hi again,

if you can loop those birds in knife edge- most propably you dont need wings for lift- at least not as big as they are if the flat fuselage is enough for flying. What is "wingloading" in knife edge? Instead the wings are only for drag and control. Thrust keeps it in the air, big wing creates enough drag to counteract thrust at reasonably slow speed. Make the plane bigger and heavier, put a strong engine with thrust 2x to 3x the weight and make the wing big enough to counteract thrust at 20mph. I believe it will fly the same way as the small one. And it will have low wingloading- just for drag. The problem is purely technology- such bigger plane will fail structurally. Thats why you have it small- for better structural strengh to weight ratio.


The weight does not have to be small- wing loading yes, but rather indirectly- not for lift at small speed but for large drag to counteract the thrust at slow speed. In addition big wings have big control surfaces- which is dood at low speed.

How would glider fly with weight approaching zero?


all the best
A.