Mass vs flight time

From: <janderson_at_twmi.rr.com>
Date: 18 May 2015 19:12:47 -0700

For next year's Science Olympiad Wright Stuff rules we're considering a payload bonus. To size it appropriately, we'd like to have a good estimate of flight time penalty for adding mass to a plane without changing much else.

Example. 7 gm airplane, 50 by 8 cm wing, tail 24 by 5 cm, prop 20 cm, 2 gm rubber (purely hypothetical, please don't report that this will be next year's dimensions, it won't)

Let's say it has a max capability of 5 minutes properly trimmed in a 60 ft site (pretty close to the winning time and ceiling ht this year).

Assume you can modify prop/rubber combination and trim to carry the extra mass (say 1-6 gm) to max possible time, is there a formula or program available to estimate the flight time penalty?

If yes, can you please point me to it?

And again, this is all purely hypothetical at this point, please don't get students working on this yet, we may not use this as a bonus.

Thanks,

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI
 

Received on Mon May 18 2015 - 19:12:47 CEST