>In response to the numerous posts regarding DS, Joe Wurts did not invent >DS. Not to take anything form Joe since he is an excellent pilot, but >considering him as the inventor would be like comparing the Wright brothers >to the designers of a P-51 or equivalent. ---SNIP--- I don't understand the above comparison (or is this more Heavenly thinking?), but since albatrosses did the trick first, DS was "recognized", not "invented". Furthermore, I think it's misleading to suggest that the type of DS described by Dr. Ferdinand Hendricks, which is clearly "albatross" DS (ADS?), is the same as the DS that Joe Wurts recognized was occurring (WDS?), and then quickly mastered, at Parker Mtn. These are quite different implementations of DS although they both employ the same principle. ADS exploits a gradual and relatively small speed gradient over land or water, with higher speed aloft and lower speed beneath, while WDS exploits a sharp and very large (with enough wind!) boundary between wind moving over and beyond an obstruction and the dead air beneath and downwind of the obstruction. WDS is a spectacularly more effective implementation of the DS principle than is ADS, and Dr. Hendricks, though he may be commended for his suggestion to imitate albatrosses, apparently did not recognize the goldmine of WDS aeronautical energy. I think it's obvious that Joe Wurts deserves 98% of the credit for getting this DS thing going (WDS, that is), and I wonder what the agenda might be for anyone arguing otherwise. Thanks Joe for a brand new addiction, and for all those smashed planes. I think I speak here for lots of happy and over-adrenalined pilots. David Berkeley CA USA RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
