[tomsines27]

Hi Sam, Thanks for your help. For me inventing takes years, sometimes decades.
Tom

[tomsines27]

Hi Sam, Thanks for your help. For me inventing takes years, sometimes decades.
Tom

[Bill Cummings]

Hey Tom,
It’s been about three years since I picked up an entirely disassembled junked out hang glider. (I was helping John “Ole” Olson).

If I’m remembering correctly the entire wings’ fabric was easy to wad up and carry to the garage whereas the, “Bones” brackets, bolts and wires required more effort. Then again if it had been possible to wad up all the Aluminum into a small ball it too would have been easier to waddle off with. (Employing a wad waddle of course. )

Trying to remember and put into words the percentage difference between bones and fabric ---I’m still buffering!

EDIT:
Maybe the difference in weight between a hang glider and a paraglider would be a safer analogy than any guess I could come up with.

[tomsines27]

Hi Bill, I'm going with about 70% fabric. My next question is, what do you thnk the best type of hangglider is, that has a low take off speed, and high lift?
Tom

[Merlin]

I learned on a hang glider that weighed under 40 pounds. It was standard Rogallo. Many people made copies and flew them with various degrees of success. I personally loved the design (at least for ground skimming) and have nothing but nostalgic fondness for the design. You are not going to get much lighter than that with fabric and aluminum. And it is a configuration that is easy to build.

Of course you could look at Maccready's designs for super light weight high performance ideas (also best kept close to the ground). I think a practical limit for a low-weight modern single surface might be around 55 pounds. Very simple wings (like the standard) had poor performance and needed a lot of square footage to compensate.

[Bill Cummings]

Hi Bill, I'm going with about 70% fabric. My next question is, what do you thnk the best type of hangglider is, that has a low take off speed, and high lift?
Tom

Yo Tom.
What do you (that would be me) think the best type of hang glider is-?
Understand that this depends on what my definition of the word, “is,” is.

Many variables have shaped my personal decision.

Having a bad back has prevented me from even considering a ridged wing hang glider. (Too heavy for me.)

Carbon fiber spars would be light but more expensive and I’m afraid of flying a glider made with carbon fiber spars.

Now that I’m starting the second half of my life (I’m 65-1/2 right now --oops add more seconds now.) so I have given up flying 145sq feet and 147sq feet gliders and have moved up to flying a ten year old 155sq foot Wills Wing Sport 2 hang glider.
I could also say that I have moved down to a sport 2 since my previous three gliders were considered higher performance.

I would like to get another glider, brand new, just like the one I have now but money, for a Scotch, Irishman, has some type of separation anxiety - phobia in the way.

The bigger 155sq ft., glider has a slower landing speed for my hook in weight which is nice since the density altitude in our Alamogordo, NM landing zone averages 6,000 feet Mean Sea Level. (Just running to the toilet get you winded here.)

I don’t have the right instruments that tell me what my sink rate usually is but I would guess it averages less then 200 feet per minute. It might even be as low as 160 to180 feet per minute.

My choice of harness also has more parasitic drag than most on the market which also hurts gliding efficiency.

I’m thinking you might get a wide range of answers to your question.

It reminds me of the saying, “To each his own,” said the farmer as he turned to kiss the cow.

[tomsines27]

Hi Merlin, I love humor. Almost fell off the john laughing! Its, also a good way to separate the wheat from the chaff. Guess what, I am serious. However, laughing is good for the soul.
Tom

[tomsines27]

Hi Bill, You might like my design it will be a sitdown hangglider. My design is not like any hangglider I,ve seen. We all know the wright brothers watched brids and discovered the curvature of their wings, this enabled them to fly. What I have found is that the structure their bodys helps them be light. The models I,ve built are very light and strong.
Tom

[tomsines27]

Hi, Question, can someone tell me the balance point of a hangglider?
Tom Sines

[Bill Cummings]

Sup Tom?
Seems like a simple enough question. “can someone tell me the balance point of a hangglider?”

The answer sometimes is as long as a book. There is Static Balance, Hydrostatic Balance to start the list that ends with G. B. H. S. S. I. T. W. P Balance.
Which stands for: Glider Bag Handle Straps Sewn In The Wrong Place.

Static Balance over the years has given us tail heavy gliders on launch but with the hang strap moved slightly forward to be directly beneath the CP (Center of Pressure) they would fly just fine. When we were selling them to an unsuspecting Hang two we would extol the flying characteristics and leave out the part of wrestling the damn bear on the launch ramp.

Dennis Pagan has written books in which this subject is covered. I’m sure that you could go to the USHPA website and buy one or two there.

Yes you ask a very good and important question that needs a detailed and in depth understanding for someone building a hang glider from scratch.

I’m not smart enough to build a hang glider since I tried it once and it did fly but poorly.
I’m still waiting for you to ask a question to which I know the answer.