Future Aviation Events

[wlsguy]

The launcher is fine; the elastic is attached to the very top. Like I wrote before, I can launch the glider pointed straight, but when I roll it to one side or the other to get it to ascend in a corkscrew so that it doesn't loop backwards, the wings hit the launch handle.

Are you rotating your launch handle (ie wrist) the same amount as the glider angle?
If not it's possible you are putting a little twist in the elastic.

I know the answer may be obvious but, are you sure the wings are hitting the handle?
When you rotate the glider and launch it at high force, the wing stresses can actually pull the wings off.
Try lauching at lower force (and resulting lower speed) and try to determine where the wing is hitting.

[retired1]

I suggest that you go to wiki at this site and go to the AMA pages. There is a tiny bit of conflict between them, but overall a great source of information.

Thanks for the response, but...go to the wiki's page and look at its editting history
Unfortunately, I cannot find very much on the AMA website about the specifics of the launch.
Anyway, since you mentionedit, what are the conflicts between the wiki andthe AMA website? I based everything I wrote off of the website, this thread, or my own (limited) experience. If there is a difference between it and the ama site, the ama site is almost certainly right, and the wiki needs to be fixed.

OK, MY bad. I have been to so many sites that I forgot that you can not get to AMA from Wiki.
There are some minor differences between authors at the AMA site. There will always be differences of opinions on flight related subjects.

For your launch problem I think you need to look at your trim rather than trying to get your glider to perform differently during the launch. Most articles that I have read will suggest launching the glider at 45 degrees of roll position and 70 to 90 vertical
One of the better trim articles that I found was hand launched glider tips from gryffinaero.com/models.It is for hand launch so it will not be exactly the same as elastic, fut there will be a lot of similarities.

I have over an half an inch of material that I have not really organized yet. It takes hours of searching to find new sites that google overlooked at the start.

[retired1]

I went back and looked at the earlier post and now have questions. Where is the rubber band hooking up to the glider?
Is your launch stick vertical or does it match the roll angle?
What glider model are you using? Where are you holding the fuselage when you stretch the band?
It has been years since I have done this, but can not see how a wing is hitting the stick.
If you sort it out, please let us know so we do not make the same error.

[twototwenty]

Retired1, thanks much; those questions actually prompted me to see what I was doing wrong.
The model I have made is the simple simon design from the AMA website. What I was doing was this: I hooked the rubber band onto the glider in a way that worked (When I shot it without any roll, it did not hit the stick). However, what I was doing to try to roll it was just twisting the glider, not the launch stick, as wlsguy suggested. My line of thinking was that this twist in the rubber band would untwist in the launch, thus providing the glider horizontal force to me it corkscrew. However, the rubberband just released the vertical force without untwisting and when the glider reached the launch handle, the wings were still at an angle such that they hit the launch handle and broke.
Now I understand that I have to rotate the launch handle as well. Thank you to all who helped me with this.

[twototwenty]

Sorry for the double post; I just wanted to bring ELG conversation bqack to this thread to have it in one place.

This is directed at retired1: what are the changes to the trial that you've heard of that you mentioned in the other thread?

[retired1]

Take it for what I said. "I wish that I had not spent so much on stuff If the rumor I heard was true".
I still stand by that, but to spread a rumor that was untrue, I would be embarrassed. If it was true, and I spread it, I would not be following the intent of the Sept 1 release date.
Read and study as if the trial rules were the correct ones, but I would recommend that you do not buy anything until you see the rules unless you have other uses for the "stuff". I was impatient. I try to build everything before I show students the options and the hows.

[fozendog]

Twototwenty, from what my coach told me from the SI was that the rules are mostly going to be the same from the draft rules except that metal might not be able to be used for the weight.

[twototwenty]

Twototwenty, from what my coach told me from the SI was that the rules are mostly going to be the same from the draft rules except that metal might not be able to be used for the weight.

The trial rules already say no metal is allowed...
Anyway, the stuff I bought was fairly cheap, and what I have built was really just to allow me to learn the basics of the event; namely, how to launcha glider without destroying it.
Although, I have to say, it would take a very major rule change to make the balsa I bought useless...

[mrsteven]

where is the conversation that was had about ELG not on this thread? As I want to know what you're talking about with "stuff" ?

[twototwenty]

This is still the ELG discussion...the stuff we are talking about are the materials we have bought to work on the event over the summer. Retired1 said that he heard of a potentential rule change from the trial event rules that would render all his "stuff" useless; that is what we are currently talking about.