Airglow (aircraft)

Last updated

Airglow
Role Human powered aircraft
National origin United Kingdom
ManufacturerJohn and Mark McIntyre
First flight1990
StatusStill flying
Number built1

Airglow is a pedal-driven human-powered aircraft. It was designed and developed by brothers John and Mark McIntyre of Cambridgeshire, England.

Contents

Development

John McIntyre holds a marine engineering degree, and Mark McIntyre is an artist designer engineer & professional model-builder, both brothers were keen aero-modelers and had a history of building creative contraptions including a sail-propelled-bicycle and a hot-air-balloon which carried a camera. Work on Airglow began after John accompanied Daedalus on its epic flight. Airglow was built over a three-year period to exacting standards; any part not perfect was scrapped and re-built. Testament to this is the fact that Airglow is one of the lightest HPA ever built, and has had a flying life longer than any other. Airglow took longer to build than was expected, in John's words "We thought that if Dr Who could build a trans-dimensional flux damper in less than one episode that what we wanted to do would be simple" [1]

Unlike many HPA builders Airglow wasn't built to break records or win Kremer prizes. John states that it was built 'for delight' and because 'it's fun to make things'.

Airglow first flew at 6 am on 20 July 1990 at Duxford Airfield, England. The pilot was seventeen-year-old Nick Weston. Airglow's first performance was impressive, the aircraft flew on only the 2nd attempt, and by the end of the day had managed three more flights, the longest being about a quarter of a mile.

Over the next five years Airglow made between 50 and 100 flights with no accidents. Typical flights would be the length of the runway, the longest flight was about 2 miles long. In 1992 Airglow was taken to Germany and flown by Peer Frank (designer of Velair 88 and Velair 89) at the Grob airfield at Mindelheim. [2]

Pressure of work meant that after 1995 Airglow rarely flew. In 2010 it was passed on to the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Specifications

General characteristics

Performance

Design

Airglow is a conventionally configured aircraft, the main wing forward, tail and elevator at the back, with a 'pusher' prop situated about a quarter of the way down the tail boom. The pilot sits recumbent in a streamlined nacelle with an open side to provide cooling. The drive mechanism is a combination of pedals, a gearbox, drive shafts and chains, powering a 2.95 meter two-bladed propeller mounted concentrically with the boom. [3]

Airglow was designed with an all-flying rudder and elevator for yaw and pitch, plus rotating wing tips for lateral stability. The aircraft employs a simple fly-by-wire control system based on lightweight control servos more normally found on radio controlled model aircraft. The rotating wingtips had limited success, and have since been fixed in a single position. The aircraft now relies on the rudder alone for turning, lateral stability is provided for by increased wing dihedral.

Power requirements vary from about 450-500 watts on take-off to about 275-300 watts for sustained flight. Power requirements increase noticeably in anything other than nil-wind conditions. [4]

Current status

After an over a year in the custodianship of the Royal Aeronautical Society Airglow was brought out of retirement in 2011 and passed on to P&M Aviation. Despite being left for several years in a shed in the bottom of a garden the aircraft required little more than some oil on the moving parts before being flown again on 29 September at Kemble by Robin Kraike of P&M Aviation and Dr Bill Brookes from the Human Powered Flight Group of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Airglow flew at Lasham airfield on 13 November 2011 as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Derek Piggott's pioneering HPA flight in SUMPAC. [5] [6] [7]

Icarus Cup

In August 2012 Airglow competed in the Icarus Cup at Lasham airfield against 4 other HPA. Flying in a number of events including duration, slalom, speed, un-assisted take-off and precision landing Airglow won most of the individual events and the overall competition. During the competition airglow achieved flights of well over a kilometer at speeds approaching 9 m/s. [8] These flights were only brought to an end when the pilots ran out of airfield.

Ongoing development

Airglow is currently being worked on by a small team of pilots and engineers using Airglow as a flying test bed for HPA improvements. Airglow's modular design allows refinement of different sections of the aircraft (propeller, rudder, elevator, drive chain, wings etc.) without requiring major work to the rest of the aircraft. [9] [10]

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related Research Articles

MacCready <i>Gossamer Albatross</i> Human-powered aircraft developed by American aeronautics company AeroVironment

The Gossamer Albatross is a human-powered aircraft built by American aeronautical engineer Dr Paul B MacCready's company AeroVironment. On June 12, 1979, it completed a successful crossing of the English Channel to win the second Kremer prize worth £100,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ERCO Ercoupe</span> American light aircraft

The ERCO Ercoupe is an American low-wing monoplane aircraft that was first flown in 1937. It was originally manufactured by the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) shortly before World War II; several other manufacturers continued its production after the war. The final model, the Mooney M-10, first flew in 1968 and the last model year was 1970. It was designed to be the safest fixed-wing aircraft that aerospace engineering could provide at the time, and the type continues to enjoy a faithful following.

MacCready <i>Gossamer Condor</i> American human-powered aircraft

The MacCready Gossamer Condor was the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled and sustained flight; as such, it won the Kremer prize in 1977. Its design was led by Paul MacCready of AeroVironment, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MIT Daedalus</span> Experimental aircraft

The MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department's Daedalus is a class of three human-powered aircraft that included Daedalus 88 – which, on 23 April 1988, flew a distance of 115.11 kilometres (71.53 mi) in 3 hours, 54 minutes, from Heraklion on the island of Crete to the island of Santorini. The flight holds official FAI world records for total distance, straight-line distance, and duration for human-powered aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Piggott</span> English aviator

Alan Derek Piggott was one of Britain's best known glider pilots and instructors. He had over 5,000 hours on over 153 types of powered aircraft and over 5,000 hours on over 184 types of glider. He was honoured for his work on the instruction and safety of glider pilots. In 1961 he became the first person to make an officially authenticated take-off and flight in a man-powered aircraft. He also worked as a stunt pilot in several feature films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Aircraft GAL.56</span> Type of aircraft

The General Aircraft GAL.56 was a family of 1940s British experimental tailless swept wing glider designs.

Bossi-Bonomi <i>Pedaliante</i> Type of aircraft

The Pedaliante was a human-powered aircraft designed and built by Enea Bossi and Vittorio Bonomi and credited with, in 1936, making one of the first fully human-powered flights. The aircraft successfully traveled 1 km (0.62 mi) as part of an Italian competition, but was denied the monetary prize due to its catapult launch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human-powered aircraft</span>

A human-powered aircraft (HPA) is an aircraft belonging to the class of vehicles known as human-powered transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SUMPAC</span> British human-powered aircraft

The Southampton University Man Powered Aircraft on 9 November 1961 became the first human-powered aeroplane to make an officially authenticated take-off and flight. It was designed and built by Southampton university students between 1960 and 1961 for an attempt at the Kremer prize, but it was never able to complete the 'figure-of-eight' course specified to claim the prize money.

The HPA Toucan is a British two-seat human-powered aircraft built and flown by members of the Hertfordshire Pedal Aeronauts and was the first two-person human-powered aircraft to fly.

The Chrysalis was a human-powered biplane, designed and built by graduates and undergraduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with Professor Eugene Larabee acting as Project Adviser. MIT had previously built two HPAs, the BURD and BURD II, both of which were unsuccessful.

The Goodhart Newbury Manflier was a two-place human-powered aircraft designed by Nicholas Goodhart. Its most notable feature was that the two pilots were placed in separate fuselages, spaced 70 ft apart.

The Southend MPG Mayfly was a British two-seat human-powered aircraft built by members of the Southend Man-Powered Group in the 1960s. It was one of the first two-person human-powered aircraft to have been built and tested, although it never flew.

The Wright MPA Mk 1 was the first of two human-powered aircraft designed and built by Peter Wright, an engineer from Melton Mowbray, England.

The HVS was a human-powered aircraft, designed and built by three German aeronautical professionals. Its name comes from the surnames of those involved; Wolfang Hütter, Franz Villinger, and Wilhelm Schüle. Villinger co-designed the 1930s HV-1 Mufli human-powered aircraft.

The Olympian ZB-1 was the first human-powered aircraft to have flown in the United States. It was designed, built, and flown by Joseph A. Zinno, of North Providence, Rhode Island. Zinno had previously been a USAF Lieutenant Colonel, and undertook the challenge of making a human-powered aircraft as a post-retirement project.

The Monarch A was a human-powered aircraft, designed and built by graduates and undergraduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with Professors Walter Hollister and Ed Crawley acting as Project Advisers. Professor Eugene Larrabee, who had been the adviser for the 1979 MIT Chrysalis HPA, also provided support.

The LP Dedal-2 human-powered aircraft was the project of Leon Polniak, a Franco-Polish engineer based in Kraków, Poland, and was a development of his earlier, unfinished, Dedal design. Dedal is Polish for Daedalus.

The Dragonfly was a human-powered aircraft, designed and built by the Prestwick Man Powered Aircraft Group, based at the Prestwick International Airport in South Ayrshire, Scotland.

The Smolkowski-Laviolette biplane was a Canadian human-powered biplane designed and built by two Calgary aeronautical engineers, Alvin Smolkowski and Maurice Laviolette, in the 1960s.

References

  1. ↑ "Propdesigner". Archived from the original on 24 June 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Peer Frank - Skytech]
  3. ↑ "IHPVA technical journal" (PDF). Spring 1991. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Human Powered Flying by Chris Roper - Accessed 2008-08-14". Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Sale, Jonathan (9 November 2011). "The Guardian Celebrating 50 years of human-powered flight". London. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  6. ↑ "BBC News Flight marks 50th anniversary of pedal plane's flight". 12 November 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "BBC News Human-powered flight recreated for 50th anniversary". 12 November 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Royal Aeronautical Society – Icarus Cup". Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Airglow HPA". Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  10. ↑ "Chris Roper B. Muscle Assisted Flights Before 1939. Human Powered Flying. Accessed 2008-08-14". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2012.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.