Tupolev Tu-144
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Tupolev Tu-144
G'day
If anyone could help me understand what the usefulness of canards, what are they designed to achieve ? I have seen them on several medium size aircraft and more recently the Eagle 2 seater made in Australia. But I especially can't follow their use on the tupolev tu-144, a supersonic aircraft.
Cheers
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In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on.
If anyone could help me understand what the usefulness of canards, what are they designed to achieve ? I have seen them on several medium size aircraft and more recently the Eagle 2 seater made in Australia. But I especially can't follow their use on the tupolev tu-144, a supersonic aircraft.
Cheers
------------------
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on.
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At high alpha on t/o and approach, the canard generates more lift and effectively moves the CP fwd. The CP movement ensures the elevons are deflected downwards with a slight benefit in L/D and Cl.
Saves having to mave the CG around so much.
Allegedly, later Concordes would have had them and/or LE droops.
Saves having to mave the CG around so much.
Allegedly, later Concordes would have had them and/or LE droops.
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Canards can give huge reductions in take-off distance for delta wing aircraft. To raise the nose of a delta in order to increase angle of attack you need to deflect the elevons upwards and so move the centre of pressure forwards. However, moving the surfaces up decreases the angle of attack and so dumps lots of your lift so now you have to go faster to get enough lift to fly - so you use lots of runway. With canards you deflect them down to move the centre of pressure forwards to raise the nose and so you actually get a small lift bonus from the canards but the real saving is that the main delta wing stays at an efficient, positive angle of attack. The same sort of argument helps with the landing as well - giving a slower touchdown speed but the biggest effect is take-off ground roll. In fighter aircraft, like the Kfir, the canards also help with manoeuvrability as you can pitch up without dumping lift with the elevons.
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Someone once told me that the TU144 crash at LBG resulted from the crew taking avoiding action on another aircraft that ATC hadn't told them about (sounds typically French!) Something along the lines of:-
the mother of all bunts,multiple flameout,insufficient height to restart,overstressed trying to recover from the dive
....could all be complete rubbish.
Sorry to lose the canard thread
the mother of all bunts,multiple flameout,insufficient height to restart,overstressed trying to recover from the dive
....could all be complete rubbish.
Sorry to lose the canard thread
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matspart3, I have read exactly the same story somewhere - about the mystery Mirage that was in the area - Tu144 supposedly took drastic evasive action with tragic results.
The conspiracy theory vendors have added that the Mirage was really sent there by the French to spy on the 144 (especially the canards)!
InitRef
The conspiracy theory vendors have added that the Mirage was really sent there by the French to spy on the 144 (especially the canards)!
InitRef
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From Airdisaster.com:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">
While performing a steep climb at an airshow, the pilot of the supersonic aircraft took evasive action to avoid a Mirage jet which was in the Tupolev's path. This led to compressor stall, and the aircraft entered a steep dive, broke apart, and impacted a residential neighborhood</font>
While performing a steep climb at an airshow, the pilot of the supersonic aircraft took evasive action to avoid a Mirage jet which was in the Tupolev's path. This led to compressor stall, and the aircraft entered a steep dive, broke apart, and impacted a residential neighborhood</font>
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Found an interesting article on the Paris crash which highlighted an interesting issue over the canards.
"the left canard-wing separated, struck the wing and punctured the fueltank. The Tupolev crashed in flames into the small town of Goussainville."
The canards were indeed retrofitted to improve the low speed handling and stability characteristics. As someone has already pointed out, Tu 144's wing was not as good as Concorde's and couldn't cope with the massive shift in cp across the flight envelope. They were also retractable and affectionately known as "moustaches"
"the left canard-wing separated, struck the wing and punctured the fueltank. The Tupolev crashed in flames into the small town of Goussainville."
The canards were indeed retrofitted to improve the low speed handling and stability characteristics. As someone has already pointed out, Tu 144's wing was not as good as Concorde's and couldn't cope with the massive shift in cp across the flight envelope. They were also retractable and affectionately known as "moustaches"
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There was (for once) an interesting programme all about this on Discovery Wings some time back.
Apparently the Russians had been spying on the French for years to get a full set of Concorde blueprints - they were almost successful but couldn't get the wings right.
The plot thickened and thickened up until the TU144 crash which some attribute to the mystery Mirage which the Russian crew had tried to avoid. After that, some say that the French and Russians colluded in covering up the truth!
In the programme the French Minister responsible for aviation at the time walked off the set when the interviewer pushed him on the matter...
According to the programme makers, Concorde was designed with a much higher 'g' tolerance - so would have survived the manoeuvre.
Apparently the Russians had been spying on the French for years to get a full set of Concorde blueprints - they were almost successful but couldn't get the wings right.
The plot thickened and thickened up until the TU144 crash which some attribute to the mystery Mirage which the Russian crew had tried to avoid. After that, some say that the French and Russians colluded in covering up the truth!
In the programme the French Minister responsible for aviation at the time walked off the set when the interviewer pushed him on the matter...
According to the programme makers, Concorde was designed with a much higher 'g' tolerance - so would have survived the manoeuvre.
