Jet 48 first flight (6 min 2 sec)

BOT fly bys (1 min 8 sec)

BOT tail slide (2 min 40 sec)

...Continue Reading

new camera mount

Bird of Time at beach - cloudy - 120 degree lens (7 min 6 sec)

During the dives, there is what sounds like a stall indicator buzzer going off. Not sure what it is really. Maybe the covering on the temporary hatch.

Bird of Time 40 minute thermal (12 min 35 sec)

slope soaring in Virginia Beach?

Bird of Time pulls high start stake out of sand and almost hits wing.

Bird of Time - high start stake puller (0 min 32 sec)

with a little help of the avian community

Bird of Time - with birds (3 min 13 sec)

I've almost forgotten how easy and slow flying can be.

Bird of Time T-tail Slope Soaring (3 min 54 sec)

Here is the current 48" wingspan x 60" long version.
Single fin
Higher aspect ratio wing with a wing strake

a more floaty version

At 20 oz. AUW this little plane will have a 13oz./s.f. wing loading. With a 16" chord, this should be flyable most days of the year. my guess is that it will fly in a 12mph wind at the beach.

jet - core cut (1 min 28 sec)

This is an evolution of the SW-2. Same airfoils but with a different plan form and flap layout. This layout should be more versatile with flaps that are only slightly pitch positive.

Spent a few hours trying to be a hero and fly with a high performance aft CG, then moved the CG forward to find a better handling plane. Elevator throws reduced to minimum. Nice little hyper stall with flaps and full nose up.

SW 7 ... Forward CG (1 min 25 sec)

Pulling back with full flaps is not such a smooth ride.

SW 7 tapered flaps testing (0 min 45 sec)

After literally minutes upon minutes of research, 2 top contenders have bubbled up to the top.

With the potential of lots of highly cambered wing, this one could be a floater, even at 10oz. /s.f.

Flaps are working great now.
So rekit #7 has stretched out the flaps to be full length which requires a bit of nose down mixing with the elevons. There was just a little too much nose down for these flights, which is the safe way to go. This configuration works great. It can fly slow now with flaps and can pull a high angle of attack for final landing flare. As originally hoped for, the flaps provide higher lift at a slower speed.....

SW-7.......... full length flaps (1 min 18 sec)

I'm finding some advantages to full length flaps which are pitch positive.

Final round of flap testing after they were lengthen towards the root by over and inch. Pitch response is a problem with flaps. Even modest nose up input causes a stall. If flies OK without flaps.

Razor's Edge - Flap test after body work (3 min 57 sec)

3rd sighting in 6 weeks of a pack of 3 California Condors. Most video lost to auto focus. One of them dropped out and landed while the other 2 disappeared into the distance for 20 minutes, then they returned and soared around the perched one. I left after 1/2 hour and the perched one was hanging tough.

California Condors at Garrapata State Park (2 min 30 sec)