hi phill
ah a man after me own heart.

are your regs....under 70 kg and your a hangglider too?

i read of mike sandlins bug and goat that they perform similar to a hang glider..talk to mike and the other builders...they will help you.

sounds like you are a hangglider pilot.

dont forget you can roll down a hill to launch...with any glider that has a wheel and you can also use a bunggy cord.theres a clip on utube were a full size glider is launched like this..the pilot gets his buddy to put the tail boom under his arm,then he runs.

russ.

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 7:42 AM, Philip Lardner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:



Hi Russ,

We have a number of excellent mountain areas for ridge soaring here in Ireland, which also offer some reasonable XCs in the spring. We're not talking the Rockies or the High Sierras here, but the're not bad for a small island!

I hadn't come across Mike Sandlin's gliders before, with the exception of the Sky Puppy which makes an appearance in Denis Pagen's Hang Gliding Training Manual - I remember being fascinated by this weird design, before the advent of the now popular rigid wing hang gliders. I couldn't see any performance data on Mike's website for the BUG and Goat gliders. Any idea of what L/D and min-sink rates they achieve?

I like the possibilities that the Carbon Dragon offers while still falling within the hang glider regulations here. Towing or winching up onto the Dublin mountains from the local glider airfield without the expense of an aircraft-tow really appeals!

Phil.

---

From: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.] On Behalf Of russell wilson
Sent: 28 June 2011 16:25
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Subject: Re: [Carbondragonbuildersandpilots] Re: steve's dragon




hi phil
will you be ridge soring there?have you seen mike sandlins basic ultralight glider?

russ.




On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 2:27 AM, Philip Lardner <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> wrote:



I'm following this thread with some interest as, like Kenny, I am in the early stages of planning to build a CD. While I have no need to redesign the glider to accommodate my size/weight, being of a more 'athletic' build (read: skinny/weedy 10stone - I'll probably have to ballast up a little!) I am very interested to hear anyones' thoughts on replacing *all* the wooden parts with carbon composite.

My primary reason for this is that the climate here in Ireland is, more often than not, very soggy (waaay past humid!) and I would like to eliminate the wooden parts that may, over time, distort or warp in the damp conditions here. Is this a reasonable goal to aim at?

I realise that building to the original (largely wooden) design will probably be quicker than going with all composites, but humidity really will be a problem in the long term. Would there be any saving in weight doing this and would I be correct in thinking there would be an increase in the overall strength of the airframe if wood was replaced with carbon composites?

I intend to make a number of comparison pieces (wood only / wood+carbon / carbon only) and test them to distruction to see what numbers they yield.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Phil.