Bidirectional 3D Plane

[Matt Kirsch]

Has anybody heard of any work being done on a truly bidirectional 3D plane? We've got the VPP technology now, but you really don't have much control of the airplane in reverse-pitch.

I've been mulling it over in my head... How to get controlled flight in both directions from a plane that looks almost normal?

You need a plane that flies reasonably well both as a canard pusher, and as a conventional aircraft. My thinking is the plane would need to have its CG at 50% MAC. Anybody fly a 3D plane balanced that far back?

Control surfaces would need to be addressed. Full flying stab, that's for sure. I'm thinking you almost have to have full flying wings too, aka "wingerons." Either the entire wing tilts, or just a section near the tip.

[Azarr]

Has anybody heard of any work being done on a truly bidirectional 3D plane? We've got the VPP technology now, but you really don't have much control of the airplane in reverse-pitch.

I've been mulling it over in my head... How to get controlled flight in both directions from a plane that looks almost normal?

You need a plane that flies reasonably well both as a canard pusher, and as a conventional aircraft. My thinking is the plane would need to have its CG at 50% MAC. Anybody fly a 3D plane balanced that far back?

Control surfaces would need to be addressed. Full flying stab, that's for sure. I'm thinking you almost have to have full flying wings too, aka "wingerons." Either the entire wing tilts, or just a section near the tip.

I've scratched my head over this as an academic question only. I think the 50% CG would be a problem, however a weight on a sliding tray would be another way of attacking the CG problem. This was used this year by a German pilot to change the CG during flight on a 3D plane.

The problem, of course is that there's no moving air over the control surface which is why some have gone to mid motor mounted VPP planes. Although both Seth Arnold and RJ Gritter used front mount motors at this year's ETOC and were able to do climbing reverse spins using a "bounce" method. The videos are on Flight Pass. How about a motor on each end, a truly symmetrical plane (elevator/rudder/motor at both ends) where you could switch from the transmitter which end was active.

Azarr

[smokejohnson]

Or both ends set up with a VPP?

It's a neat idea.