A natural bush aviator

Rusty
We Band of Brothers!
DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member
"I am rejoiced at my fate. Do not be uneasy about me, for I am with my friends."
----- David Crockett in his last letter (to his children), January 9th, 1836
"I will never forsake Texas and her cause. I am her son." ----- Jose Antonio Navarro, from Mexican Prison in 1841
"for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Arbroath April 6, 1320-“. . .It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”

23 October 2011, 18:40

Brice

Appears to have spoilers under the wings that deploy, sort of pockets. And what's with the leading edge feathers? Designed to disrupt air flow over the wings? Non-aviator here. Explanations welcome.

24 October 2011, 05:07

ztreh

All of that and ONE more thing---perfect coordination and NO mistakes--perfect. Then again nature always is.

25 October 2011, 21:40

Mark

quote:
Originally posted by ztreh:
All of that and ONE more thing---perfect coordination and NO mistakes--perfect. Then again nature always is.

Well, almost always!

An interesting aside is the first airfoils were based on bird wings, but also had the erroneous assumption that they were a static shape and never changed so of course they were based on "dead bird wings", and there were a few aerodynamic issues with that, not realizing that on a live bird the airfoil changed constantly, as this video shows.

26 October 2011, 05:40

Vemo

quote:
Originally posted by Brice:
Appears to have spoilers under the wings that deploy, sort of pockets. And what's with the leading edge feathers? Designed to disrupt air flow over the wings? Non-aviator here. Explanations welcome.

The portion of the wing where the feathers are disrupted is stalled, the airflow has separated from the upper portion of the wing and is causing the feathers to furl. the wing tips are still flying and the air flow over that portion of the wing is still flowing smoothly.
Modern airfoils are designed to stall at the root first, we want the wing tips providing the majority of the lift during high angles of attack. That's is why your ailerons are placed near the wing tips, and that is also why lift spoilers on high performance jets are placed near the wing root.
Try this- hold a piece of 8x11 paper along the edge of the long way with both hands, let the paper naturally bend. Now you have a profile view of a wing. Gently blow along the leading edge. The trailing edge of your paper wing will raise, your paper wing is now making lift.
By changing the force of the air and twisting the leading edge of your paper airfoil you can modify the wings shape just like the owl in the video.
It's a lot easier to demonstrate, my apologies if I caused some confusion. Maybe another member can clarify my explanation.