Guest Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 A question often asked is, what is Reflex? Here is a great visual explination. A wing with no (Elivator) will naturally want to rotate (imagine what would happen if you had just the main wing from an aircraft and dropped it from height... would you expect it to fly?? ) . the elivator in the picture below is that of a standard aircraft from Cessna to 777. The wing as you will recognise as a paraglider has the same elivator (tail) moved much closer to the front and attached to the rear of the wing. The amount of Reflex is controlled by a trimmer system. SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 That last statement on the last picture is closest the reflex advocates have yet come to acknowledging the validity of the basic objection to reflex wing designs so far. My own assessment is that to decrease the drag the designers have reduced the tip wash-in that has been a major contributor to passive safety of paraglider wing develoment in recent years. Reflex stability replaces this feature but when the reflex is removed (at low speed trim settings) what passive safety measure replaces it? Now it seems the designers are addressing that point (although they are not explaining how) and are looking for ways to build in passive safety at slow speeds. Perhaps we will soon see a EN B or even EN A reflex glider? It would amuse to me to learn that slow trim settings on the new design actually increase wash-in as the tabs get pulled on! Not a difficult trick with a bit of "strap and pulley" engineering. And reaaly would justify the claim of "best of both worlds" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Way to make a nice simple message as confusing as possible mate LOL Dont forget that this forum has a lot of new pilots in it chap SW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 Heh heh sorry. It is only my opinion. Perhaps I should have said ... "great they are now looking at the slow end of the speed range to improve passive safety, lets hope they can get EN B on the next model" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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