This is a bit droll - sorry. This data doesn't address the specific question of the Ford long shaft winch with an open class ship but it's an interesting look at some launch conditions and suggests some of the things you can do with a data recorder. I'll put the FDR in my Laser sometime after TNT and get some more relevant data off the club winch. Probably put it all together in RCSD in a few months.
Launch evaluation - July 17, 2004. Equipment: 2M Mini-Graphite Sport winch (motorcycle battery, permanent magnet motor) ~ 320 ft of line (roughly a football field) Average wind speed 12 mph Average of 9 launches. Time on tow: 8.4 sec Height on tow: 280 ft Speed at release: 107 fps Time in zoom: 4.4 sec Height (zoom only): 107 ft Final speed: 31.5 fps Final height: 385 ft Total launch + zoom time ~ 12.8 sec Using the release velocity/height and the final velocity/height, you can calculate the expected zoom height based on energy conservation (no drag loss). Actual height: 107 ft Predicted zoom height: 163 ft So in this test I lost about 1/3 of the available energy to drag. Seems a bit high. Gotta work on launch technique. Maximum launch speed attained: 113 fps (~ 77mph) Maximum height attained: 436 ft - Dave R RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
