Holy....smokes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7gL9uA-McY
That's a 130" wingspan RC glider. For quite a while now, the record has been in the high 400's. This is the first to break 500mph (as measured on radar).
The reflexes and precision required to do this type of flying are hard to describe. My brain nearly caught fire when I hit 168mph years and years ago doing the same type of circles on the back of the hill. The gliders and pilots have come a long way since then. I miss California!
RC glider breaks 500mph
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Keith Smith
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Re: RC glider breaks 500mph
How? Where is it getting the energy to get up to those speeds?
Crazy.
Crazy.
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Keith Smith
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Re: RC glider breaks 500mph
Dynamic soaring. It's exploiting the boundary layer (50-60mph winds coming over the hill, but calm winds below the boundary layer) on each cycle.
It's best to study it in a much slower video. See if you can find some of the 200mph footage, it's easier to see/hear what's going on.
Btw, dynamic soaring happens in nature, too. The albatross uses the technique (exploiting the wind gradient) to cover long distances over open water. However, you don't see many albatrosses doing 500mph, simply because the wing gradient isn't as strong, they're not built for it, and they're not aiming for speed. Rather, they're trying to cover distance.
To put it in perspective....that glider was completing a holding pattern every 2 seconds, at 500mph. The g-force during the top and bottom turns is _obscene_. These planes have been custom built for years now, specifically designed for this type of flying. Some of them have completely custom airfoils that are total dogs below 200mph. Amazing stuff.
It's best to study it in a much slower video. See if you can find some of the 200mph footage, it's easier to see/hear what's going on.
Btw, dynamic soaring happens in nature, too. The albatross uses the technique (exploiting the wind gradient) to cover long distances over open water. However, you don't see many albatrosses doing 500mph, simply because the wing gradient isn't as strong, they're not built for it, and they're not aiming for speed. Rather, they're trying to cover distance.
To put it in perspective....that glider was completing a holding pattern every 2 seconds, at 500mph. The g-force during the top and bottom turns is _obscene_. These planes have been custom built for years now, specifically designed for this type of flying. Some of them have completely custom airfoils that are total dogs below 200mph. Amazing stuff.
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Keith Smith
- Posts: 9942
- Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 8:38 pm
- Location: Pompton Plains, NJ
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Re: RC glider breaks 500mph
Reece, here's a great video where you can hear the plane penetrating the boundary layer during the downwind and upwind legs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY41yVq88mc
Keep in mind, most of the flying is down on the back side of the hill (wind is coming right to left in the video) where you 'never go' in a glider.
Crank up the audio on that one, it's a good one.
When you do it in person, if you stand a little further down on the back side of the hill, the wind is calm, so you can hear the noise the glider is making very clearly. It feels like a punch in the stomach when it goes by, there's almost a shock wave that it generates when it transitions into the headwind as it crosses from the dead air down low into a 15-60mph headwind (depends on the day).
I got it up to 168mph on a day with 18-20mph winds. It doesn't take much!
Keep in mind, most of the flying is down on the back side of the hill (wind is coming right to left in the video) where you 'never go' in a glider.
Crank up the audio on that one, it's a good one.
When you do it in person, if you stand a little further down on the back side of the hill, the wind is calm, so you can hear the noise the glider is making very clearly. It feels like a punch in the stomach when it goes by, there's almost a shock wave that it generates when it transitions into the headwind as it crosses from the dead air down low into a 15-60mph headwind (depends on the day).
I got it up to 168mph on a day with 18-20mph winds. It doesn't take much!