3 ms·

Did he find that out before or after the fast iteration conclusion?

• mannykannot 7y ago
  I am not privy to Dr. MacCready's thoughts, but I think it is worth considering how the two inspirations differ. Anyone who has worked on developing something novel has probably realized that there are benefits in fast iteration, and I would guess that the other plane-builders realized how time-consuming their approach was, but could not see a way to achieve fast iteration, because they were locked into a particular notion of what the solution would require. MacCready's engineering insight, on the other hand, arose from an understanding of the practical implications of aerodynamics so thorough that it was almost instinctive (the same could be said for his invention of the glider speed ring; it is not that he knew something others did not, but he saw how that knowledge could be put to use. Also, in both cases, there's some significant engineering to be done between the idea and the implementation.) This aerodynamic insight happened to open the door to fast iteration, but, perhaps more importantly, it showed what sort of airplane to build (in fact, the latter was the key to the former, as well as the key to actually achieving the goal.) It is all very well to say that we're going to solve a problem through fast iteration, but that does not tell you what to do next. On the other hand, I imagine that as soon as Dr. MacCready had his aerodynamic insight, his mind was filled with ideas about how to go about it.