On: Feathers are one of evolution's cleverest inventio...

[elliottkember]

I met that guy at a glider meetup a few months after that record. That Transonic plane is huge. He managed to fit the 3m wingspan into a regular car, lengthwise.

I never got out to Parker Mountain but those guys had great stories. 100G will find the weak point on your model, often explosively.

Also fun is pelicans surfing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEFrSycTvRk

[willturman → elliottkember]

That pelicans surfing video is perfect - there's certainly not a whole lot of flapping going on.

100G will find the weak point on your model

You know, just a casual glider built to withstand 10 times more gravitational force than an F-15 and 15 times more than a Formula 1 car. Wild.

[elliottkember → willturman]

It is wild. It’s frightening when you see it.

But they’re also a masterpiece of weight reduction - the less mass, the less of a problem the Gs are. No big IC engine to deal with. The electronics are tiny and the fuselage walls are also super thin. It’s a stressed surface carbon fibre/kevlar frame to spread the force.

What I like is the common idea that only powered flight is fast. A propeller would only slow this model down. They’re so sleek.

My gliders are very casual — this one is a serious machine!