4 ms·

Sailplanes also do this. “Gliders” get a brief mention as an aside, but it’s somewhat glossed over, but fundamentally the sport of flying depends on the same so

Sailplanes also do this. “Gliders” get a brief mention as an aside, but it’s somewhat glossed over, but fundamentally the sport of flying depends on the same solar thermal phenomenon except instead of producing black material to absorb sunlight, sailplanes rely on existing low albedo features of the landscape to generate the solar heated air. Sailplanes air often towed to the air by powered aircraft in the US, but higher performance sailplanes usually carry their own motor for self launch (often electric) and in Europe are often winch-launched. Gravity launch (rolling down hill) and auto tow (a car pulls the sailplane into the air, usually with a pulley) are also fairly common, and the former would meet this “low tech” qualification.

m4rtink 5y ago
I really recommend anyone flying a glider as a passenger (in Europe this is often possible on regional air shows run by the local aeroclub) it's totally different experience to engine powered aircraft! It's much quieter than small general aviation aircraft so you can talk to the pilot without a headset, the only noise being the air flowing around the plane. The whole plane is also usually much lighter and has better visibility, not to mention being very graceful. At least for me the experience felt much more direct and elegant. And the experience of being powered pretty much directly by nature and the pilots skill in finding the invisible rising thermals is priceless! Its the perfect metagame, the pilot uses their extensive meteorogical experience to guess where the thermals are and flies there. If the guess was right you are rewarded by the sweet sweet positive altitude value on the variometer. If the guess was wrong the altitude budget is spent and you have to land and try again. And lastly, it all feels so safe! Like, really - the aircraft has no engine that can fail and is pretty much built to land on any reasonably flat field. And the pilot is trained to always look for a landing area in case they don't find thermals and have to land early. And what happens if a glider lands in a field ? Gliders have detachable wings so that they can be loaded on trailer dispatched from the airfield. In favorable conditions sometimes a tow aircraft can be dispatched to land near the glider on the same field and tow it aloft again. Really, gliders are so much different than "normal" aircraft yet so fascinating! :)
- vitro 5y ago
  Yep, we have an airport nearby and anytime you can pay and go for a flight. As for thermals, also search for gliding birds as they may have found them first!
  - m4rtink 5y ago
    Oh, right now I remember my friend who is a glider pilot mentioning that & that birds sometimes circle together with them in a thermal. :)
FooBarBizBazz 5y ago
Now, could you attach a retractable solar balloon to a sailplane, in order to get it off the ground on its own power? What about a lifting body shape, like a manta ray? Could you flap its wings to provide thrust? Like this, but matte black: https://youtu.be/c3-wIICjAhE https://youtu.be/c3-wIICjAhE Though, you can't have the wings collapse just because you entered shade... How do we get the best of both worlds? Maybe long rigid sailplane wings extending from a larger blimplike body? You'd need to do something to maintain an aerodynamic shape for the balloon even when it was "collapsed". It'd be nice if that could happen passively (say, just using an elastic material), but that might "fight" inflation too much; maybe active control would be needed, say of some struts or cables internal to the balloon. With some effort I feel a new recreational vehicle may be possible. Probably you'd want it to be classified as an ultralight, so anyone could fly it. Not an easy design challenge though. Maybe a solar powered sailplane with an electric prop would be simpler. I'd still love to see a more elegant, lower-tech approach though. Actually: What about pedal power? https://ecofriend.com/eco-tech-pedal-your-way-to-the-skies-with-airbike.html https://ecofriend.com/eco-tech-pedal-your-way-to-the-skies-w... Hm. Now we have three ideas to unify: Gliding, solar-thermal lighter-than-air, and human power. Hm.

m4rtink 5y ago

I really recommend anyone flying a glider as a passenger (in Europe this is often possible on regional air shows run by the local aeroclub) it's totally different experience to engine powered aircraft! It's much quieter than small general aviation aircraft so you can talk to the pilot without a headset, the only noise being the air flowing around the plane. The whole plane is also usually much lighter and has better visibility, not to mention being very graceful. At least for me the experience felt much more direct and elegant. And the experience of being powered pretty much directly by nature and the pilots skill in finding the invisible rising thermals is priceless! Its the perfect metagame, the pilot uses their extensive meteorogical experience to guess where the thermals are and flies there. If the guess was right you are rewarded by the sweet sweet positive altitude value on the variometer. If the guess was wrong the altitude budget is spent and you have to land and try again. And lastly, it all feels so safe! Like, really - the aircraft has no engine that can fail and is pretty much built to land on any reasonably flat field. And the pilot is trained to always look for a landing area in case they don't find thermals and have to land early. And what happens if a glider lands in a field ? Gliders have detachable wings so that they can be loaded on trailer dispatched from the airfield. In favorable conditions sometimes a tow aircraft can be dispatched to land near the glider on the same field and tow it aloft again. Really, gliders are so much different than "normal" aircraft yet so fascinating! :)

vitro 5y ago
Yep, we have an airport nearby and anytime you can pay and go for a flight. As for thermals, also search for gliding birds as they may have found them first!
- m4rtink 5y ago
  Oh, right now I remember my friend who is a glider pilot mentioning that & that birds sometimes circle together with them in a thermal. :)

FooBarBizBazz 5y ago

Now, could you attach a retractable solar balloon to a sailplane, in order to get it off the ground on its own power? What about a lifting body shape, like a manta ray? Could you flap its wings to provide thrust? Like this, but matte black: https://youtu.be/c3-wIICjAhE https://youtu.be/c3-wIICjAhE Though, you can't have the wings collapse just because you entered shade... How do we get the best of both worlds? Maybe long rigid sailplane wings extending from a larger blimplike body? You'd need to do something to maintain an aerodynamic shape for the balloon even when it was "collapsed". It'd be nice if that could happen passively (say, just using an elastic material), but that might "fight" inflation too much; maybe active control would be needed, say of some struts or cables internal to the balloon. With some effort I feel a new recreational vehicle may be possible. Probably you'd want it to be classified as an ultralight, so anyone could fly it. Not an easy design challenge though. Maybe a solar powered sailplane with an electric prop would be simpler. I'd still love to see a more elegant, lower-tech approach though. Actually: What about pedal power? https://ecofriend.com/eco-tech-pedal-your-way-to-the-skies-with-airbike.html https://ecofriend.com/eco-tech-pedal-your-way-to-the-skies-w... Hm. Now we have three ideas to unify: Gliding, solar-thermal lighter-than-air, and human power. Hm.