[Bob Kuczewski]

Hey Jonathan!!!

I just watched your video:



You did a great job of keeping your grip light during most of those flights!!     

One of the hardest things for new pilots to get used to is feeling the glider. They're gripping the bar so tightly that the feedback from the glider is washed out by their own muscles. Good job by you ... and your instructor.     

I am a network marketer, I have experience promoting sites, as far as ranking goes that falls on the way the site is set up. I recommended a revamping of current site. One of my businesses is web hosting, which is free. The task I can start with is compiling a list of potential back links and help with designing.g site and SEO.

Anything you can do to make suggestions would be welcome. I have about zero experience in SEO, but I've tried to follow a variety of suggestions that folks have given me. I can't necessarily do everything that's suggested, but I try.

Oh, and Bill, you're banned for life ... not for being critical, but for spelling atrocities!!    numb scull?       (only kidding, of course)

By the way Jonathan, where are you located? I look for excuses to take my Falcon on the road ... if it's not too far.

[Bill Cummings]

(Numb scull --oops
I stand corrected.
It looks like I dropped a “k”.
Let me start over.
Bob is a knumb scull.)

[jaybird78]

LOL Bill, I get it free speech is encouraged here, and I concur with your assessment about Bob. I did my research before joining this association. Bob thanks bro I am fortunate to have found my instructor, he is a like minded individual who also stood his ground against the good old boy system and was targeted for it. I live in Stockton, so when I reach hang 2 status I will be spending a majority of my time at McClure. Come on up I look forward to meeting you.

[SamKellner]

Jonathan,

From viewing the first day video, it looks like you are doing great/better than most.

So, your instructor must be doing something right also

,
Sam

[jaybird78]

Sam, thanks alot, I studied hangliding videos for years before taking formal lessons, so I had a general idea of what to do. Glen is the best, what seperates him from others is that he actually cares about his students, rather than what he can take from them.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Glen is the best, what seperates him from others is that he actually cares about his students, rather than what he can take from them.

One of my favorite "non verbal quotes" from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" is on the wall below Peter Baily's picture:

wonderfullife-frameinside.jpg (13.98 KiB) Viewed 6467 times

It's hard to read in this little photo, but it says:

      "All you can take with
     you is that which you've
              given away."

Your comment about Glen reminded me of that quote. We need more instructors like that!!

[tomsines27]

Hi, Sorry to interrupt, but could someone give me a simple, straight forward answer to this question. What is the balance point along the cord of a hangglider wing? By the way, I'm not a hangglider pilot yet,
Tom Sines

[Bill Cummings]

Hi Tom,
I don't know if you missed Bob's answer to your question over on your hangglider thread but I'll quote it below:
Hi Tom,

QUOTE: Bob K.
"I would endorse the comments made by Bill and Rick. In particular, I think Rick's warnings come from a lifetime of experience with things that fly.

I don't think there's a simple answer to your question about the balance point along the chord unless you're talking about static balance. Static balance is simply the point where the glider will be balanced with no wind. That's certainly important in glider design because you want the carrying location of the glider to be near that static balance point so you don't have to constantly fight to keep it level while moving the glider on the ground.

But there's also a dynamic balance point that has to do with the airflow over the wing. That's much more complicated. In fact, it's so complicated, that it generally takes either a supercomputer or a wind tunnel to figure it out ... and even with the supercomputer it's good to use a wind tunnel as confirmation. In fact, it was the Wright brother's extensive use of wind tunnel testing that eventually led to their successful flights.

In addition to being complicated, dynamic balance is highly influenced by speed. The basic aerodynamic forces go up as a square of velocity. So if a glider is balanced at one particular velocity, that's no guarantee that it will be balanced at another velocity. These relationships can be highly non-linear and a glider that handles nicely at one speed may become completely uncontrollable (or even unstable) at another speed.

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, and I worked for two years at a commercial grade wind tunnel. But even with that experience, I would be quite timid about experimenting with anything that's going to fly a living person. I'm not saying that to discourage you, because I don't know your background (maybe you were one of my professors!!). But I do want to emphasise Rick's warnings about how dangerous and unforgiving it can be to experiment in aviation.

I don't know if that's an answer to your question yet, so please feel free to elaborate and maybe we can converge on a better answer for you.

Thanks again for your participation in the forum, and thanks very much to Bill and Rick for sharing your decades of experience here as well.

P.S. This discussion also reminds me to be thankful for all the people who've done the hard work to make this sport as safe as it is today. Many people died to bring us the generally safe and stable hang gliders we have today. Whenever I fly my Falcon I try to remember to give thanks to all those who made it possible."

[tomsines27]

Hi Bill, Thanks again for your help. Yes, the static balance point would be fine. Could you elaborate on that?
Tom Sines

[Bill Cummings]

Tom
My expertise in hang glider design is laying around here somewhere waiting for me to find it. Thus far I’ve been following Einstein’s advice to never try to remember anything that you / I can look up.

I gave a cursory glance (meaning I glanced and cursed) at several technical hang gliding design articles before pouring a tall brandy and turning on MTV.
(Mindless Television)

The only success I have had with adjusting the static balance of a glider that was tail heavy was with my wife’s old Magic 3 glider.
I hose clamped a nylon strap between and near the top of the two uprights (downtubes) which took out the tail heaviness with the strap across her shoulders.
This was caveman poke and pray method.
It more than likely is the extent of my hang gliding static balance expertise.

Dennis Pagen and others have books that include this subject.
Here is a link that may help find your answers.

http://www.aeroexperiments.org/reading.shtml