Karl and team,

I've done lots of conceptual design, aero and structural analyses and built samples of various materials and construction techniques. My mission statement has changed back and forth many times, but has remained stable for several years and I am now at a stage to enter detail design and construction.

My mission is to design, build, test and fly an ultralight sailplane that meets FAI O-4 and FAR Part 103 requirements. I plan to make world record attempts in the prototype and to offer plans for homebuilding after the glider has been developed.

For the last several years, I have worked on low cost soaring ideas and narrowed down the possibilities that I wanted to work on to ground launch towing and ultralight sailplanes. A group of us in the Tehachapi and Mojave area have purchased a powered payout winch and have been developing operations for paragliders, hang gliders and ultralight sailplanes. We have made over 100 tows in the last two months and are still developing the capability. I am finishing a major program at work that has consumed almost all my free time for a couple of years and have started a new project that will take a lot of time for another 6 months or so. This is a long way of saying that the WinDancer project won't really show much progress until next Fall. Plan on coming to the ESA Western Workshop in Tehachapi on Labor Day weekend for an update. You can also see Mark Calder and the Robin and many other cool projects and people!

I work at Scaled Composites in Mojave as a Project Engineer. Most of the projects I work on are proprietary and can't be discussed. After the WinDancer project is making progress, I plan on discussing it freely. The goal is information exchange and a practical low cost way to enjoy soaring.

I'll put together another concept sketch later this Spring to show you the latest thoughts. I will also scan some of the old series of concepts to show you.

I am trying to provide information and ideas on this forum related to the Carbon Dragon and its further development. I really loved working with Jim Maupin and Irv Culver and the others on the Carbon Dragon development team and want to encourage those who are interested.

I am designing the WinDancer to be fun and easy to fly, like the Carbon Dragon, but with more emphasis on practical considerations and better high speed performance. It should still climb exceptionally well, but the CD is pretty hard to beat in small light lift.

Dan

--- In This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., "KarlS" wrote:
>
> Hi Dan,
> How far along are you on your Windancer? That's interesting about the pressure distribution airfoils. Could I ask what the mission of that ship will be? Would love to see some teaser pictures if you could. Like you said it's just interesting.
>
> Karl