Flight - Take Wing! - Episode 106



Model Airplanes
Ryan and Alex fly model stunt planes. There are many models to choose from, but they wanted one that could do great stunts.

Question
How does wing shape affect the performance of the plane?

Investigation
Ryan and Alex tested two wing designs, a flat-bottomed wing and a symmetrical wing (curved equally on the top and the bottom). Using a scale of 0 to 3, they rated both types of plane on their ability to perform three stunts: an aileron roll, a snap roll and an inverted loop.

Results

aileron snap roll inverted loop total Flat-bottomed 2 1 0 3 Symmetrical 3 3 3 9

Conclusion
The symmetrical wing beat the flat-bottomed wing on all three stunts. Ryan and Alex concluded that air flowed over the symmetrical wing more evenly and provided lift, even when it was flying upside down.



Paragliding
David, Alex and Abby are learning to paraglide. They want to find the best thermal updrafts to lengthen their flight.

Question
Where are the strongest thermals?

Investigation
Using a thermal camera, they measured the temperature of four different kinds of terrain: grassy, wooded, rocky and watery. David paraglided over each type of terrain and checked how his altitude changed using a variometer.


Conclusion
David flew higher over the warmer terrain and realized that the best thermals are found where the sun heats up rocky and grassy terrain.