The WingBoard, the new fatality coming to an aiport near you

timwinters said:
"Never fly the "A" model of anything" an old, but wise, test pilot

And I'm thinking this old saw is particularly appropriate in this case!
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I'll fly an A model.................


........................provided there was an "unlettered" model that preceded it.
 
wsuffa said:
I'll fly an A model.................


........................provided there was an "unlettered" model that preceded it.
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Hmmm...I don't know if I would or not...

(hint...look at my signature ;) )
 
wsuffa said:
I'll fly an A model.................


........................provided there was an "unlettered" model that preceded it.
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Nah, you're cool. I had the "A" model and made it out alive. ;)

Regarding the original post, if this thing gets made for real, the first "splat" event bankrupts the company into oblivion!
 
MAKG1 said:
No, it wouldn't. The CG is above the wing. It's going to go inverted almost immediately, and then be unstable in roll due to the negative dihedral.
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From looking at skydivers with snowboards, it's exactly what's going to happen right after the exit from the aircraft - most of them flip over. However, they recover using the air resistance over their body. The trick is to reduce the resistance of the board by turning it sideways to the air flow (by bending knees, mostly). Once they turn back upright, they are able to maintain the balance.
 
zaitcev said:
From looking at skydivers with snowboards, it's exactly what's going to happen right after the exit from the aircraft - most of them flip over. However, they recover using the air resistance over their body. The trick is to reduce the resistance of the board by turning it sideways to the air flow (by bending knees, mostly). Once they turn back upright, they are able to maintain the balance.
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Skysurf boards behave completely different from what is intended here. Skysurfers can't get out of their own way, It is entirely drag, when it looks like they are producing lift and moving they aren't, it is the cameraman moving. Mirrors and trickery.:wink2:
 
I think what they're shooting for aerodynamically is a kind of weight-shift SWIFT. That one is stable in pitch because of tricky aerodynamics of the slightly swept wing. However, the SWIFT is controlled with elevons, not weight-shift. Note that the rider would need some form of roll control, which Aaron did not specify in his pitch.

However, the point about the wing area being insufficient is probably true. Wiki says that SWIFT has a wing area of 136 ft^2. This thing probably has 15 ft^2, or nearly 10 times less. To fly at speeds of a typical towplane, it would need way more wingspan and area.

Edit: According to Wikipedia, the wing area of Cri-cri is only 33 ft^2. Okay, I guess I was fooled by SWIFT's gigantic wing because it has sailplane-like performance.
 
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Cooolwyp said:
I might currently live in Alabama, but it is Huntsville, AKA Rocket City, home to more Aero Engineers than anywhere else in the country. I might also be an aero engineer with a masters degree focused on stability and control.
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Welcome to PoA, intrepid inventor!

Cooolwyp said:
Though it looks unstable, the combination of the tow rope design, forward CG (with the rider the CG is at about 15-20% depending on how he leans), and wing leveler make the board extremely stable. Check out the Demo flights in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgXwdz9yZxY
The rider in the prototype is not just a figure strapped there either, it is a fully articulated remote controlled robot.
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So basically it can't be flown while not under tow?
 
weilke said:
A wakeboard or waterskis dont float either.
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That's a good point, but the analogy is limited due to different safety regime. What does happen if any of the 2 ropes breaks on the Wingboard?
 
Am I the only one that remembers this from growing up? 10 year old me would have been all about it.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The issue isn't so much, is it technically possible, but rather is it practical, safe enough and ultimately desirable?


  • Presumably, the take offs are to be preformed on a runway, what happens when the rider loses balance, blows a tire, or gets hit with gusty winds? Eating the runway at 60mph isn't going to be fun.
  • When something goes wrong, the idea is the rider can detach from the tow plane and parachute down. In addition the wingboard also parachutes down. Where do these two actually land? Wingboards and riders dropping into people's backyards isn't going to be very popular.
  • This brings up the pilot and the airplane. What does he get out of it? If they are to keep from miscellaneously dropping wingboards and riders all over the country side, they need to orbit a drop zone. The pilot and even passengers don't really get to participate. They can't see you. Who would want this piloting job?
  • Since no one can see you, the only way anybody gets to appreciate your amazing tricks in the air is with playback from the Go Pro. Not exactly the feedback one gets from the back of the wakeboard boat.
  • Is this experience really superior to jumping out of plane with either a board attached to your feet, or wing suit? I suspect that even though the inventor points out that during these activities, the participant is merely falling, I suspect a greater sense of freedom and being one with the wind is greater than being tethered to an airplane and being dragged around.
  • The FAA now regulates parachute jumping from airplanes. Would this in any way be agreeable to the FAA and how long would those regs take to write?
I guess the Kickstarter campaign will let us all know if there is any serious interest in this and if so I guess we'll all get to watch the YouTube videos of the progress. I am by nature a pessimist, so take it with a grain of salt, but I wish the test pilot for this new activity the best of luck and health. I really can't see this coming without accidents.
 
Dav8or said:
Yes. I have no idea where that's from.:dunno:
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It's from Tale Spin cartoon. That board he's riding was supposedly folding like a fan and stowed in his pockets somewhere.
 
zaitcev said:
That's a good point, but the analogy is limited due to different safety regime. What does happen if any of the 2 ropes breaks on the Wingboard?
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The surfer releases and parachutes to the ground under his sport rig.
 
RedBull should be onboard with sponsorship very soon. Not interested in this and not interested in being the aircraft pilot either.
 
It seems to me that an overhead wing configuration that has standalone glide capability would be much safer, and probably just as much fun, for those in to that kind of thing.
 
Sitting on the couch would also be safe. No adrenaline rush from that.
 
Man, you can always tell how long these threads have been around when you find Henning inputs at the beginning of them...

This is totally Stupid! Humans will never run out of ways to kill themselves over finding the ultimate adrenaline rush...
 
But then who'da thunk some guy would put jets an a wing and jump out of a helicopter. More, who'da thunk he would not only keep doing it, but entice others as well.
And there are guys who jump out of planes in wingsuits and some do it with bogie boards or snowboards. Nothing is beyond the imagination. It all comes down to daring... and lots of money!
 
FlySince9 said:
Man, you can always tell how long these threads have been around when you find Henning inputs at the beginning of them...
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What does "Ejection Handle Pulled" mean? I only ever noticed it on "BANNED" users before, but his info bar doesn't have the banned flag on it.
 
172andyou said:
What does "Ejection Handle Pulled" mean? I only ever noticed it on "BANNED" users before, but his info bar doesn't have the banned flag on it.
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Not to be confused with "Red Handle Pulled"...
 
Sac Arrow said:
It seems to me that an overhead wing configuration that has standalone glide capability would be much safer, and probably just as much fun, for those in to that kind of thing.
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We have that already, HG aerotow.

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I have an old rusty aero engineering degree, but I do recollect that it's really, really, hard to design a flying wing that can be manually controlled by anyone with less skill than an experienced test pilot because it's so hard to attain pitch stability.

I can see how this would work under tow, but if the pilot lets go of the ski rope or the towline breaks the pilot can hopefully bail out of the contraption.

I'm not sure how happy the people on whom the wreckage falls will be.
 
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