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Sharonian Aircraft?

"Hell's Gate" and "Hell Hath No Fury", by David, Linda Evans, and Joelle Presby, take the clash of science and magic to a whole new dimension...join us in a friendly discussion of this engrossing series!
Re: Sharonian Aircraft?
Post by Keith_w   » Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:06 pm

Keith_w
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Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:10 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Astelon wrote:
Keith_w wrote:In Hell's Gate, the 1st dragon we meet takes off by running and flapping it's wings. It needed to run down the stream bed because that was the only open space available for it to build up to takeoff speed. In other words, dragons need runways.


They might have a system that lets them negate inertia, but not create it. Therefore large dragons need room to build the speed for a take off, but not for a landing. This would also let them maneuver better than their weight would indicate, although there are likely to be some kind of trade off (slowing down while using any inertia cancelling). I'm not saying they have one, just considering the possibility.


Have you ever seen a goose or other large waterbird (not waders like egrets etc) take off? They spread their wings and flap them and start running across the surface of the water to build up take off speed. To land they come in and use their wings as air brakes by rotating them so the lower surface faces in the direction of travel. Then they hit the water to finish slowing down and complete their landing. I don't see any reason dragons could not use the same technique except to end up running a bit as they hit the land.
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A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
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