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Tradition of Flying MachinesAriel: "...I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality." [SHKSPR]
Graham E. Laucht <graham@ukavid.demon.co.uk> posted the following helpful overview of Lift-
[Discussion Thread] Discuss "the hump on top of the wing that produces lift" ...
Definitely Lift Demons, they wait unseen near the downwind end of the runway and hop on for the ride dismounting again on landing ready for the next plane. That's why taking off from the other end (looking into the big end of the windsock) can be tricky.
It's also why air traffic control regulates arrivals and departures especially in areas where there is a lack of lift demons. Like at large international airports where the supply of them and baggage carts is limited.
They are very sensitive to poor pilotage and can easily fall off the wing if a pilot lifts the nose too much whilst going slowly. A slightly roughened surfaces helps them to stay on longer.
Originally discovered and bred in captivity by a certain Mr Bernoulli which accounts for why early attempts at manned flight were often so unsuccessful. Being air breathing creatures they are not found at very high altitudes, they don't like it much when the wings are icy or dirty which seems fair enough.
Male demons outnumber females by approximately three to one and are predominantly found on the mainwing topsides whilst the females, which can only push, are found on the underside of wings and tailplanes. The males find it fairly easy to "pull" the females due to the imbalance in numbers. A favourite area for congregating males is near the wing's hump where the view is often better. Known scientifically as humping. Humping can be controlled by the pilot by raising and lowering flags at the wing ends to signify the end he would like them to pull hardest. The female of the species being on the undersides are often kept in the dark especially about the cost impact of aviation. Demons are sexually very active and have it away near the wing tips. Demon spawn can sometimes be seen streaming off the tips in a conical cocoon.
Kitbuilders generally find enough in the box for the first flight, however builders of porkies might not have enough to fly properly.
Neutered Demons are called vacuum and are useful for keeping coffee warm. An excess of neutered demons can cause breathing difficulties and should have a government health warning attached.
Research into demon I.Q.s shows lift demons have no comprehension whatsoever of what a downwind turn is.
Mary Shafer (shafer@ferhino.dfrf.nasa.gov) explains lift:
--the real, intuitively-obvious-even-to-the-lay-person explanation of lift.
People, lift is caused by lift demons. These little, invisible demons hold on to the leading and trailing edges of the aircraft and lift it into the air by flapping their wings (so, in a reductionist sense, lift is actually caused by feathers). Some of the demons are a little confused and they hold on backwards, causing drag.
The reason that planes stall at high alpha is that the leading edge demons get scared and let go when they can't see the ground anymore.
Lift demons have good taste and don't like to look at ugly aircraft, so they hold on backwards on ugly planes. That's why gliders have so much lift and so little drag and why F-4s have lots of drag.
John Wolter (towolt@beaker.lerc.nasa.gov) asked: What I would like is a simple *intuitive* explanation of what causes lift on a lift demon's wing. (Here we go again... ;-) )
Mary Shafer (shafer@ferhino.dfrf.nasa.gov) replied: Feathers. The multiple filaments on feathers trap the air molecules and they struggle to escape, which causes the action-reaction that we call lift. Bat wings don't have feathers but they're hairy and that works just about as well (air molecules are a little claustrophobic).
Once too often bitten milking demons for research, Dave Santos (santos@88net.net) kindly tackles annoying questions by lay-people.
Stupid question. The little monsters are trapped in bags, for balloon or airship use, but escape given any opportunity. Instead of captivity, winged aircraft are designed to entice the demons to visit. This is not easy since they abandon common aircraft on very weak pretexts. For example, lift demons enjoy engine roar and go elsewhere when this noise stops.
Birds are so lucky. They just waggle their wings to signal a desire to fly and the demons eagerly bear them aloft (Penguins, an exception, are associated with ice, which lift demons hate. See [Grahm] (above). Other flightless birds are overweight, a condition despised by lift demons (see [Grahm] ("porkies")), and [Santos] (below)). Note that bird feathers are merely ornaments evolved to attract demons, whose own "feathers" are the true source of lift [Shafer] (above).
True enough, lift demons are held by cables or chain, as in elevators and hoists, and in pillars and walls, by applied weight, but such abuse ruins them for flight (ordinary stairs cage lift demons such that, conditions permitting, they are heard to groan underfoot).
Lift demons are the bastard offspring of "Gravity Wells", who tolerate the defiant demons without acknowledging them. The rest of us risk "falling" afoul of these vengeful G wells, except those who flee fast enough (popularly usage: Escape Velocity) and far enough to also defy Gravity (slang- "weightlessness"). Lift demons try to drop anything heavy, out of deep resentment.
What about it? Dumbest question yet... Under proper conditions, lift demons penetrate either sound or unsound barriers.
Tibetan-
mkha' rgyu'i yi dwags - air-dwelling hungry ghost / preta, hungry ghost living in the air
mkha' la rgyu ba'i yi dwags - the pretas living in the air.
DRAFT// Grant Proposal- Just 8 million dollars is requested for the formal study of Lift by field experiment, and over the Internet (from Tahiti!). With jet travel and modern communications, Tahiti is no longer a paradigm obstacle. It is anticipated that native lift demons, as explored with state-of-the-art frizbees, kites, hang-gliders, and yachts, will display a high Q factor.
Phase I (5 yr. min) will result in a completed Abstract of Phase II, a proposal for increased funding.
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in the SkyFAA Suppliment to the Poem "High Flight"Bipedal Ornithopter UAVHigh Performance Robot AirshipIndia's
Tradition of Flying Machines
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