Unpowered Glider GD-09A | Infinite Flight!

[Amamateur]

Hello, this is my first post here.

I set out to make an efficient glider, with a simple launch mechanism. After a lot of trial & error and refinement I found a design which seems to allow infinite unpowered flight!

Key Features:

All vanilla parts

Able to climb unaided (tested to over 10,000m from a starting point of 600m)

Able to take-off from a taxi-speed of just 20m/s

Stable flight (Some front/back pivoting might be improvable)

Loop-the-loop / Corkscrew / etc easily achievable

Able to maintain flight with less than 100m altitude

Comes with a push-launcher which takes off automatically!

Tips for flight:

Using the launcher (affectionately called 'The Skate')

On the runway, set thrust to max, and start the engine. No need to lift off! Trust in The Skate. When it reaches the end of the runway it will take off on it\'s own and start to climb. By about 500m altitude it will be pointing straight upwards. At this point cut the engine power (X) and release the engine coupler (spacebar). Assuming the engine didn\'t just plough into your face, you now have control of the glider! Gear-up, roll it right-side-up and off you go.

Gliding / Gaining Altitude

There\'s a couple of techniques for climbing but the best seems to be maintaining a tight turn. Wait til you have over 60m/s ground speed, roll the plane so that it\'s wing-plane is almost vertical (ie you\'re rolled over about 80 degrees) and pull up. With a little practice you\'ll find a sweet spot where the planes nose is angled up and the plane climbs fast. You may find alternating between levelling-off to gain speed and tipping up into a turn works best if you can\'t find the sweet spot or don\'t have the starting speed.

For the most part you will find you gain altitude just by flying around and you won\'t have to work that hard.

The hardest part is landing! It has so much lift that it\'s near impossible not to overshoot the runway, so best to just use flat grass.

GD-09A

GD-09A-S (with 'The Skate' Launcher)

I\'ve attached the craft files both with and without the launcher. I\'m hoping people might try other launch methods, as The Skate is far from perfect. Dropped from a rocket might be cool. Also if anyone wants they can try and stabilize the front/back wobble (I call this 'The Washing Line'). It doesn\'t affect flight much but looks ridiculous.

-- UPDATE --

Worked a bit more on an updated version of the plane and a more practical launcher:

GD-10A

GD-10A-S (mounted on heavy launcher)

The plane handles much the same but a bit less bouncy, and landing is a little easier.

The launcher is more bulky but more usable/controllable. Again, throttle up high, and when airborne and up to speed, cut the engine and detach the plane (pull up to depart quicker).

[swiftgates24]

Put it this way: WAY better than I can do

Yay! 50 posts! 8)

[Clouds]

Heh, nice. This is one of the most practical implementations of the control surface glitch/imbalance I\'ve seen. I\'ve made perpetual-motion gliders before (first time, by accident : ) but nothing this fast or maneuverable. This is really well-balanced for a lightweight plane, too.

[Amamateur]

Heh, nice. This is one of the most practical implementations of the control surface glitch/imbalance I\'ve seen. I\'ve made perpetual-motion gliders before (first time, by accident : ) but nothing this fast or maneuverable. This is really well-balanced for a lightweight plane, too.

Thanks guys - yeah I hit on the perpetual part by accident as well.

Worked a bit more on an updated version of the plane and a more practical launcher (Edit: GD-10A now in first post).

[Selrahc4040]

Sir (Or ma\'am), you are a genius among engineers. I have spent the better part of a month trying to build a user-friendly glider, then I come on here and BOOM! I see this. I applaud you.

[Amamateur]

Ha, thanks! Well feel free to pull it apart and use bits for your own projects. Not that there\'s much to it, the two fundamentals I think really are keeping the weight at the front and adding some default lift - the front canards and rear fins are all angled downward one notch.

[Amamateur]

I just uploaded a flight video.

It\'s not great quality but shows this plane being thrown around and demonstrates the infinite flight power, which I\'m sure will be useful for some.