@HazelNuts39
Originally Posted by Dutch M
I'm not a pilot, though do have a degree in Applied Physics
As a student I piloted gliders. These routinely fly tight circles to stay in thermals. In a strong wind there is no airspeed loss turning downwind, nor gain turning upwind. I've never quite figured that out, may be as a physicist you can.
Yes, that is also one of the aspects I considered, though did not have enough time to dive into. Though 2 aspects might be relevant in this:
- Speeds are relatively low, glider speed and "jetstream".
- An important control target is the constant airspeed. Small rudder changes and/or differences in thermal-absorbing might hide the effects in speed changes.
- An experiment might be to circle around and measure the pitch angle and rudder usage during the circles. I would expect a somewhat sinus shaped change in rudder/pitch position.
Let me change the challenge a little:
- Land your glider with a airspeed of 30.25 m/s and a headwind of 30 m/s (just enough to move a little bit related to the ground).
- The presumed TAS based Ekin would be 0.5xmx915 =458 m J
- The moment the glider does touch down, everything becomes ground speed based and the ground speed based Ekin would be 0.5xmx0.25x0.25 = 0.03 m J.
Where did the Ekin of (458 - 0.03) m J go ?????