In any sailplane, spar construction is critical for ensuring the structural integrity of the wing and overall safety of the sailplane. The spar design for Concordia is pushing the limits of what is possible while adhering to the CS22 design criteria. The design of a 28 meter span sailplane with a very thin airfoil and … Read more
Simultaneously with the build of the fuselage and vertical stabilizer, Christian Streifeneder and his father Hanko were busy in Germany building wing molds for Concordia. In hindsight one of the smart decisions made by Butler and Waibel was to convince the Streifeneders to be a part of the Concordia team and let them build the … Read more
The vertical stabilizer was constructed in a female mold made from low density foam. The foam mold was cut with a hot wire process using aluminum templates with airfoil coordinates generated by the Delft Institute of Technology. All wing and vertical stabilizer templates were cut using an NC laser cutter. The structure of the vertical … Read more
[Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles by Dick and his collaborators on the construction of each major component of the Concordia. There’s much more to come. Watch this space!] The man-hours required to build a prototype sailplane with the level of complexity of Concordia is staggering. Like most large prototype … Read more
As noted earlier in the design section when discussing handling qualities, the horizontal stabilizer was sized using criteria involving a dimensionless coefficient known as the horizontal tail volume coefficient. Based on known good handling qualities of other sailplanes and the value of their tail volume coefficients, one can size the horizontal tail for Concordia. With … Read more