Proof reading, what proof reading ?

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Posted by harold on 29/08/2011 12:52:20:

What’s an ‘iron thermal’, then?

 

Hi Harold

 

Andrew must have a motor glider so using the “iron thermal” means turning on the engine. Seems like cheating to me. I mean what’s nicer than the tension and excitement of getting lower and lower, just scraping into that tiny field then spending several hours fending off cattle, small boys etc. whilst waiting for your mates to come and get you? After that, tired, hungry but satisfied you will be honoured with the opportunity to buy them vast quantities of beer in grateful thanks for all their efforts! Engines – BAH! – who needs them.

 

Cheers

 

Norman

[DerryUKParticipant @derryuk]

<Anthony quite rightly says on a canard the from wings are there for stability, on the Eurofighter RAF Typhoon, they are responsible for its fantastic handling, ie they stabilise an otherwise unstable device>

A bit more to it than that. Traditionally a tailplane would add stability so a foreplane would add instability.

However, the big plus with foreplanes especially at high speed where the A/C centre of lift moves aft is that they generate lift and share the load.

 

Derry.

[David Southwell ARPSParticipant @davidsouthwellarps]

Posted by NJH on 29/08/2011 16:47:03:

Engines – BAH! – who needs them.

 

Norman

I thought a thermal was simply a version of a hot air engine!

David

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi Eric

We do make mistakes.

We try not to.Anthoony Mount supplies the photos and we use them.

Not everyone is an expert machinist.

The photos display where the cut outs are.

If we did not use photos that were not necesarily required we would have nothing but text in the magazine.

 

We are on a production line, 3 magazines every 4 weeks.

We do out best but it is not always good enough.

 

The main difference between mistakes now and mistakes in deacades past is we have 1/2 a dozen expletive deleteds picking holes on the internet.

 

So, we went for a walk through the beach. People who don’t know the difference won’t care.

People that do know the difference know the difference anyway.

 

I will see if management will shut down the entire forum.

No problems then.

 

regards David

 

[haroldParticipant @harold]

Posted by NJH on 29/08/2011 16:47:03:

Hi Harold

 

Andrew must have a motor glider so using the “iron thermal” means turning on the engine.

Thanks Norman,

 

That was the natural guess for me but there is something oxymoronic about ‘powered glider’ so I had entertained the possibility that it might be something more interesting.

Hence the question.

 

Regards,

J

[NJHParticipant @njh]

Hi again Harold

 

Yes I agree it does sound odd but, in truth, the performance of the more expensive (and I mean expensive!) motorised gliders is up there with the highest performance non- motorised types. The sport is about flying with the motor off but having the facility to use an engine to get to a good area for soaring or, indeed, to get home at the end of the day must enhance the experience. Maybe Andrew will enlighten us further on his return to earth.

 

Regards

 

Norman

Edited By NJH on 29/08/2011 20:06:59

[Anonymous]

Sorry, yes an ‘iron thermal’ relates to the fact my big glider has a small engine in the fuselage, which can be raised up and run if it all goes to worms. Technically it’s a self-sustainer, in that the motor is quite small, only a few horsepower, and is intended to keep the glider in the air, but not to allow it to take off under it’s own power. Mind you it’s pretty marginal at keeping the glider in the air. If everything is going for you, then the climb rate is about 100 feet per minute. The installation is dead simple, two cylinder two stroke, no throttle, and air start. The big advantage of a self-sustainer is that as far as the CAA, and law, is concerned it is still a glider, so no licence required.

 

Terry: I must have been over your place at one point. After I finished getting myself out of the hole at HusBos I was pretty much over the M1, due west of HusBos. I then nipped off to Bruntingthorpe before heading back to Cambridge.

 

Norman: That’s too accurate a description of the trials and tribulations of field landings to have been made by a non-participant? At least when one of my gliders had the trailing edge of wing eaten by cows it wasn’t me that put it in the field, but my syndicate partner.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

 

PS: Self-sustainers are all the rage now, despite the extra cost. There are probably several reasons. One, it’s a PITA doing retrieves, fuel is expensive, and it means finding people who are prepared to give up many hours of time, as well as debates about who can drive your car. On a more practical note, because of the more unsavoury parts of society, many fields have locked gates or ditches across the entrance that you can’t get a car through. The final blow is that with the amalgamation of farms, at least in East Anglia, the farmer might live many miles away. And he’s not going to leave his supper and a beer just to unlock a gate! The last field I landed in, just to east of Cambridge, had a farmer who lived near Sudbury, a good 20+ miles away.

Edited By Andrew Johnston on 29/08/2011 20:19:56

[haroldParticipant @harold]

So again, chaps, thanks for the fuller explanation.

Congratulations, Andrew, on disappointing the worms.

 

J

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Andrew, I can understand the frustrations about ground retrievals to a little extent. A couple of years ago I went on a Virgin Hot Air balloon trip, starting from Cambridge Golf Club near Longstanton, we went with the wind (as balloons do) passing over Willingham and ending up in a cow field at Bluntisham. There were rather a lot of cows interested in watching us all folding up the balloon whilst waiting for the retrieval team to arrive, but then having to wait about an hour, until they could find the farmer with the keys to the gates to get the gear and us off the field. One or two of the ladies were a bit concerned about all the inquisitiveness of the cows, but I don’t think they were any real threat.

 

Below is a picture I took when we were stationary at a 1000 ft, looking towards Needingworth in the distance, with Over on the right foreground and Swavesey on the left, where you can see the Cambridge guided busway passing through.

 

Regards Nick.

 

P.S. sorry Eric, I know this is a bit OT, just a little light hearted bit of info.

 

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 30/08/2011 04:04:12

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