Freeware The Falcon and the Snowman - sort of

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Comparing and contrasting two birds with two different missions, both freeware that work in Xplane11.31.  I like just having the Falcon 20 because no one has modeled it to any degree, and the Falcon 10 and 20 were used by IASCO, the Japan Airlines training school that supported my old home airport, Napa airport, for many years before they switched to King Airs.  IASCO's commitment to flight training allowed Napa to become the popular destination it is today with the Jet Set, and indirectly launched my career in the hotel industry by putting us on the international scene. 

One of their pilots was a judge in my Lutheran school science fair, and I did a project on the Rogallo wing vs. the conventional wing.  I made a little Rogallo glider out of nothing more than Elmer's glue, toothpicks and paper to prove its viability as a potential lifting body in space, due to its unique stall characteristics yet low drag characteristics given its shape.  My project, which unlike many kids I did on my own without my parents help (although my father was a physicist, he was the other type of physicist, a health physicist, not an aerodynamics genius, but he was a genius and loving man every other way and he taught us everything he knew).

My little Rogallo glider which I can still make to perfection today had a glide ratio comparable to the real Rogallo wing.  My church school principal let me launch it from our organ balcony and it could glide more than 75 feet to the altar, at about a four to one glide ratio.  My project won first place, along with a project of a good friend of mine still today, in my grammar school science fair.  My project went on to win third prize in the public and private school California State Science fair and I was honored to do a presentation before a panel of judges like Billy Elliott.  It was the highlight of many more highlights to come in my life, going to San Francisco and being on a Statewide stage with media coverage, my fifteen minutes of fame or one of many by happenstance that many of us have had.  The IASCO judge who helped award me first place invited me to fly with him, he said I deserved it, but it immediately made my schoolmates jealous and knowing my school choir group and I were flying later that year at the end of our planned US tour, I decided to wait until that DC-10 flight from ORD to SFO.

The other aircraft in this group of pics I call the snowman, the Ercoupe, if you have ever flown one in real life like I have with the windows down, you will know your hands freeze to the point of being glued to the yoke, lol...

John

Edited February 25, 2019 by John_Cillis

[P_7878 6,609]

"...My church school principal let me launch it from our organ balcony and it could glide more than 75 feet to the altar,..."

....Wow....🙂...What a way to demonstrate the power of (pure) nature!

I guess, we learn something everyday.

John, I found this extract below for Rogallo Wing:

"No engine, no wheels, no brakes - in fact no moving parts"....That's something!

I also love the way it describes how "easy" the landing is..."..landing like a bird..."! Probably not this bird...🙂...

"A Rogallo Wing has no engine, no wheels, no brakes—in fact no moving parts. The rider takes off in the Rogallo Wing running downhill as fast as possible with the wing in front. The position of the nose must be exact, because miscalculating can result in either too much drag or the nose dipping and ramming into the ground. Once in flight, the rider hangs in a prone position, face down, in a harness that hugs his or her hips, with hands holding on to the crossbar in front. To nose down, the rider pulls forward a little bit; to nose up, the rider pushes back; and to turn left or right, the rider pushes his or her body to the desired side. The easiest part of all is landing: the rider simply noses way up, causing forward motion to stop, and lands on his or her feet like a bird."

And, John, in the past, I've flown (ClassicWings) Craig Richardson's (FW) Ercoupe many times....nice aircraft. Of course, I've no idea what it feels like in RW....Anyway, one more to probably bring back into the virtual sky...

[John_Cillis 2,406]

5 hours ago, P_7878 said:

"...My church school principal let me launch it from our organ balcony and it could glide more than 75 feet to the altar,..."

....Wow....🙂...What a way to demonstrate the power of (pure) nature!

I guess, we learn something everyday.

John, I found this extract below for Rogallo Wing:

"No engine, no wheels, no brakes - in fact no moving parts"....That's something!

I also love the way it describes how "easy" the landing is..."..landing like a bird..."! Probably not this bird...🙂...

"A Rogallo Wing has no engine, no wheels, no brakes—in fact no moving parts. The rider takes off in the Rogallo Wing running downhill as fast as possible with the wing in front. The position of the nose must be exact, because miscalculating can result in either too much drag or the nose dipping and ramming into the ground. Once in flight, the rider hangs in a prone position, face down, in a harness that hugs his or her hips, with hands holding on to the crossbar in front. To nose down, the rider pulls forward a little bit; to nose up, the rider pushes back; and to turn left or right, the rider pushes his or her body to the desired side. The easiest part of all is landing: the rider simply noses way up, causing forward motion to stop, and lands on his or her feet like a bird."

And, John, in the past, I've flown (ClassicWings) Craig Richardson's (FW) Ercoupe many times....nice aircraft. Of course, I've no idea what it feels like in RW....Anyway, one more to probably bring back into the virtual sky...

I really like what VSkylabs has done with the neglected low and slow ultralights, gyros, and one off copters that are out there and were built by enthusiasts. If they ever build a Rotorway I will be very happy, since they are Phoenix based.  P3DV4.4 and Xplane11 are a dream come to fruition for me, I saw these sims coming long ago when I saw what Evans and Sutherland were doing on mainframes, PC's just had to catch up and in some ways they have surpassed those sims.  It is like the movie "Brainstorm" but in a good way, the simulations put you there, rather than where you'd rather not be, so to speak, in real life situations.  That way you can be prepared for real life situations. 

As people like you and I grow older, we sleep less, and dream less, because we do not want to miss a second of a life that flies by so fast.  I remember when I was a little boy and I thought about waiting weeks or months for something, and what a liiiiiifetime that would be.  Now I just wake up in the dream that is the future I dreamed of, with something new every day.  Even in this world of strife, domestic violence, which is really the main killer in our world as good parents know, we here can find a small measure of peace with each other.  And yes, even remembering those warbirds is good, there was chivalry practiced in aerial warfare, even with our current adversaries we learn from our conflicts whether Russian, Chinese, and so on and so on.  

Something happened in the Middle East that was overlooked, there was a fierce battle, Russians and Americans were involved, and the Americans being more seasoned in combat with our war weary but needed role when we are asked to help, they defeated and could have slaughtered the Russians.  But they chose to stand down, it was overlooked, when we realized we were fighting on the same side, for whatever the fight entailed. 

And that is why I applaud our leaders efforts to pull out of the Middle East and let the Russians help bring stability to the region.  Folks from my day will remember the movie "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming".  It was a great movie even better than the Hunt for Red October, which I had a small part in creating the end scene of the movie, unaccredited, long story.  

I have faith in our former allies, they will be allies again, if you know the staunchness of a Cossack, they will never turn their back on you if they have fought with you, as they did with my father at the end of WWII to end the War when the atomic bombs alone did not work, they delivered on their promise and it softened the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito, who ended the Samurai ways of fight to the last man, and laid the foundation for a peace that will come in our time.  I know, I have been to that lovely country just briefly, and like Tom Cruise in the Last Samurai I felt a small measure of peace at the hospitality of my hosts.