft as long as they reside in the two moving masses, again, as evidenced by a bend in the string between them. Notice that THIS example does not emphasis increasing speed, but rather altitude.

[@Jetstreamer0]

Incredibly cool! I have access to a 3D high-fidelity aerodynamic shape optimizer with laminar-turbulent transition prediction. I wonder what airfoils we could generate in order to delay the drag divergence Mach number.

[@andy347]

My first thought was: At that speed and that tight of a turn, the G’s pulled have to be incredibly high (speaking as a former fighter pilot, that’s why I thought of that)...glad you finally said you measured them about ⅔ of the way through the video - interesting that you topped out the meter at 120 Gs! You get above 9 sustained Gs and a human starts having significant difficulty staying alive! I spent a lot of time at 9 Gs - it hurts. Have lots of medical issues because of it. My other thought (which you then addressed) was that it looks like you are pushing past “normal” human ability for reaction time. Amazing flying skill there. I wonder if you have experienced mach tuck? My last thought, which you did not address, is it seems rather dangerous! At those speeds, an out-of-control model hitting a person would cut them in half!

[@mossm717]

It looks like the if you do screw up, you will most likely rip the wings off, slowing it down to much safer speeds.

[@MrSunrise-]

@@mossm717 Nah, it just make a hole instead of cutting you in two.

[@JasminUwU]

​@@mossm717this is one of those times where being on the edge of self-destructing actually makes it safer

[@prototropo]

Sorry to hear about the health after-effects. Do you mind sharing what some of those were, or could be, at worst? I know neck and eye injuries in pilots are common or possible. I'm wondering if a hyperbaric--or reverse hyperbaric--a hypobaric chamber treatment would have helped. The therapeutic mechanism would be different or corollary, and it's just a wild thought. But I'm sorry for your travails.

[@zygmunt73]

Hollly... S...t :D THAT'S AWESOME. I have been watching videos about DS, but this video covers a lot more. Thank you!

[@LS8eighteen]

Some additional references to full scale gliders would have been appropriate. We had molded wings and laminar flow airfoils as well as flaperons and tanks for wing-ballast (water) for the last 40+ years. Overall a great presentation, congrats for all your achievements in DS.

[@admacdo]

I think it's also appropriate to mention that full size gliders never had to overcome the reduced Reynolds numbers, 120+ G's and then trans-sonic issues all encountered within a twenty year period. All this was handled by a small group of people, who already had all the full scale glide accumulated knowledge at their disposal.

[@oisiaa]

How many horsepower does a glider like this extract from the air in order to fly so fast? Must be over 50hp on a tiny light machine.

[@olsonspeed]

Very interesting, not sure of an application for manned flight but it is a technique that will benefit autonomous aircraft.

[@olsonspeed]

​@ep5 I am very familiar with both the Dyna-Soar and Dynamic Soaring, why do you feel they are related?

[@sicktj]

Would love to hear him talk about how to (or what prevents) scaling this to fit a human inside. A way to reduce the g forces to a reasonable level of sustainable.

[@dkjens0705]

I think it was in 2009, I sold a Weatronic radio receiver (72MHz) to a DS pilot in Southern California, east of Los Angeles. I forget his name but I believe he had built a 2.5m DS glider in full carbon. He showed me his beautiful CNC routed aluminum molds and the weight of his glider surprised me.

[@HansSchulze]

I agree about automation of flying parameters. An Nvidia Jetson, at a few hungred grams, should be able to do it using off the shelf MEMS as gyroscopes, tune flight characteristics by recording the control and movement values, with training happening on vetted best commands (best loops, fastest, safest, smoothest). Sort of Tesla style, log hundreds of loops, train, have run simulations of control to verify quality, retrain, then put as passive into glider and record its virtual movements. Ultimately then press an autopilot mode while in circular flight. Might also need pitots for speed measurement, which would solve other questions.

[@georgekurgansky5986]

Wow.. I'm blown away!

[@Fiercefighter2]

this explained it so clearly thank you

[@99bx99]

I might take my 1979 UP Condor hang glider to the ridge and give that a try.

[@georgeslater2875]

Could use the drag to your advantage to omit fluttering, back pressure inflation bladders, to strengthen rigidity. Could use the laminar shockwave, convert it to piezoelectric discharge, have predefined cavitations, think longitudinal and equilateral, channel the static discharge, give spark to upgrade the fuselage to a ramjet. Just a thought.

[@christopherstube9473]

Outstanding presentation

[@best_pilot]

Slide at 25:45 This stiff servo arm arrangement means that aileron deflection per wing side is only possible in ONE direction, right ?

[@Zhengergiser]

Spencer is.... ...The man!

[@RCP-1136]

its a shame that this style of flying is not better known, i told my friends about it and they could not believe that the fastest rc plane has no motor...

[@weatheranddarkness]

Not a hell of a lot of people have access to a suitable site. I know I don't have anywhere.

[@RCP-1136]

@@weatheranddarkness true, i am still searching for one close to my home. not that hard, but i keep my eyes open.

[@jerryboics9550]

I fly rc planes for fun, not to die...

[@REALDEALFLEXSEAL]

This "style" is useless

[@angusmacsac]

You killed it in this video! Ton of great info

[@whathasxgottodowithit3919.]

What a great explanation on a very interesting topic.

[@speedbird3955]

I used to live in Glendora and flew gas powered RC planes, but there was a school in Covina not far from me where the glider guys , including Joe Wurts, would meet on the weekends and I would stop by every now and then to check it out. I never did get a glider, but now I think I will. I think he still has a little store in Covina that he sells gliders from, though I believe it is mainly a online business.

[@kene6954]

So the song is "highway to the danger zone", but actually you go through the danger zone to get to the highway?

[@IstasPumaNevada]

I understand not wanting to turn over piloting to automation, but what about automated video tracking? That way you could get a high-speed camera zoomed in nice and close and get a good view of what's happening to the plane.

[@alfredojohannes6827]

friggin amazing! watched the whole thing! he killed it.

[@mliittsc63]

so when an airplane wing stalls, it does the same thing as the wind does over the hill. You get separation (what he is calling shear). I wonder if you could take advantage of this, to get energy out of the stall. If you could direct this energy toward lift (pull up on the hill), you could get incredible angle of attack...

[@AnderzP]

Awesome. Very well explained !

[@mithrandir1313]

Great Video!! thanks!

[@ModellpilotEU]

THANKS, Spencervery impressive you have done, ... super sonic the next step, isn't it. Go for it!!! niece greetings from berlin germany.

[@lealue442]

Does it work under water?

[@bludger13]

Never hear about it before. Absolutely exciting about fastest rc is a sailors.

[@SVSky]

Energy producing kite that, instead of free wind stream, dynamic soaring. You could generate tremendous electrical power with just a "kite" and an anchorpoint on the peak of the hill.

[@Triple_J.1]

... The anchor point replaces the dead air zone.

[@lililililililili8667]

Does RTK GPS have the 4g limitation of normal civilian GPS? It would be awesome to just leave the plane flying circles autonomously during a wicked storm with fast winds. Has anyone tried to fly at Mount Washington observatory?

[@peternicholsonu6090]

Hey.....ballast at wing tips not fuselage reduces wing load! Why didn’t we think of that??

[@interamerichanic]

It would be really cool if videographers developed some way of zooming in and tracking the plane more closely. With standard video it's almost invisible at such speed and distance. A challenge for another discipline, perhaps.

[@danielchivdjian1562]

I have one of his plane called kinetic and it’s awesome

[@benedictreimann1631]

I have a question about the constant lift coefficent. Doesn't the Wing have to work harder, when the plane is flying faster in a circle. When gravity is pulling down on the airplane the wing has to work harder and when the airplane is at the highest point of the path gravity helps the wings.

[@hrr7226]

The work to stay in the circle is much much higher than earths gravity. I read in another post about the 2020 NZ DS Fest that planes at this speed experience about 100g (100 x earth gravity) so earth's gravity kind falls out of the equation due to being insignificant.

[@FlyNAA]

Yup fighter pilots call it "God's G." But it's a much smaller help, proportionally, when you're doing 100 G's of your own already.

[@lucywucyyy]

ive seen the original vid of that glider going 500mph, id love to see it break supersonic one day

[@scottcates]

Good video

[@TheGentlemanRider]

42:00 about the affect of the sweep on mach number, does it works the same for forward sweep wings, in this case making the tip of the wing 'fly faster'? Can it be the reason why on slope aerobats and scale gliders the forward swept models tend to have a very friendly stall and nice handling at low speeds?

[@sll914]

Yes forward sweep would have the same effect of delaying the mach drag rise plus an added benefit of avoiding the tip stall problems that come with normal sweep but the aeroelastic nature of forward sweep is unstable since the tips increase AOA as the wing flexes.

[@ikeimage]

At 36:27 please tell me you're not talking about "the equal transit time theory" or does this change at trans sonic speeds? and could you ( or anyone)explain what laws support the statement? Much respect and love for your contribution and achievements with DS. I thank you.

[@FlyNAA]

He said the airspeed has to match aft of the wing, not that that a pair of air parcels have to match up after splitting, which is what ETT says.

[@jimkitt2128]

The question I have is about the statement "constant diameter turn." I'm considering the centripetal acceleration vector when passing through the sheer layer and maintaining a constant diameter would negate the effect. But I don't see how the radius of the turn can be controlled when passing through the sheer layer, with the abrupt change from headwind to tailwind. Therefore, the tightening of the turn, or the compression to an oval, as stated at about the 12:35 mark, would make centripetal acceleration THE major vector in this system. I'm an RC enthusiast but not a glider pilot so perhaps someone can explain how ca is not a major contributing vector.

[@davesmith3289]

Basically this explanation of dynamic soaring as a result of 'shear layers' is impossible because it would violate the laws of physics. What RC glider pilots call dynamic soaring is not the same thing as the dynamic soaring that albatrosses do. This should be obvious considering the fact that albatrosses don't fly in circles and they don't go hundreds of miles an hour. Albatrosses don't stay in one place, they drift horizontally the direction the wind is blowing. A detailed analysis is available here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZXEoJymocysf6s So whats going on with RC gliders when they do their dynamic soaring? how can they maintain altitude and speed by going in circles if all they're using is the wind? Well, if you saw a plastic shopping bag going in circles in the air it would be obvious: the wind is going in circles. Call it whatever you want (eddie, vortex, whirlwind), these circular wind patterns on the leeward side of some hills are not formed by the wind coming over the top of the hill, but the wind wind coming around the SIDE of the hill. Some hills have them, but most do not. This is why RC glider pilots are always using the EXACT some spot over and over again, and it's also why they ALWAYS fly clockwise at location A, and always counter-clockwise at location B.

[@jimkitt2128]

@@davesmith3289 "Newton's Dynamics" is something to review because Theorem 1 explains the principles of motion, acceleration, and time, of moving bodies that are not moving in a straight line. Motion on a circle or curve is accelerated even if the speed is constant. Can be a plane, a car, or yes, a plastic bag.

[@FlyNAA]

@@davesmith3289 There's nothing about the principle of crossing shear that defines it as flying in a circle vs. an S-turn, high vs. low G, or high vs. low speed. Energy is extracted from the relative motion of the two airmasses (or zones separated by gradient, not separated by a razor sharp boundary like a simplified diagram for an initial concept demo). The source you posted, Colin Taylor, who has written a detailed website and some KZbin videos, is 100% incorrect in claiming that albatrosses can collect energy by flying downwind turns in uniformly-moving (non-shearing) air.

[@me1970]

Anyway to harness the energy to charge a battery?

[@franklinpenaranda8520]

Excellent. Now I have another piece of the puzzle...

[@BrisLS1]

Cliffs Notes? You fly with the wind half the time, but in still air the other half, so you keep generating more speed? Versus flying always against or with wind, you are eventually going to lose all your air speed and drop.

[@RBAERO]

Great class!!! Question has a video or webpage show how to start on Dynamic soaring like setup the glider and tz setups. I fly many types of planes now planing entry on DS but I don't find how to properly setup the glider and tx. And the gliders is expensive for this and lack of people flying in my region I don't start yet.

[@softdorothy]

Twin fuselage to reduce span/aerodynmic loads by 50%?

[@BillPalmer]

Have you used supercritical airfoils to push the critical Mach number up higher? All the modern airliners use them now to achieve efficient cruise speeds of M.85 with less sweep than earlier generation airfoils with very small leading edge radii and flat bottoms.

[@Triple_J.1]

35:30

[@philipoakley5498]

Do/Can you embed a passive radio antenna onto the leading edge to improve the radar cross section so that the radar gun can see the aircraft more easily (i.e. match the radio dipoles to the gun's RF frequency)?

[@aerojet393]

I enjoy this videos as just an amateur, the explanation of dynamic soring has been long associated with the albatross. Could this high speed, high G situation be part of reported black program achievements ?

[@derricksteed3466]

Have you heard of Ingo Renner? He was dynamic soaring full scale gliders back in the 90s.

[@marijnfly]

He started his experiments with DS in 1974.

[@KimfromSoCal]

gotta be straight here...this is done only with wind aid. Most impressive thing is someone watching the glider and being able to control it. Mother nature provides the power.

[@OffGridRacer]

What about giving your glider with head tracker so you can see what the airframe is doing at speed

[@captarmour]

On the new swept wing design can you use the Prandtl Bell Shaped Wing Loading design?

[@Triple_J.1]

You can use whatever lift distribution you want. But I don't see that as the solution to what these guys are doing. As root bending strength is not their issue as he said, more carbon fixes it and more weight helps to a degree. Their problem isn't reducing root bending moment, reducing empty weight fraction, and increasing payload. Its going transonic.

[@captarmour]

@@Triple_J.1 thanks for your reply. I wasn't thinking of reducing root bending stresses but the reduced drag of the bell shaped lift distribution design.

[@erikcrins]

Great video! Nice to ee all the work and theorising that goes into reaching these speeds! When getting close to mach 1 would a delta shape be a good idea?

[@go2cloudbase]

I had the same thought, delta wing instead of swept wing. Wonder what DP thinks about this.

[@d.jensen5153]

He talked a lot about the need for high aspect ratio wings for efficiency. A normal delta wing has a horrible aspect ratio. It makes a terrible glider wing.

[@myotherusername9224]

Well, the energy involved is so much greater than with a normal slope soarer, maybe once you get into those high speed regimes, a delta makes sense (think of Concorde)... if you can get there at all in the first place by starting out in the slope soaring regime.

[@situbes.972]

Question, how would dynamic soaring compare to gyroplane rotor? Is there similarlities in some of concept of using wind to accelerate speed?

[@tezlashock]

SO basically just make a sideways windmill and BOOM: transonic energy harvesting. Also does this apply to boundary layer on an airplane? Cus if you tilted the inlet on a boundary layer ingestion engine this could also harvest energy from the surface of the aircraft

[@Triple_J.1]

🤔