Glider Airfoil
06-16-2004, 04:41 PM
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RE: Glider Airfoil
Another 'Pandora's box' question, there must be at least 100 'popular' airfoils around and ALL have trade-offs. It the airfoil busniess you have to give something to get somthing, a 'compromise' sitituation.
You need to give alot more Info. on what type/size plane, what kind of flying you expect to do and at what level . . . as to size there's 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m (standard class) open class (anything bigger than standard) You say 72" span but remember bigger planes fly better. Then there's the type or style of flying: basic thermal, thermal duration, RES, NOS, slope, handlaunch, scale, hand tow, power tow . . . the list goes on. Are you just planing to fly for fun? Casual Comp. Serious Comp. and then there's the conditions you're going to fly in: Whats the wind like where you plan to fly? All these and more must be considered if you're going to fine-tune your choice. Another consideration is that many of the more 'exotic' airfoils demand extreme accuracy of profile to do their thing, a variance of 1% can ruin any performance advantage and end up performing worse than a more basic airfoil, are your building skills up to it? In this case sometimes less (complex) is more.
As you see there is no one 'best' airfoil and it's not a 'one size fits all', all of the time thing. Think about it some and get back to us, somebody here will have the answer. I say: "to keep it fun, keep it simple"
Rick K
You need to give alot more Info. on what type/size plane, what kind of flying you expect to do and at what level . . . as to size there's 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 2.5m (standard class) open class (anything bigger than standard) You say 72" span but remember bigger planes fly better. Then there's the type or style of flying: basic thermal, thermal duration, RES, NOS, slope, handlaunch, scale, hand tow, power tow . . . the list goes on. Are you just planing to fly for fun? Casual Comp. Serious Comp. and then there's the conditions you're going to fly in: Whats the wind like where you plan to fly? All these and more must be considered if you're going to fine-tune your choice. Another consideration is that many of the more 'exotic' airfoils demand extreme accuracy of profile to do their thing, a variance of 1% can ruin any performance advantage and end up performing worse than a more basic airfoil, are your building skills up to it? In this case sometimes less (complex) is more.
As you see there is no one 'best' airfoil and it's not a 'one size fits all', all of the time thing. Think about it some and get back to us, somebody here will have the answer. I say: "to keep it fun, keep it simple"
Rick K
06-16-2004, 08:27 PM
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RE: Glider Airfoil
im flying slope, and i live about a mile away from the ocean in san clemente CA, so there are some decent winds, but mostly just a breeze. You said 72" is probably too small how big do you think i should go
06-17-2004, 01:32 AM
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RE: Glider Airfoil
Ahhhhh, For slope flying 72" is on the larger side of things. 50" or so is much more common. I'm more of a thermal guy tho I have flown slope a few times. I have an old NE Sailplanes catalog, it has some airfoil profiles in the appendex. I'll take a look and tell you what I find. Do you think you'll fly speed, acro, combat or scale, or just general slopeing around?
See what I meant about needing to know what you're up to before being able to recommend anything. When I said 72" is on the sm. side I was thinking of thermal not slope planes. Dang, I used to have a neighbor in Downey who was a nut case about slope flying, a composites engineer for Boing, he made his own fuse and wing molds for his carbon fiber sloper designs. I haven't spoken to him since I moved (3yrs. ago) and don't know if he's still there, at the time he was saying he might be transferd to Seattle. I could give him a call, he'd certianly have the info you desire. I'll give it a try.
Rick K
See what I meant about needing to know what you're up to before being able to recommend anything. When I said 72" is on the sm. side I was thinking of thermal not slope planes. Dang, I used to have a neighbor in Downey who was a nut case about slope flying, a composites engineer for Boing, he made his own fuse and wing molds for his carbon fiber sloper designs. I haven't spoken to him since I moved (3yrs. ago) and don't know if he's still there, at the time he was saying he might be transferd to Seattle. I could give him a call, he'd certianly have the info you desire. I'll give it a try.
Rick K
06-17-2005, 11:16 PM
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RE: Glider Airfoil
hi, this is and old post, so you have probably done something by now.but if you asked this question you shoulduse a eppler 193,good lift airfoil
205 or 374 for winder conditions.
we have found that even a garbage can lid will fly pretty good when flown off a slope!
I use to fly symetrical airfoils on old u/control converted planes and launch the models
upside down,just for kicks.
