alt Hacker News> An out-of-position glider out can _easily_ and very quickly overcome the tow planes elevator authority
Would this not be trivially solvable with a system that detects the situation (e.g. by measuring the forces acting on the towing plane's attachment point) and detaches the tow? If in the final concept the towed plane would be unmanned and wouldn't contain fuel, even a crash would not be particularly catastrophic.
Replies
The force at the attachment point is constantly changing and depends on several factors.
- the weight of either airplane.
- the performance of the engine on that particular day (varies by altitude / airspeed / temp / mixture / type of fuel / ...)
- the instantaneous weather conditions
- the performance characteristics of either plane.
- slack in the rope (no tension to two times the weight of the glider)
- the glider's towing position (below / above wake)
- crosswinds
- the glider's preferred towing position (depends on visibility from the cockpit, e.g. if someone has a phone or a tablet on the dash, the towing position will be different)
So it isn't really a trivial problem, especially when false positive or false negative will lead to a crash.
Oh btw, it needs to be able to react in milliseconds (so no AI, unfortunately). Here's an example of what an early release looks like btw: https://youtu.be/Gu0mZC2mLEg?si=dzVMxG-rW5624T_m
notice how he's always on the stick. Also notice how fast it goes from stable to unstable positions.
> even a crash
Recklessness is never the answer in aviation (or coding matter of fact). Practically, good luck convincing insurance to cover a 100 ton (any appreciable cargo load) plane that might fall out of the sky on any property in the general vicinity.
You misread. It causes the crash of the leading plane, not of the following one, so the glider having no fuel is completely irrelevant
As for a system that measures forces, that’s not likely to work either. Transient forces are OK, but the same force over a little bit of time is enough to force a nose down attitude that is unrecoverable. Attempting to draw the line unequivocally between the two is difficult because it depends on conditions, weights, centers of gravity, and many other things.
> If in the final concept the towed plane would be unmanned and wouldn't contain fuel, even a crash would not be particularly catastrophic.
You might not say that if it hit your house or your person. It is going to have a lot of kinetic energy.