Birds and their propulsion system

Today, I took out my new hand-launch to get a ‘feel’ for my new ship. I tried a Javelin style and a peg launch. The results were solidly unimpressive. Its a completely different world. I will wait for advice from the experts, otherwise I am taking risk with my new plane.

I quickly thought about how spoiled I am with a motor. The front mounted propeller generates enough lift under the main wing such that its already flying before you release the ship. Take away the motor, the pilot needs to propel the ship to altitude. The fact that anyone can do this with only a single ‘human’ propulsion event is noteworthy. Even the birds cannot do this, they flap themselves to altitude, and resume flapping their wings when the lift is gone. I suppose this is akin to having a motor on an electric glider.

In some sense, the DLG folks are exceeding the natural abilities of a bird. This is why I find the DLG world so intriguing. One launch, work the field, then spec out. This never fails to impress.