RCU Forums - View Single Post - basic aerodynamics
View Single Post
Old 06-06-2004 | 09:28 AM
  #153  
adam_one
 
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 413
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
From: Stockholm, SWEDEN
Default RE: basic

Dick Hanson's limit theory (as the wingloading approaches zero the CG becomes irrelevant) is true, but cannot be applied to conventional airplanes, which are subject to the earth's gravity force and always need airspeed to keep flying.
Dick Hanson wrote:

take the "impossible" plane which weighs nothing -bu is say - 500 sq inches--
There is no inertia if it weighs nothing - so control inputs simply have to keep it flying at angles whch do not exceed stall.
Impossible?
OK let's make it weigh a gram - now it is heavier than air .
That assumption is not correct.
An airplane that weights one-gram may be lighter than the air (it depends on ratio weight/volume).
E.g. a balloon weights much more than one gram but still is lighter than the air.

Anyhow, an "airplane" that weights zero is no longer flying like a conventional one, because such an "airplane" doesn't need wings at all, it just hangs in the air like a balloon.
Such an "airplane" will never ever stall, just because - no weight - no stall.