Sample Essay On Glider Testing

Prototype description

A glider or otherwise termed sailplane is a type of aircraft that is designed to glide in the air, usually meant for an unpowered flight. It is employed in sports and other non-sport activities like the military functions. There are several types of gliders known worldwide and the major differentiating factor is the presence or absence of an engine. The gliders that have engines are meant for gliding and soaring through the air, but the engine extends the meant distance or for landing and taking off. The sailplane is unique in form as it reduces the amount of drag by having long and thin wings and a narrow cockpit for further streamlining. Prototype of the glider simply implies a preliminary model that has the exact characteristics that other versions would inherit. This paper seeks to construct the prototype, test it and conclude on recommendations for bettering the project.

Construction

A prototype is simply the beginning version from which others would be designed from. In other words, it will serve as a reference point. In this case, the prototype glider will be a sailplane that has no engine and takes off by foot. Particularly, it will be called a hang glider and it will be for soaring through the air for a short distance. The glider will be first designed and tested to ensure that the drag is accounted for in every aspect before further testing is done. In terms of further testing, the glider will be taken through the air by a test pilot for a free run. The vigorous testing will in turn come in handy when the prototype glider construction to the end. The drag comes about when the plane is taking off, and so it needs to be tested thoroughly to ensure that the plane uses the least effort to take off through the air.

Tools

Several tools are required for the construction of this prototype to be successfully designed and implemented. A paper and pencil are first and foremost required in this process in the sense that the whole process involves joining the joints together after a successful design of the glider is made. The drawing is very important as it provides a vivid guideline on how to best the joints are to be joint. Also, joints are very important in this creation process and if one doesn’t have a ready-to-fit joint, one can employ the gas burner to join the metal parts of the prototype hang glider. Finally, a control bar is necessary and this is the most sensitive area that needs to be tweaked appropriately since it will serve to direct the whole aircraft. Therefore, it should be present and in pristine condition.

Materials

The tools mentioned above are simply meant to ensure that the job is completed easily. However, the materials required for this design are inclusive of a sail, king post, harness, crossbar and aircraft grade aluminum tubes. The tubes are also best if they have joints that can fit each other easily. The sail serves to control the air and maintain the glider in the air, it serves to keep the glider high up in the air. The aluminum tubes that were mentioned earlier will serve as the skeleton of the glider providing the necessary support in the whole framework and design. The stability of the joints of the tubes should be ensured in order to ensure the integrity and physical stature of our glider. The glider will also include a crossbar that will join the middle to the front and further assist in the physical stability of the glider as a whole.

Description

First and foremost, the process is sequential and for it to be completed successfully, one has to follow the procedure precisely. The aluminum tubes are drawn on the piece of paper in order to show the pattern of construction. The framework is arranged in a triangular manner from the tip spreading the wings to the extremes. The keel is placed in such a way that it runs from the tip, separating the plane in two and connects the middle. The crossbar is also sketched in such a way that it connects the keel to the edge frames (aluminum tubes). The control bar is sketched under the keel and should be at a right-angle with the frames and smaller in size than the crossbar. The design-work done on paper is to be followed strictly, just like a manual.
Before constructing the design, the aircraft grade steel wires are input in the design since they serve to support the weights that are placed heavily upon the glider while flying. They are carefully constructed to form the landing wires as well as they attach to every intersection of the crossbar and the edges. Two wires are drawn perfectly to the keel and the control bar as well as the two front wires hence forming a connection between the control bar and where the crossbar and edge tubes meet. The kingpost is added connected adjacently on the keel to the control bar. A sail is added to the design-work since it is a very vital part of the glider. A harness is then drawn and this is where the driver will hang while flying the plane. Finally, the several parts mentioned in the design are collected and connected as depicted in the design-work.

Flight test method and results

After the designing and construction of the prototype model, a proper flight testing is carried out. This is a very important aspect of any experiment as it aims to minimize and even reduce errors after identifying them. In this case, flight drag is our main concern. Since we did not use thin long winds, the drag is compensated by the wider and short triangular shaped wings of the glider. The glider was attached to kite first and allowed into the air and observed for errors in the design. The day was not heavily windy but suitable for flying the glider. The hang glider successfully leaped through the air with minimal stress and stayed in the air for a very long time before coming down. Therefore, the hang glider was designed according to specifications and design as drawn in the procedure.

Discussion

The kite test was carried out specifically to test out the drag of the glider plane. The glider successfully leaped though the air implying that very little effort would be required in order to get through the air. Therefore, the glider successfully cancels out the drag by using the shorter and wide wings that collect air and assists in the flight process. In addition, the glider stayed in the air for a very long time as a result of the wide wings thus implying that the flight test was a success. The wings ensure that the wind collected in the sail is enough to support the weight stress by the help of a harness. Therefore, the prototype hang glider creation was a success which implies that the glider’s drag was minimized as possible.