Daedalus project
The Daedalus Project is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) project in which MIT professors and students designed and built a muscle power airplane from 1986 to 1988 . An aircraft of this type, the Daedalus 88 , flew from Heraklion in Crete to Santorini on April 23, 1988 . A few meters from the beach in Santorini, a gust of wind broke the plane.
The project was named after the character from Greek mythology Daidalos .
Built planes
Three aircraft of the same type were built:
- Light Eagle
- Empty weight 42 kg, span 34 m, length 8.6 m; Prototype.
- Daedalus 87
- Empty weight 31 kg, span 34 m, length 8.6 m; Crash in Rogers Dry Lakebed on February 17, 1988, then rebuilt.
- Daedalus 88
- Empty weight 32 kg, span 34 m, length 8.6 m, wing: 29.98 m²; flew from Crete to Santorini (total weight including cyclist Kanellos Kanellopoulos : 104 kg)
construction
Unlike Paul MacCready's muscle-powered aircraft in the 1970s, the Gossamer Albatross and Gossamer Condor , the aircraft of the Daedalus project are designed like a traditional glider . A large, stretched wing without a sweep is complemented by a tail unit on a fuselage that extends far back. The tail unit stabilizes the aircraft around the pitch axis and the yaw axis . Stabilization around the longitudinal axis is achieved by a clearly pronounced V position of the main wing in flight . It is propelled by a large propeller mounted on the tip of the aircraft . The propeller is driven by pedals, which the pilot operates in a seat leaning against recumbent bikes .
The secret of the resilience of the aircraft, which for its size (wingspan larger than that of a Boeing 727 ) was extremely light, lay in the careful selection of materials and thorough load tests of the various components. The frame consisted mainly of rods made of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic and high-pressure-resistant polyester foam , the skin of Mylar . Gear boxes and the entire gearbox were made of aluminum . Via the pedal drive, a gear ratio of 1: 1.5 was used to drive a nearly three and a half meter large propeller , with which an average of 105 revolutions per minute was achieved. Elevator and rudder as well as the adjustable propeller could be operated via hand-operated levers.
Flights completed
The amateur triathlete Lois McCallin completed the first flight in the prototype Light Eagle: In 1986 she covered 16 kilometers in 37 minutes (26 kilometers per hour). With the Light Eagle (internally also called “Emily” ) several records were flown in January 1987 at Edwards Air Force Base by Glen Tremml and Lois McCallin.
With this aircraft and the Daedalus 87 , NASA at the Dryden Flight Research Center carried out investigations into the dynamics of aircraft with a low Reynolds number from 1987 to 1988 . The results obtained from these investigations had a direct influence on the design of many later built, high and far-flying aircraft.
The Daedalus 88 was supposed to set a long-range record for muscle-powered aircraft. According to the Greek legend of Daedalus, who is said to have escaped from King Minos on Crete with the help of wings made of wax and feathers, the record flight of the Daedalus 88 led on April 23, 1988 over a distance of 115 kilometers from Heraklion on Crete to Santorini. The pilot was the Greek cyclist Kanellos Kanellopoulos . The plane covered the distance in 3 hours and 54 minutes. It reached an average speed of about 32 kilometers per hour (with a tail wind) and flew at a height of 5 to 10 meters.
Equipped with a special glucose-mineral mixed drink, he pedaled through the air for almost four hours without major problems. About 30 meters from Perissa beach on Santorini, the flight ended because of a gust of wind in the water. First the stern and shortly afterwards a wing was torn off by the gust and the pilot had to swim ashore. The wreck of the Daedalus 88 is today with the Light Eagle at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. The Daedalus 87 is on display at the Museum of Science in Boston .
literature
- Gary Dorsey: The Fullness of Wings: The Making Of A New Daedalus . 1990, ISBN 0-670-82444-5 .
- JS Langford et al .: The Feasibility of A Human-powered Flight Between Crete and the Mainland of Greece . MIT Department of Aeronautics / National Air & Space Museum, April 1986.
- SR Bussolari, JS Langford, HH Youngren: Flight Research with the MIT Daedalus Prototype .
- T. Shalon, JS Langford, RW Parks: Design and Sizing of the MIT Daedalus Prototype . (AIAA paper 87-2907).
- SR Bussolari, JS Langford, HH Youngren: Flight research with the MIT Daedalus prototype . June 1987 (SAE Paper # 871350).
- T. Shalon, JS Langford, and RW Parks: Design and Sizing of the MIT Daedalus Prototype . August 1987 (AIAA 87-2907).
- EE Larrabee: The Daedalus Propeller: A Modern Application of Classical Propeller Theory . 1988.
- JS Langford: The Triumph of Daedalus . National Geographic, August 1988.
- Juan R. Cruz: Weight analysis of the Daedalus Human-powered Aircraft . In: Proceedings of the 21st OSTIV Conference . Wiener Neustadt 1989.
- Mark Drela: Low-Reynolds-Number Airfoil Design for the MIT Daedalus Prototype: A Case Study . In: J. Aircraft . tape 25 , no. August 8 , 1988.
- R. Bryan Sullivan, SH Zerweckh: Flight Test Results for the Daedalus and Light Eagle Human-powered Aircraft . October 1988 (NASA Grant Report).
- JS Langford: The Daedalus Project: A Summary of Lessons Learned . (Presented at AIAA Aircraft Design, Systems and Operations Conference, Seattle, August 1989 - AIAA-89-2048).
- R. Bryan Sullivan, Tom Clancy: Experimental Measurement of the Power Required to Fly the Daedalus Human Powered Aircraft . (AIAA paper 89-3385-CP).
- R. Bryan Sullivan, Tom Clancy: Power Measurements on the Daedalus Human-powered Aircraft . August 1989 (AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference Paper).
- R. Bryan Sullivan, Steven L. Findberg: The Flight Control System for the Daedalus Human-powered Aircraft . August 1989 (AIAA Guidance and Control Conference Paper).
- SH Zerweckh, Arebhf. von Flotow, JE Murray: Flight Testing a Highly Flexible Aircraft: Case Study on the MIT Light Eagle . In: J. Aircraft . tape 27 , no. April 4 , 1990.