Kite launch?
03-17-2005, 06:24 PM
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Kite launch?
Hi,
Ive had a funny idea, but im not sure how a plane would react to it.
Build preps:
Get a motorised whinch (Car whinch, or one of those oldfasionned army spinners with a crank and motorise it) with a footpaddle (Pressbutton, pianohinge, 2 pieces of plywood, do the math) and about 5 feet of fairly thick electrical wire. Make the motor slowly unwind its coil when you press down on the paddle. Wind about 300 yards of ordinairy kite string onto the whinch and tie a nice strong loop on the other end of it (NOT the kind that works as a noose!). Make an attachment point right on your planes CoG.
Operating it:
Find a good spot where theres a nice constant wind (beach perhaps?), and put your whinch on the ground and make sure your plane cant yank it around. Have a friend hold up the plane with about 2 yards of wire, and get it to hover like a kite (this is the part that im not sure if it will work), then carefully push the paddle and let it roll out to a nice height. Then you can think of something that releases when you dive down and go a little forward, or add a servo that pulls a releasehook. Carefull you dont get tangled by the falling string though
.
Reason for all this? Holland is a perty flat country, so I guess I will have to miss out on slopeflyers, thats why I thought of something to get it up there without a vicous catapult system or some plane towing it.
Will the plane have enough freedom of movement to keep its hover when its held in spot by a string?
Let me know what you think, pitch in a couple of your own ideas if you like.
Ive had a funny idea, but im not sure how a plane would react to it.
Build preps:
Get a motorised whinch (Car whinch, or one of those oldfasionned army spinners with a crank and motorise it) with a footpaddle (Pressbutton, pianohinge, 2 pieces of plywood, do the math) and about 5 feet of fairly thick electrical wire. Make the motor slowly unwind its coil when you press down on the paddle. Wind about 300 yards of ordinairy kite string onto the whinch and tie a nice strong loop on the other end of it (NOT the kind that works as a noose!). Make an attachment point right on your planes CoG.
Operating it:
Find a good spot where theres a nice constant wind (beach perhaps?), and put your whinch on the ground and make sure your plane cant yank it around. Have a friend hold up the plane with about 2 yards of wire, and get it to hover like a kite (this is the part that im not sure if it will work), then carefully push the paddle and let it roll out to a nice height. Then you can think of something that releases when you dive down and go a little forward, or add a servo that pulls a releasehook. Carefull you dont get tangled by the falling string though
.Reason for all this? Holland is a perty flat country, so I guess I will have to miss out on slopeflyers, thats why I thought of something to get it up there without a vicous catapult system or some plane towing it.
Will the plane have enough freedom of movement to keep its hover when its held in spot by a string?
Let me know what you think, pitch in a couple of your own ideas if you like.
03-18-2005, 08:05 AM
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RE: Kite launch?
Ah, I think I see what you're thinking. The plane is UNpowered, just a sailplane or slope glider, right? I had it in my head that "hovering" meant a 3D plane, and I was wondering what the point of towing a kite string to altitude was 
You want to use the tow line to tether the plane in the wind, then slowly let it out while gaining altitude. Interesting idea.
Here's my suggestion: Poke around for some sailplane winch designs. You should be able to make something out of commonly available materials, and it shouldn't be much of a challenge to adapt it to your purposes. Plus, you have the added benefit of being able to convert it back and use it as a regular sailplane winch if the idea doesn't pan out, or if the wind dies down and you have an irresistable urge to fly.
You want to use the tow line to tether the plane in the wind, then slowly let it out while gaining altitude. Interesting idea.
Here's my suggestion: Poke around for some sailplane winch designs. You should be able to make something out of commonly available materials, and it shouldn't be much of a challenge to adapt it to your purposes. Plus, you have the added benefit of being able to convert it back and use it as a regular sailplane winch if the idea doesn't pan out, or if the wind dies down and you have an irresistable urge to fly.
03-18-2005, 09:08 AM
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RE: Kite launch?
Yeah, I was kinda hoping to get a plane to roll out like an odd looking single line kite.
Im not sure if you can get a plane stable enough to just hang there in the wind, but if you can, you can just put down your TX and reel it out like a normal kite. Perhaps with something like this:
Made out of some scrap metal and a kiddybike rimm.
Perhaps a slowstick would be a nice choice, because its got chamfered wings, that are generally bent upward so it stabilises itself, with the bigass tail plains making it face the propper direction. It might even hang from a string without any input, if you make the CoG attachement correctly.
But what im still wondering, will it fly ok when the wind is coming straight from the front, and not up a little like they usually have on a hill. It might just fight the wind a little and come down without riding the wind?
Im not sure if you can get a plane stable enough to just hang there in the wind, but if you can, you can just put down your TX and reel it out like a normal kite. Perhaps with something like this:
Made out of some scrap metal and a kiddybike rimm.
Perhaps a slowstick would be a nice choice, because its got chamfered wings, that are generally bent upward so it stabilises itself, with the bigass tail plains making it face the propper direction. It might even hang from a string without any input, if you make the CoG attachement correctly.
But what im still wondering, will it fly ok when the wind is coming straight from the front, and not up a little like they usually have on a hill. It might just fight the wind a little and come down without riding the wind?
