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St Croix Excelsior
The St Croix Excelsior ( en, ever higher) is an American ultralight aircraft that was designed by Chad Wille and Charles Wille, produced by St Croix Aircraft of Corning, Iowa and first flown in 1980. The aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction with some hard-to-make parts available as well as partial kits.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 247. BAI Communications. Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page E-15. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Downey, Julia: ''1999 Plans Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 16, Number 1, January 1999, page 67. Primedia Publications. ISSN 0891-1851 Design and development The Excelsior was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of . The aircraft has a standard empty weight of . It features a strut-braced high-wing, a single-seat, open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WikiProject Aircraft
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aircraft Dope
Aircraft dope is a plasticised lacquer that is applied to fabric-covered aircraft. It tightens and stiffens fabric stretched over airframes, which renders them airtight and weatherproof, increasing their durability and lifespan.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 170. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. The technique has been commonly applied to both full-size and flying models of aircraft. Attributes Doping techniques have been employed in aircraft construction since the dawn of heavier-than-air flight; the fabric of the ground-breaking Wright Flyer had benefitted from doping, as did many of the aircraft that soon followed. Without the application of dope, fabric coverings lacked durability while being highly flammable, both factors rendering them far less viable. By the 1910s, a wide variety of doping agents had entered widespread use while entirely original formulas were being regularly introduced in the industry. Typical doping agents in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Croix Aircraft
St Croix Aircraft, was an American manufacturer of wooden propellers for homebuilt and ultralight aircraft and a supplier of aircraft plans and kits. The company headquarters was located in Corning, Iowa.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', pages 85 and 247. BAI Communications. Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page E-15. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Downey, Julia: ''1999 Plans Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 16, Number 1, January 1999, page 67. Primedia Publications. ISSN 0891-1851 The company's propellers were constructed from birch, maple and walnut and available in with two to five blades, in diameters up to for engines up to St Croix is probably best known for its Excelsior ultralight aircraft design. Aircraft * Aerial * AirCamper *Excelsior *Sopwith Triplane The Sopwith Triplane was a British single seat fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lift (soaring)
Lift is a meteorological phenomenon used as an energy source by soaring aircraft and soaring birds. The most common human application of lift is in sport and recreation. The three air sports that use soaring flight are: gliding, hang gliding and paragliding. Energy can be gained by using rising air from four sources: * Thermals (where air rises due to heat), * Ridge lift, where air is forced upwards by a slope, * Wave lift, where a mountain produces a standing wave, * Convergence, where two air masses meet In dynamic soaring it is also possible to gain energy, though this uses differences in wind speeds rather than rising air. Thermals Thermals are columns of rising air that are formed on the ground through the warming of the surface by sunlight. If the air contains enough moisture, the water will condense from the rising air and form cumulus clouds. Thermal lift is often used by birds, such as raptors, vultures and storks. Although thermal lift was known to the Wright Brot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is also used for the sport. Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s. Initially the objective was to increase the duration of flights but soon pilots attempted cross-country flights away from the place of launch. Improvements in aerodynamics and in the understanding of weather phenomena have allowed greater distances at higher average speeds. Long distances are now flown using any of the main sources of rising air: ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than are achieved. Some competitive pilots fly in races around pre-defined courses. These gliding competitions test pilots' abilities to mak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landing Gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin Company. For aircraft, Stinton makes the terminology distinction ''undercarriage (British) = landing gear (US)''. For aircraft, the landing gear supports the craft when it is not flying, allowing it to take off, land, and taxi without damage. Wheeled landing gear is the most common, with skis or floats needed to operate from snow/ice/water and skids for vertical operation on land. Faster aircraft have retractable undercarriages, which fold away during flight to reduce drag. Some unusual landing gear have been evaluated experimentally. These include: no landing gear (to save weight), made possible by operating from a catapult cradle and flexible landing deck: air cushion (to enable operation over a wide range of ground obstacles and wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around the aircraft's longitudinal axis), which normally results in a change in flight path due to the tilting of the lift vector. Movement around this axis is called 'rolling' or 'banking'. Considerable controversy exists over credit for the invention of the aileron. The Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss fought a years-long legal battle over the Wright patent of 1906, which described a method of wing-warping to achieve lateral control. The brothers prevailed in several court decisions which found that Curtiss's use of ailerons violated the Wright patent. Ultimately, the First World War compelled the U.S. Government to legislate a legal resolution. A much earlier aileron concept was patented in 1868 by British scientist Matthew Piers Watt Bou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoiler (aeronautics)
In aeronautics, a spoiler (sometimes called a lift spoiler or lift dumper) is a device which intentionally reduces the lift (force), lift component of an airfoil in a controlled way. Most often, spoilers are plates on the top surface of a wing that can be extended upward into the airflow to ''spoil'' the streamline flow. By so doing, the spoiler creates a controlled Stall (flight), stall over the portion of the wing behind it, greatly reducing the lift of that wing section. Spoilers differ from air brake (aeronautics), airbrakes in that airbrakes are designed to increase drag without disrupting the lift distribution across the wing span, while spoilers disrupt the lift distribution as well as increasing drag. Spoilers fall into two categories: those that are deployed at controlled angles during flight to increase descent rate or control roll, and those that are fully deployed immediately on landing to greatly reduce lift ("lift dumpers") and increase drag. In modern fly-by- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elevator (aircraft)
Elevators are flight control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's pitch, and therefore the angle of attack and the lift of the wing. The elevators are usually hinged to the tailplane or horizontal stabilizer. They may be the only pitch control surface present, and are sometimes located at the front of the aircraft (early airplanes) or integrated into a rear "all-moving tailplane", also called a slab elevator or stabilator. Elevator control effectiveness The elevator is a usable up and down system that controls the plane, horizontal stabilizer usually creates a ''downward'' force which balances the nose down moment created by the wing lift force, which typically applies at a point (the wing center of lift) situated aft of the airplane's center of gravity. The effects of drag and changing the engine thrust may also result in pitch moments that need to be compensated with the horizontal stabilizer. Both the horizontal stabilizer and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tailplane
A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplanes. Not all fixed-wing aircraft have tailplanes. Canards, tailless and flying wing aircraft have no separate tailplane, while in V-tail aircraft the vertical stabiliser, rudder, and the tail-plane and elevator are combined to form two diagonal surfaces in a V layout. The function of the tailplane is to provide stability and control. In particular, the tailplane helps adjust for changes in position of the centre of pressure or centre of gravity caused by changes in speed and attitude, fuel consumption, or dropping cargo or payload. Tailplane types The tailplane comprises the tail-mounted fixed horizontal stabiliser and movable elevator. Besides its planform, it is characterised by: *Number of tailplanes - from 0 ( tailless or canard) t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zenoah G25
The Zenoah G-25 is a single cylinder, two stroke, carburetted aircraft engine, with optional fuel injection, designed for use on ultralight aircraftCliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page G-8 Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Development The Zenoah G-25 is equipped with single capacitor discharge ignition and a single Mikuni slide-type carburetor. It is equipped with a recoil starter system or optionally electric start and a 2.5 or 2.8:1 belt reduction drive. The engine runs on a mixture of unleaded auto fuel and oil. Producing at 6600 rpm, the G-25 competed in the early 1980s ultralight powerplant market against the similar Rotax 277 The Rotax 277 is a , single-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, that was built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. Development The .... Production of the engine was completed in the late 1980s a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lift Strut
In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in compression or tension as the need arises, and/or wires, which act only in tension. In general, bracing allows a stronger, lighter structure than one which is unbraced, but external bracing in particular adds drag which slows down the aircraft and raises considerably more design issues than internal bracing. Another disadvantage of bracing wires is that they require routine checking and adjustment, or rigging, even when located internally. During the early years of aviation, bracing was a universal feature of all forms of aeroplane, including the monoplanes and biplanes which were then equally common. Today, bracing in the form of lift struts is still used for some light commercial designs where a high wing and light weight are more imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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