| Assembly / Tuning / Piloting Whitewings | ||
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| Piloting Now that your plane is tuned to fly in a straight line, it's time for the fun part: the launch. Provided you did a good job on construction and tuning, your plane should soar like an eagle. In this section you will learn the proper techniques for launching to get the best performance out of your Whitewings glider. Launching your plane will require a lot of space. Large, open, grassy fields are best. Try to avoid launching on days when the wind is gusting strongly. |
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| The Basics of piloting | ||
| There are 2 basic techniques for launching a Whitewings paper glider: hand launching and catapult launching. Although the launching techniques are different, the results can be comparable with practice. For best results in the beginning stages, try to master the catapult technique first. | ||
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| The Catapult-Launching Technique | ||
| When you launch your plane with a catapult, pinch the body of the plane between the tips of your fingers toward the rearmost part of the tail. If you pinch the plane with too much of your finger, your may get it caught in the horizontal tail wing when you launch it, causing the plane to break. Fit the rubber band into the catapult notch near the nose of the plane. Pinching the tail end of the fuselage with one hand and gripping the catapult firmly with the other, stand with your back to the wind. Holding the fuselage securely with your fingers, extend your arms out away from your body and pull your arms apart stretching the rubber band on the catapult. Tilt the direction of the catapult upward at a 45 degree angle. Launch your plane at a right angle to the direction the wind is blowing by releasing your grip on the fuselage. Your plane should fly crosswind. As it climbs, it will level off and glide smoothly. The ideal flight path will be a giant circle where the plane goes round and round gliding smoothly and gradually until it reaches the ground. |
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| The Hand Launching Technique | ||
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When you execute a hand launch, you do not need the catapult launcher. |
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| Advanced piloting Tips | ||
| Once you have mastered the basic launching techniques, try experimenting with these advanced piloting techniques to gain an edge in flight performance. | ||
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| Tune your plane to fly in a circle | ||
| When aiming for record-breaking hang times, it’s important to adjust your glider so it flies in a circle. Why? Well, a circular flight path will allow your plane to catch and remain on top of columns of rising air called thermals. Another more practical reason is because you want your glider to travel great distances and yet land close to where you stand so you don’t have to walk too far to retrieve it. Two adjustments will make your plane fly in a circle. (For the time being, I’ll teach you how to adjust your plane so it flies in a counterclockwise direction. If you’re aiming for a clockwise decent, simply make the reverse adjustments.) We’ll start with the main wings and move on to the tail. First, a question: what makes a glider veer to the left? Answer: a greater degree of lift on the right wing and a lesser degree of lift on the left wing. As an experienced test pilot, you know that in order to increase the degree of lift on a wing you need to apply more camber by bending the trailing edge downward. Likewise, to reduce the degree of lift you need to reduce the degree of camber by bending the training edge upward. If our goal is to make our glider circle in a counterclockwise direction (to the left), we need to tweak the trailing edge of the left main wing up and the trailing edge of the right main wing down. The degree to which you exaggerate this imbalance in the camber between the two wings determines the degree to which the plane banks to the left. Another way to make your glider descend in a counterclockwise direction is to adjust the angle of the vertical stabilizer. Tilting the vertical stabilizer slightly to the right will cause your glider to lean slightly to the left. Remember, subtle adjustments are best. You don’t want your glider to descend in too tight of a spiral. Gradual revolution will produce optimal performance. |
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| Modifying launching technique | ||
| When launching your glider, pay close attention to three important points: catapult tension, angle of release and glider attitude. Double-stranded catapults pack a lot of tension. You shouldn’t run into any problems provided you use the same grade of rubber band included in your Whitewings kit. In the event you use a stronger rubber band, you may experience tension overload. Tension overload will cause the wings on your glider to flutter upon release. (Fluttering wings give off a vibrating sound.) This can adversely affect glider performance. To correct this problem, avoid pulling the rubber band back too far. Crucial to superior flight performance is the angle at which you release your glider. If you release it at an angle parallel with the ground, your plane will perform wheelies, loops and back flips. Looping planes are really cool to watch, but they don’t post good flight times. To correct this problem, rotate your glider in the catapult so that it forms somewhere between a 60 to 90 degree angle with the ground. From this angle, your plane will cut and snake its way up into the air without looping or stalling. We recommend that you perform several practice flights to figure out the angle most suitable for your glider. The final check point is glider attitude. By attitude, we mean the direction the glider is pointed prior to release. If your glider is adjusted to descend in counterclockwise direction, you should launch it using a right-handed launching technique (that is, hold the catapult high above your head in your left hand and stretch the glider toward the ground with your right hand). Be sure to note that if a glider adjusted for a clockwise descent is launched with the same right-handed technique, it will crash to the ground as soon as it leaves the catapult. Start with a few test flights. If your glider crashes upon release, try launching with the other hand. |
