Zach Hazen

Bob Parks
zee.aero

May 21, 2014

Stanford AA294

Delaying the Inevitable by 10

Seconds
(How to set a Flugtag world record)
 What is Inevitable?
Its going to get wet
Its going to go in the
trash
The only way to delay
it is to fly farther
Might as well set the
record while you are at
it
 What is Red Bull FlugTag?
Best of Flugtag
Showmanship, Creativity, Distance

Other countries have them

too
 What is Red Bull FlugTag to Engineers?
An glider contest with extreme span and launch
methodology limits with an unfortunate
emphasis on art, fun, extroversion, dancing, soft
drinks, and general tomfoolery nonsense!
28 ft span (used to be 30)
400 lbs including pilot
No head first (used to be ok)
No harnesses, youll drown kids! (used to be ok)
No stored energy, fancy pulleys, ropes, etc(used to
be ok)
How I got Involved
How I got Involved
How Flugtag airplanes fail, what NOT to do!

Structural collapse
Falls apart before it hits the water
Too Flexible
Cannot hold shape
Unstable in pitch
CG way too far back!
Out of trim/uncontrollable
No lateral stability
Not launched fast enough
Stalled all the way into the water
Not releasing launch cart
 The first step: Flight simulations

Cannot push plane fast enough

Tests showed 15 mph ground speed
28 ft span limit is HUGE induced drag at that
speed!
And HUGE wing area and chord
So, trade height for speed, then glide
What is the best trade here?
Look at pullout and then aero of glide
How to go the farthest?
 Past History- dive and pull out
The best dive and pull out
flight was the 2010 record
flight of Miss Mitchell
TALL platform and cart (about
45 ft high launch)
Big dive
BARELY missed the water on
pullout
BIG pitch oscillation
Went 207 ft
We KNEW we could do miss mitchell 2010.mp4
better!
 First step, just energy

Trade potential energy loss of different

amount of drop vs kinetic energy in glide
speed
Then simple aero calc to get L/D and resulting
range
Looked pretty good!
Yeah, we can do WAY better than Miss
Mitchell!
 Second Step.. 2 DOF sim
Basic Idea:
Take a glide polar
Wrap a sloppy airspeed controller around it to try to fly a
certain CL
Find the target CL that goes the farthest for a given height,
wind, launch speed, etc
First look at trajectory
Vertical speed vs horizontal speed
Point mass model
But had lift and curved flight paths
MUCH less optimistic than energy only model!
Well, maybe we can do a BIT better than Miss Mitchell!
2 DOF Trajectory
Some 2 DOF Results
 Final step, 3DOF sim

Include pitch rotation dynamics

NOT encouraging
VERY large pitch rotation rates
Needs lots of elevator deflection
Not even sure linear dynamics are accurate
enough!
Initial body angle at launch was critical
And not easy to get within height limit
But, it COULD work
Design at Time of 3DOF Sim
Some 3DOF Results
Some 3DOF Results
 Ground Effect in the Sim?
Requires pretty good
piloting to skim the
water
Might require pretty
smooth seas
Didnt work for
Daedalus
So leave it out to be
conservative
 Simulation Analysis Conclusions

A LOT more respect for Miss Mitchell!

Complicated maneuvers
Lots of elevator authority needed
No way for pilot to really practice!
Really excites phugoid mode!
Hard to get a clean glide afterwards
At least 20 ft of initial dive needed
Maybe this is not a good idea!
 And the Reality

The Long Beach Flugtag platform was only 20

ft above the water!
Not the 30 ft that was expected!
A dive and pullout maneuver probably would
have hit the water before getting level
And if not, only a little bit of altitude would be
available for the glide
 The other approach

two stage launch

Crew pushes runway type cart
About 15 mph
Pilot runs down cart
Another 5 to 8 mph, maybe more
Design the plane to fly at the resulting 20 mph
Just cruise off the platform in level flight
Simple, easy to pilot
Can even practice most of a real flight
 Past History
Germany, 2012
World Record 229 ft
video
 Aero Design

After simulations, we now had an AR of 4 and

a strategy of flying off the platform, so it was
time to go come up with something that was
Controllable
Testable
durable
Buildable
Maximize low speed glide
Final Configuration

S = 200 ft^2
AR = 4
e = 1.3
Lift Distribution Induced Drag is the Enemy!
 Speed to fly
With fixed span, varying 14

AR is varying area.
AR=6 -> 131 ft^2 13

AR=5 -> 157 ft^2

AR=4 -> 196 ft^2 12

3 ft^2 of Drag Area AR5

L/D
190 lb AUW 11
AR6

Tailless polar has a 10 lb AR4

10 Tailless AR =4
weight savings
9

8
15 20 25 30 35 40
Mph
 Winglets!
Reduce induced drag
Carry load at y = 14 ft
With swept flying wing, doubles as vertical tails
and a place for rudders for lateral control
Downward winglets left room for pilot to stand
up w/o violating 10 ft height rule
Downward avoided superimposing high suction
upper surface (less interference drag)
Easier to get acceptable lateral dynamics
 No Tail
Dont have to build an H-stab
Dont have to use an elevator (weight shift
pitch)
Dont have to build a tail boom
We know it has a good chance of working
because of Icarus V, etc
Foot launchable
It has less pitch damping in the case we dive-
>pullout (tailwind)
 Sweep & Twist & Low CG Oh My!
Sweep and twist (or reflex) are usually
the ingredients for pitch stability and
trim for flying wings

Low CG is a 3rd ingredient and its a

weird one (to me)!
And its not there unless you are hanging!
Low CG Effects
Low CG Effects V2
And Sweep is a Pain in the Butt!
 Structural Loads & Analysis

Basic loads from AVL aero model

Heavy pilot
Large Safety Factor
Then do quick manual calculations on all critical parts
Trade a bit of weight for a lot less analysis and faster
build time
Extra safety factor on all fittings
Just to be sure.
The lighter the part, the larger the margin!
 Structural Design
Flugtag rules assume the craft* will crash
into the water
Emphasize pilot safety and ease of escape
No wire bracing near pilot
No structure in front of pilot
Pilot should have direct way out
Possibly exiting at high speed!
Height limit means no kingpost
Downloads are bending moment or compression loads
* craft as in arts and crafts, no relation to air-craft
 Prior Art- 1970s Hang Gliders

All had bracing wires

All had structure in front of pilot
Pilot was in a cage
Cages mean entrapment
NOT what Red Bull wanted to see!
Prior Art
 Structural Concept
Off the shelf Aluminum
tubing
Go to the store, see what
they have, do analysis on the
spot to figure out the best
combination of diameter and
wall thickness to meet the
loads!
Simple, FAST!
Cut to length and its done!
Moderately cheap
 Structural Concept (2)
Use as much from prior HPA experience* as possible
Hot wire cut foam ribs with wood caps
Bent foam leading edge sheeting
Heat formed Depron
Mylar film covering
Heat shrunk
Aluminized mylar is hard to shrink! (oops!)

*MIT Chrysalis, 1979. 72 span, 730 sq ft area, 93 lbs without pilot, ~4Gs ultimate.
 Structural Concept (3)

Lack of structure in front of pilot really

complicated things!
Very fancy laminated wood bent beam with
glued and bolted tube support rails
500 ft lbs bending moment at design load
It WAS worth the effort!
Pilot REALLY appreciated ease of getting out when
underwater!
Structural Overview
Structural Overview
 Subscale Model Testing

One RC test flight

Weight shift pitch by swinging Rx battery
Asymmetric rudder deflection
 Build Timelapse

Watch the build

 Testing
Our CG estimates were close-ish
Balance with lighter pilots
meant adjusting twist grips,
back padding
Ground handling this thing is
terrible especially in wind!
No need for armpit straps
We probably have a turn built
into the glider
The rudder cable assembly
needs work (broke it before we Flight test of a 235 lb pilot!
broke the whole plane)
Transporting it is stressful and
dangerous to the plane
Wheels were a nice thought but
never used
oh and by the way IT FLIES!!!
 The Event

Video (Just Chickens)

Red bull wrap up 2013 video

 Record Flight Specs

Dist (ft) L/D Eff *

300 14

250 12

10
200
8
150
6
100
4
50 2

0 0
Chicken Whisperers 2012 German Team St Paul Team Chicken Whisperers 2012 German Team St Paul Team

*Assume the other guys got 30 foot flight decks (we had 20 ft)
*Assume the other guys carts were about 15 ft tall (we had 2 ft)
*Assume anything else that makes us look good (we need all the help we can get!)
 Lessons

Practicality wins
Dont forget your customer may have a
different perspective than you
Empower people who dont empower
themselves
Stupid airplanes can be as rewarding as
commercial ones
No news yet on how to avoid all nighters.
 If You Want To Win

Test, Test, TEST!!!

Get it done AHEAD of time
Better is the enemy of DONE
Flugtag good enough
And if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want to
win.
 Get a Great Choreographer!

And some yellow chicken suits!

 Past History
St Paul, MN, 2010
World Record 207 ft
Downward Winglets Near the Ground
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c With WInglets
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d No Winglets
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Altitue to aircraft reference