Elastic Launched Glider C

[Jim_R]

Elastic Launched Glider Wiki
2012 Trial Thread
2013 Thread

[erikb]

Canard?

"a small winglike projection attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing to provide extra stability or control, sometimes replacing the tail"

A control canard is nothing more then two small wings near the nose of the plane. So technically last year anyone that had a wide horizontal nose piece had a canard on the front.

So is the canard configuration going to be restricted to just wright brother style aircraft or of the broader definition of what a canard is?

[chalker7]

This sounds like a great question for the FAQ section of the official soinc site once it opens up!

Canard?

"a small winglike projection attached to an aircraft forward of the main wing to provide extra stability or control, sometimes replacing the tail"

A control canard is nothing more then two small wings near the nose of the plane. So technically last year anyone that had a wide horizontal nose piece had a canard on the front.

So is the canard configuration going to be restricted to just wright brother style aircraft or of the broader definition of what a canard is?

[jander14indoor]

Not official, follow chalker7's suggestion about formal FAQ, etc.

BUT, read more definitions, all the ones I found had two aerodynamic definitions.
One, as you said, is a sub-wing in front of the main wing used for horizontal stability control.
The other is of the plane itself and consistently it states the horizontal stabilizer is in front of the wing, not behind.

Not official and worth a FAQ so the response is consistent, but as a coach I'd recommend concentrating on that second defintion of a canard aircraft with no horizontal stabilizer behind the wing.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[baker]

Because most of us don't have rules yet... what's this chatter about a canard? Required in the build or bonus stuff?

[twototwenty]

Because most of us don't have rules yet... what's this chatter about a canard? Required in the build or bonus stuff?

The word on the street is that you get a 30% bonus at states and nats for having one.

[2346273454]

Assuming that a Canard glider means that there is no rear horizontal stabilizer, will it be worth the 30% extra flight time?

With high speed launches and high ceilings, it seems like it might be very hard to get a proper launch with a stabilizer at the front. I can definitely see it being worth it for the lower ceilings at the VA state tournament though.

[jander14indoor]

Theoretically speaking, a canard should be more efficient than a traditional rear horizontal stab design. Most efficient of all is a flying wing.

That's in a steady state condition, where your glider is most of the time, so it should be very worth it for a 30% bonus.

BUT, that assumes you can get to that steady state near the ceiling. The techniques needed to launch a conventional glider to the ceiling and transition properly are well understood. Can't say the same about canard gliders. That's why the bonus, to get you to try to figure it out. Can't see why it isn't doable, but solution is an exercise left to the students!!

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[fanjiatian]

Ugh, I'm not a big fan of the 3.0 g minimum weight requirement. Too heavy
Anyone in concord?

[twototwenty]

Ugh, I'm not a big fan of the 3.0 g minimum weight requirement. Too heavy
Anyone in concord?

Personally, I like rules like that, because they add a new engineering challenge to an event that might otherwise be very similar to last year.