Gossamer Albatross

Gossamer Albatross in flight

Gossamer Albatross on the ground

Gossamer Albatross under construction

Gossamer Albatross with crew

The Gossamer Albatross (English for cobwebs (wafer-thin) albatross ) is an aircraft powered by human muscle power that was designed and built by a team led by Paul MacCready on behalf of NASA . With this aircraft Bryan Allen crossed the English Channel between Folkestone and Cap Gris-Nez on June 12, 1979 in 2:49 hours , distance 35.8 km, and won the 2nd Kremer Prize .

description

Like its predecessor, the Gossamer Condor, the Gossamer Albatross is constructed as a duck wing . This means that it has a smaller horizontal surface in front of a large wing. It is controlled around the longitudinal axis by rotating the wings. The duck wing attached a few meters in front of the pilot stabilizes the flight around the transverse axis . The stability around the vertical axis is achieved by a V-position of the large wing in combination with a slight arrow . The V position also provides stabilization around the longitudinal axis.

The basic structure of the Gossamer Albatross is a frame made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic with ribs made of polyester. This frame is covered with a transparent film made of biaxially oriented polyester .

Technical specifications:

• Length: 10.40 m
• Span : 29.80 m
• Wing area: 45.34 m²
• Height: 4.90 m
• Weight of the aircraft: 32 kg
• Total weight with pilot: 100 kg

The aircraft is propelled by a large, two-bladed pusher propeller with pedal drive. It reached a maximum speed of 29 km / h at an average altitude of 1.5 meters. The wing has a large span in relation to the fuselage and a large wing area in relation to the weight (=> low wing loading ). Both factors favor a flight with minimal effort and a low minimum flight speed . When there was no wind, only 200 watts were required to keep the flight speed and altitude constant. This performance could be achieved by a trained cyclist. To use the ground effect , the pilot flew close to the ground.

MacCready's team has built two almost identical copies of the Gossamer Albatross at the same time. The one used to cross the English Channel is on display today in the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institute . The second specimen was tested extensively in 1980 in NASA's Langley / Dryden Flight Research Program and is now in the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington .

A successor aircraft to the Albatross was the solar-powered Gossamer Penguin in 1980 . This aircraft, which was smaller (28% less wingspan than the Gossamer Albatross, 39% less wing area) and faster with the same basic design, was originally built as a reserve in case the weather conditions on the English Channel did not allow a flight with the slower Gossamer Albatross . After the successful flight of the Albatross over the English Channel, the Penguin was converted into a solar airplane .

See also

• Daedalus project

literature

• R. Moulton, M. Coweley, P. Lloyd: The Gossamer Albertross. Aeromodeller, September 1979
• Bryan Allen: Winged Victory of 'Gossamer Albatross'. National Geographic , November 1979, vol. 156, n.5, pp. 640-651
• PBS Lissiman, HR Jex, PB MacCready: Aerodynamics of Flight at Speeds Under 5 m / s. Man-Powered Flight the Channel Crossing and the Future. The Royal Aeronautical Society, London 1979
• JD Burke: The Gossamer Condor and Albatross: A Case Study In Aircraft Design. Aerovironment Inc. Report AV-R80 / S40, June 1980. (Also AIAA Professional Study Series.)
• Morton Grosser: Gossamer Odyssey. Dover Publications, New York 1981, ISBN 0-486-26645-1
• HR Jex, DC Mitchell: Stability and Control of the Gossamer Human-powered Aircraft by Analysis and Flight Test. NASA CR-1627, November 1982

Web links

• Gossamer Albatross at NASA
• MacCready “Gossamer Albatross” inthe Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum
• MacCready Gossamer Albatross II at the Seattle Museum of Flight

Individual evidence

1. ↑ for comparison: a hang glider also weighs around 30 kilograms, has a wingspan of around 10 meters and a wing area of ​​around 17 m²
2. ↑ ^{a b} www.museumofflight.org