Pegasus (oz6355)

About this Plan

Pegasus. Control line stunt model.

Quote: "Second in Senior Stunt 1969 Nationals. A McCoy .40 in a 57 in high-aspect ration stunt machine, accent on proportion, trim and airwork. The Pegasus, by Robert Howard.

Perhaps you are asking yourself if you will get any practical knowledge about stunt flying from this article. Aside from a discussion of the "Pega-sus," I will try to develop a few points which will be beneficial to many begin-ning stunt fliers as well as some food for thought for fully developed fliers.

Basically, consistent success for me has resulted from, 1) the development of a practical and efficient design, and 2) a few guidelines of common sense which saved me from countless wasted hours and plenty of heartache. Before the completion of the 'Pegasus,' I built several aircraft trying different aerodynamic theories. I have encountered nearly every problem, gimmick and pitfall known to stunt fliers. Some of these will be discussed as we progress.

The Pegasus was built around a set of moments and thrust lines which are widely used. The airplane has a higher ratio wing than most stunters for the following reasons:

1) I wanted more area in order to carry more weight;
2) I wanted a tighter corner;
3) I wanted to rid myself of what you might call residual lift, in the round eights.

The last point was more of a problem concerned with the flap area. I had been getting too much lift in the transition between inside and outside rounds which caused a hump right after the transition occurred. Therefore I changed to a 57 inch wing of 630 sq in with 2-5/8 in flaps which tapered to 5/8 at the tip. With the narrower flaps and higher aspect ratio wing I gained the area I wanted, got a tighter corner, and rid myself of the residual lift that resulted from wider flaps.

It is true that a high aspect ratio wing will have more tendency to yaw. This is partially because this type wing is harder to align and more difficult to keep straight, Yaw can also be caused by very heavy wingtips, but this is avoided by careful attention to light wing structure, A high aspect ratio wing which is perfectly aligned will have no tendency to yaw and will turn a much tighter corner. There is also some belief that a long wing will not penetrate well. I do not agree. It is my opinion that a correctly aligned long wing will penetrate better than a shorter wing. The key here is correct align-ment. Dick Mathis said once: A high aspect ratio wing is great if you can get away with it, and you are getting away with it! Time spent obtaining correct alignment shows up in the air. No matter how beautiful, a crooked airplane will rarely fly well. This point I know well from experience. Maladjustment can be counteracted to a great degree if one knows the causes and follows a systematic method of trimming.

Yaw is the stunt flier's greatest enemy as well as his most common problem. This albatross can be your most common piece of apparel due to several things. Warped wings are one of the primary causes of yaw. The warped section of a wing panel will reach its critical stalling angle in a turn sooner than the rest of the wing. Therefore, when this portion of the wing stalls, it of course loses lift, slows down resulting in yaw, For example, let's say your outboard wing is warped down. When you turn an inside corner your outboard wing will reach its critical stall angle sooner than the inboard wing. Thus you have less lift on the outboard panel and you get right yaw as well as a tendency for a right roll. If you make an outside corner, your inboard wing will stall before your outboard wing and you will get left yaw and a tendency for left roll.

Secondly, a one-sided balance of lateral area will cause your aircraft to yaw if you are flying in any wind. If your aircraft has a great deal of fromtal lateral area in respect to aft lateral area, it will yaw right downwind and left upwind..."

Quote: "Howdy, Steve. Please feel free to make these plan available to anyone. Also attached is my original article. Thanks much! Here's a great picture of one built by someone else. I forget who, but it's very true to the original although the original blue was corsair blue. Thanks,"

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

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