"Pilot Nose" Kite Arch Feature

 A "Pilot Nose" is being incorporated in to the 300 m2 Tarp Arch under construction in Austin. It will serve two key functions- 1) as the basic launch-or-land-on-demand mechanism, and 2) to prevent or better recover from luff.

Much as a bull can be controlled by a ring in its nose, it should be easy for a single person to pull on the nose line to bring the kite down, or slack it to let the kite park at its zenith. Peter Lynn uses a similar line for his giant manta-ray kites.

Kites are subject to luffing in turbulence, and a kite arch can still luff, even though a full-span luff is unlikely. The new Pilot Nose has a sort of ski-tip curve to its bamboo spine that strongly keeps the center form luffing, and speeds recovery in a luff.

The Pilot Nose component is being developed with the Pablo Ortiz family of Austin, known for their long-standing dominance in the DIY large-kite competition, the climax event of the local kite festival. This year they won with 83 yr old Pablo Ortiz Sr. handling the kite alongside his son and grandson, also named Pablo, and of course the many extended family members who haul the ropes. The Pilot Nose is in effect the Ortiz bamboo and plastic kite embedded into the tarp arch as a forward stabilizer and control surface.

CoolIP*                      ~Dave Santos                 26May2012                 AWES6460

30May2012  Will take lots of pics of the actual arch, meanwhile look close at the drawings to spot the "beak" in the plans. The Pilot Nose requires some sort of spar to make the "ski-tip", which could be a blimp or ram-air airbeam in larger versions.

Working with Pablo Ortiz, the concept emerged to make a "Delta Arch", whereby the little Pilot Nose becomes huge, a major windward leg of the airborne crosswind structure. This does not seem to promise much more wind capture, but an increase in stability and a higher L/D. Adding legs around the compass is less of an issue if we perfect the cableway loop to host any number of legs.

The new Delta Arch is more coolIP, unless prior art emerges,

daveS

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