Question on headsets

[steveinindy]

Ah....I can't recall ever having seen a Fly Baby so I guess that's why it didn't dawn on me. The noise level (not to mention the not being able to fly for 4-5 months a year) is one of the big reasons I've never been attracted to open cockpit aircraft. Also the idea of taking a bird or even a locust directly to the face doesn't seem all that appealing. I'd like a half-inch of polycarbonate (which is the approximate thickness of the windscreen in my design at this point) between myself and avian or arthropod interlopers.

Jump on a motorcycle without fairings or windshield and ride at 120 mph, you will get the idea.
Windshield configurations can help but open air is OPEN AIR.

No thanks. I may have signed my organ donor card but I'm in no hurry for my altruism in that regard to be acted upon.

[rwanttaja]

Ah....I can't recall ever having seen a Fly Baby so I guess that's why it didn't dawn on me. The noise level (not to mention the not being able to fly for 4-5 months a year) is one of the big reasons I've never been attracted to open cockpit aircraft. Also the idea of taking a bird or even a locust directly to the face doesn't seem all that appealing. I'd like a half-inch of polycarbonate (which is the approximate thickness of the windscreen in my design at this point) between myself and avian or arthropod interlopers.

Got a 1/4" windshield on my Fly Baby. Keeps the bugs off, at least the ones that're slower than me. :-)

The typical GA windshield won't keep out most of the moderate-to-large size avian interlopers, even pureed first. Don't think I'm that much worse off. Besides, if you DO want a half-inch of lexan in front of you, it'll be cheaper and easier to do in a Fly Baby than most other homebuilts. Stock windshield design is a PT-19 style with three flat panes. Mine is a curved wrap, which I'd like to replace with the flat-pane model.

I'm fortunate enough to live in Seattle, and can fly year-round. Here's a shot of my airplane at another airport on a balmy winter day.


Ron Wanttaja

[rosiejerryrosie]

Nice looking airplane, Ron, nice!

[steveinindy]

That's a pretty plane Ron.

I'm fortunate enough to live in Seattle, and can fly year-round. Here's a shot of my airplane at another airport on a balmy winter day

LOL Nice. I may wind up out that way for grad school. When the time comes, I may have to pick your brain about airport choices out there.

The typical GA windshield won't keep out most of the moderate-to-large size avian interlopers, even pureed first.

Which is exactly the reason I chose the design (fairly sharply slanted) and material (polycarbonate for higher impact resistance) for my windshield that I did. The plan is to build a couple of "spares" and test them first with a couple of store-bought ducks. If I can talk the Department of Natural Resources into it, I'd like to get me a couple of geese or maybe a roadkill turkey vulture and test that. Not the cheapest idea but I'd rather spend some extra money instead of finding out the hard way. I enjoy eating poultry but not a force feeding at a couple hundred knots.

[rwanttaja]

The typical GA windshield won't keep out most of the moderate-to-large size avian interlopers, even pureed first.

Which is exactly the reason I chose the design (fairly sharply slanted) and material (polycarbonate for higher impact resistance) for my windshield that I did. The plan is to build a couple of "spares" and test them first with a couple of store-bought ducks.

Interesting idea. What are you thinking of as a test rig? Something like what the Mythbusters rigged up a few years ago is probably what you need, but I wonder if there's a simpler way? A freefall rig would give better repeatability and wouldn't require an actual gun, but you'd need hundreds of feet to get the projectile up to flight-equivalent speeds.

Ron Wanttaja

[Hiperbiper]

That's a pretty plane Ron.



LOL Nice. I may wind up out that way for grad school. When the time comes, I may have to pick your brain about airport choices out there.



Which is exactly the reason I chose the design (fairly sharply slanted) and material (polycarbonate for higher impact resistance) for my windshield that I did. The plan is to build a couple of "spares" and test them first with a couple of store-bought ducks. If I can talk the Department of Natural Resources into it, I'd like to get me a couple of geese or maybe a roadkill turkey vulture and test that. Not the cheapest idea but I'd rather spend some extra money instead of finding out the hard way. I enjoy eating poultry but not a force feeding at a couple hundred knots.

The story of British Rail destroying the test cab on their Bullet Train with BOAC's "Chicken Gun" come to mind...

Chris

[steveinindy]

Interesting idea. What are you thinking of as a test rig? Something like what the Mythbusters rigged up a few years ago is probably what you need, but I wonder if there's a simpler way? A freefall rig would give better repeatability and wouldn't require an actual gun, but you'd need hundreds of feet to get the projectile up to flight-equivalent speeds

For anything other than simulating a strike on an ultralight on short final, you'd need an air cannon. I mean, freefall is an option but the problem becomes hitting the "target" reliably. Probably the most practical way of doing it is an an air cannon firing gelatin blocks to simulate the various bird species since you could easily modify the frontal area, weight and density of the projectile that way. Also the gelatin mix would be cheaper and easier to procure than trying to find a legal way to procure game birds out of season and the gelatin blocks would be more aerodynamic which would allow much easier speed calibration and higher speeds to be achieved (imagine a test at the 250 knot limit). The only drawback is video of the tests would not be nearly as popular when posted on Youtube when not using real birds.

One of my other projects is an improved fuel tank for my design and some of the local fire departments have been kind enough to offer use of their ladder truck for drop tests of it once I get it built. After all, they're firefighters and like to break stuff and I'm a former brother volunteer firefighter. I don't think a drop test would work very effectively to get a bird or gelatin proxy of one up to terminal velocity (and even then, that would likely not be near the impact velocity of a bird strike). The air cannon idea would not be too bad, especially seeing as we're also going to have to test the leading edges of the wings as well as the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

[steveinindy]

The story of British Rail destroying the test cab on their Bullet Train with BOAC's "Chicken Gun" come to mind...

I thought that was an urban legend because I've heard it variously said that it was the French rail authorities and the British rail authorities.

[Frank Giger]

The technique is real, the joke simply stemmed from it.

[steveinindy]

The technique is real, the joke simply stemmed from it.

Oh, I know the technique is quite real (I've seen one of the tests first hand on a small plane empennage design) but I was just saying that the story about them failing to thaw out the chickens first was an urban legend.