3 ms·

There exists a feasible way to fly aircraft with passengers purely on the forces of the sun and atmosphere. This is heavily influenced by me being a glider pil

• _nalply 5y ago
  How fast does your glider travel? And can this speed increased and by how much?
  • roeles 5y ago
    Top speed of the average glider, the speed which is never to be exceeded is usually 270-300 kph. This can be improved by making the glider more stiff, as the top speed is often limited by a phenomenon called flutter[1]. Average cross-country flying speeds are currently about 100kph, or higher depending on weather conditions[2]. This can be sustained for 8-10 hours. Currently this is all based on: - Looking carefully at detailed weather forecasts - The pilot observing the weather during the flight - Calculations for optimizing the average speed[3]. This is without using solar energy and any form of propulsion. Nowadays some gliders have a Front-Electric Sustainer[4]. Aircraft with solar panels on the wings have been demonstrated at small scale[5]. I have used a widely available network of receivers[6] and some algorithms to make predictions on the optimal route to take to your destination, based on the current weather conditions. I have not performed any calculations on the maximum speed that the glider can travel at, should it use solar and thermals. So I can't tell you how much the speed can be improved. That would be an interesting question to answer. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpJBvQXQC2M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpJBvQXQC2M [2] https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=8546216 https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/flightinfo.htm... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_to_fly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_to_fly [4] https://front-electric-sustainer.com/ https://front-electric-sustainer.com/ [5] https://www.solar-flight.com/ https://www.solar-flight.com/ [6] http://wiki.glidernet.org/ http://wiki.glidernet.org/