Early Aircraft
The differing concepts of stability marked the first heavier-than-air flight attempts made until 1908. Most aeronautical investigators regarded flight as if it were not so different from surface locomotion, except the surface would be elevated. They thought of changing direction in terms of a ship's rudder, so the flying machine would remain essentially level in the air, as did an automobile or a ship at the surface. The idea of deliberately leaning, or rolling, to one side seemed either undesirable or did not enter their thinking.
Some of these early investigators, including Langley, Chanute, later Santos-Dumont, and Voisin brothers, sought the ideal of inherent stability in a very strong sense, believing a flying machine should be built to automatically roll to horizontal (lateral) position after any disturbance. They achieved it with the help of Hargrave cellular wings (having box-kite structure including the vertical panels) and strongly dihedral wings. In most cases they did not include any means for a pilot to control the aircraft roll — they could only control elevator and rudder. The effect not predicted was that without roll, it was very hard to turn the aircraft. They were also very reactive in roll to side gusts and side winds upon landing.
The Wright brothers designed their 1903 first powered Flyer with anhedral (drooping) wings, which are inherently unstable. They showed that pilot can maintain roll (lateral) control himself anyway. And it was a good way for a flying machine to turn—to "bank" or "lean" into the turn just like a bird or just like a person riding a bicycle. Equally important, this method would enable recovery when the wind tilted the machine to one side. Although used in 1903, it would not become widely known in Europe until August 1908. At that time Wilbur Wright demonstrated to European aviators the importance of the coordinated use of elevator, rudder and roll control for making effective turns.
Read more about this topic: Relaxed Stability
Famous quotes containing the word early:
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