Feb 28, 2012, 12:05 PM
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Re: [Butters] World Record Paper Airplane Distance
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I guess a bit similar to the approach some swoopers use(d). Fast through the gates, than flare (close) to stall as high up as they can and than glide it out...
And quite similar to the wingsuit GPS competition techniques as well. Lots of energy put in (be it through a dive) than flare close to (or even into) stall and than slowly start flying again. The graphs show similar peaks...
Feb 28, 2012, 12:20 PM
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I found this interesting. It set the distance record with a stall in the middle ...
Unless the guy throwing it is like 40ft tall, how else would it be able to cross such a distance, other than flying a profile similar to the one it did? This is a totally dynamic situation (like a swoop, as Jarno says), not really comparable to wingsuit flight... unless of course your goal is to cross a certain horizontal distance within a certain vertical distance, which would all be nearly impossible to accurately measure, and a puzzling goal moreover. This type of flight profile would be of no use for the traditional wingsuit skydiving performance goals of max time, min speed, or max distance. Even for something like proximity flight where short term GR does matter, this would only be useful if the cliff dropped off completely after the end of your short term glide (because you would exit that section with a very bad flight profile), but more importantly it goes against the current proximity standards (flying well below the suit's potential) and would be ridiculously risky.
Feb 28, 2012, 12:46 PM
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Re: [The111] World Record Paper Airplane Distance
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I'm not sure I follow. If we compare an individual who flies dynamically (dives, flares, and stalls) to one who flies statically is it impossible for the dynamic flier to ever cover more horizontal distance than the static flier in the vertical window prior to the stall? If it's not impossible, then a dynamic flier could dive, flare, stall, dive, flare, stall, etc... over a given vertical window and cover more horizontal distance than a static flier ...
Feb 28, 2012, 1:10 PM
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I'm not sure I follow. If we compare an individual who flies dynamically (dives, flares, and stalls) to one who flies statically is it impossible for the dynamic flier to ever cover more horizontal distance than the static flier in the vertical window prior to the stall?
No, it is not impossible, and that should not come as a surprise.
What you've just described is the basis for canopy swooping.
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If it's not impossible, then a dynamic flier could dive, flare, stall, dive, flare, stall, etc... over a given vertical window and cover more horizontal distance than a static flier ...
No, that is not possible. Because you have to also consider what happens outside of the window (when I say window, I mean the part of the flight that briefly precedes and follows the stall). In other words, you have to consider all 3 stages you described above (dive/flare/stall).
In the long term, steady state flight has better performance. When you are flying your canopy back to the DZ after a long spot, do you do repeated swoops to cover more distance? No, of course not (at least, I hope not). However... you can do ONE swoop and go further temporarily (in an arbitrary vertical window) than you would have without doing that swoop. But in the end it will cost you overall ground covered (something not obvious at ground level swooping because the flight always ends after that swoop).
Feb 28, 2012, 1:13 PM
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This type of flight profile would be of no use for the traditional wingsuit skydiving performance goals of max time, min speed, or max distance.
I will caveat this: for the short range "burst" competitions measured by GPS as Jarno references, the technique could indeed help. However I am not sure I trust the measurement devices enough for those types of contests (it is basically a swooping contest two miles high with no real visible way to verify what is happening).
Feb 28, 2012, 1:26 PM
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Re: [The111] World Record Paper Airplane Distance
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I stated stall but should clarify that I meant a point when performance falls below max glide ratio and prior to stall. I think I understand your posts (but need some time to think about them) ...
Feb 28, 2012, 8:34 PM
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I stated stall but should clarify that I meant a point when performance falls below max glide ratio and prior to stall. I think I understand your posts (but need some time to think about them) ...
Matt is correct - over the long term repeated swoop/stall type flying would just keep you away from the sweet spot where L/D is optimized. For short term distance over an arbitrary window diving at the entry gate would give a temporary boost, but it couldn't be sustained for long.
Mar 1, 2012, 1:09 AM
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Aside from all the aerodynamic discussions, this is F****** hilarious. The number of people who go nuts; its a paper aeroplane being thrown in a hangar, I love flight too but, its a paper aeroplane, high fives and body slams all round LOL ;)
Mar 1, 2012, 5:45 AM
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Aside from all the aerodynamic discussions, this is F****** hilarious. The number of people who go nuts; its a paper aeroplane being thrown in a hangar, I love flight too but, its a paper aeroplane, high fives and body slams all round LOL ;)
Their reactions reminded me of the paper airplane contests in elementary school.
Mar 3, 2012, 2:03 PM
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I know what you mean. There was no one to hi 5 me when I beat my personal best. I forgot my times as it was a decade ago but they werent far off the World record. Take care, space
