3 ms·
Steering while at slower speeds might be tricky, right? Hope they lined up with the runway from far enough away!
by akdor1154 3y ago
Steering while at slower speeds might be tricky, right? Hope they lined up with the runway from far enough away!
- mannykannot 3y agoConventional moving control surfaces also have reduced effectiveness at slow speed. The thing is, though, that an airplane will not be flying unless it is traveling at a speed sufficient for it to create lift at least equal to its weight, and the forces needed to control the aircraft are a fraction of that (you can get an impression of the size of that fraction by comparing the area of the control surfaces to the area of the wing.) I doubt DARPA would commission this aircraft without having already established that it is likely to work, and it will have conventional control surfaces as a backup. I am curious as to whether they intend to keep conventional moving surfaces for trimming in pitch, especially if they are going to give it flaps.
- HPsquared 3y agoIt could be better than conventional controls at low speed, dependign on how strong the pressurized air jets are. A bit like reaction control thrusters on a spacecraft? I wouldn't be surprised if there are even control forces at zero airspeed, with just the air jets acting like reaction control thrusters. Or it might be more like active boundary layer control, just nudging the passing air stream one way or the other with the air jets.