PARIS laid bare in intimate snaps We thought those of you who've been loyally following our "appallingly successful" Paper Aircraft Released Into Space project might enjoy a few behind-the-scenes views of our crack team and local Spanish support operatives as the historic attempt unfolded. For those of you seeking hires copies on Flickr, or video from YouTube, …
I'm not actually convinced the plane actually flew. Since it was found so close to the point where it separated from the balloon, the proper term might be "plummet," "nosedive," or just plain "fall." None of those conditions are really aerodynamic flight.
I use to fly model rockets with glider payloads, the usual idea was to build the glider so it would fly in circles, so it didn't just go on a straight line into the next county. But this has to be tested before the flight, to make sure it has the ability to fly level with a slight bank. Did you actually flight test Vulture 1 before dropping it? Because the project results seem to me, to indicate the plane just dropped from the sky instead of flew. On your next attempt, I would like to see some evidence that the aircraft has aerodynamic flight properties somewhat better than a falling rock.
While it was all very impressive, I was really hoping to see more 'flying' from this plane. It wouldn't actually have taken much extra weight and complexity to add an ardupilot to the existing GPS etc. With that plus a couple of small servos, it would have turned into a fully fledged rudder/elevator plane that could fly itself to GPS waypoints and land wherever you wanted.
How much cooler would it have been to present a KMZ file showing the track spelling out 'Paris 2010' across the whole country?
"It flew - or it would be more damaged"
With no control surfaces, and no flight tests? They should go and buy a lottery ticket straight away. Only one needed, with that sort of luck.
It fluttered, or maybe sycamored down. It wasn't damaged because it's very light for it's surface area, so it's terminal velocity was pretty low.
Don't get me wrong, it was a fascinating project. But it could have been so much more with just a few small changes.
It wasn't a plane, it was a plane shaped object.
While I appreciate that its a high visibility orange, the traditionalist in me wants to point out that British experimental aircraft used yellow for marking them out.
Though why the Boulton Paul P.120 (to E.27/49) was in overall gloss black with sparse yellow trim escapes me.
Yellow went out of fashion in the 60s. The best high-visibility colour scheme ever was the red/white/blue one used on experimental MoD aircraft since the 70s. Dark blue undersides, white top sides, red wingtips and empennage.
Like this one:
http://www.angels-20.co.uk/Published/254_5491.jpg
Back when I was an RAF cadet they were in the process of re-painting all their training aircraft from white and orange to black. It seems pretty obvious in hindsight but after years of experimentation they'd discovered that nothing stands out against blue sky, white clouds or even the varied palette of the ground quite as well as gloss black.
At night the colour is irrelevant obviously and the aircraft are lit up like Christmas trees.
Never been entirely convinced about the RAF's current penchant for black trainers. The point of the MoD scheme is that the aircraft's attitude is immediately apparent, due to the contrast between upper and lower surfaces, and the red tail and wingtips. Lower surfaces are dark to stand out against the sky, upper surfaces light to stand out against the ground.
Oh, and the previous trainer scheme was red (BS381C:537 Signal Red to be exact) and white, not orange!
A work of absolute genius that I've followed from the start and which has delivered spectacular results. Perhaps a rocket launch for LOHAN (the other sceptical Charles E, above, indicates this is possible)? Some sort of reliable, onboard camera system for the aircraft would also seem to be required.
Top work all round chaps, you're a credit to the memory of the British experimental aircraft programme!
Seriously well done! But as they say what next - those incontinent TV muppets (TopGear) have already tried to turn del's wheels into a shuttle - so I would skip the shuttle idea.
The rocket side of things gets messy (legally and logistically) however the idea of a (small) powered craft launched from a balloon suspended platform under ground (or pre-programmed) control.
Come on guys - a *real* into space launch for "minibucks"? While taking the wee-wee out of NASA every step of the way.
and, having now seen the payload/plane combo prior to launch, I can understand the suspicion that the two were frozen together and thus hampered in the release.
Job one for Vulture 2, then: some standoffs. I'd wager some straws would suffice.
Job two, or course, is the onboard camera, to shut up the moaners if nothing else.
PARIS team, I salute, you.
brilliant !!!!
Simply brilliant.
I've been following this from day 1 and have to say that the entire project, from start to finish, defines what the register is all about - good honest to goodness tongue in cheek tech reporting with the right amount of irreverence backed by genuine "hacker" mentality and the pursuit of fun.
Well done to all who worked on this and those who backed the project (including the pointy haired back room crew).
This is what is missing from life these days - the spirit of doing something for the fun of it.
I really really do hope that this is just the start, and not the end of this adventure, you guys have the makings of a real annual event here and the possibility to take it international (what with the possibility of a competition with the aussies and god knows who else).
Thank you for a great adventure, it was one of those very rare events that captured the kid in all of us.
I can't wait for the next one.
I told them about this when my wife asked what I was doing in front of my laptop, and when I told them about a paper airplane that sailed from 89,000 feet above the earth and was successfully recovered in the woods of Spain my boys thought it was cool. My wife reasonably wondered why people would do such a thing and both my boys and I rounded on her to say things like, "because it's cool, and awesome", etc. Good geek entertainment is what the boys and I surmised as was the intention of this, yes?
Good work to all again, thanks for truly inspiring entertainment/achievement.
You got the release box and you could easy make the mecanism to release higher up.
Devide the same amount of Helium into 4 or 5 balloons so it burst in higher altitud.
The only job is to build a bigger plane where it's room for a camcorder.
As the guys in Top Gear use to say "How hard can it be?"
Great pics, and an epic adventure for an EPIC WIN!
I can't believe the skeptics! Of course it flew! - proof undamaged landing, if it hadn't flown it would have tumbled, and from that altitude you would be recovering fragments!
As for the mysterious wing damage - did it have a trapped air pocket that blew out as the pressure dropped, I wonder? You can clearly see it on release from the balloon - maybe something on the underside of the main payload?
Anyway, brilliant job! Have another round (if you haven't been doing that all week!)
I'd just like to add my congratulations... an epic adventure which justly rewarded all the effort.
I was a bit negative on earlier stories, mainly because I'm more interested in aircraft than high-altitude ballooning - I was looking forward to PARIS's flight tests and finding out what her glide ratio was, etc, but your priorities were obviously elswhere.
The photos and video are superb - good job.
Inspiration to boffins in sheds everywhere, I've been enthralled and entertained since its inception and glad to see some of the press recognition it's received.
With regards to the "did it fly or did it fall" brigade, I pose one simple question; who cares? It's survived better than a BOAC Comet and they flew, so don't clog up these boards with your bleating. Go do it yourselves and post your pics and vids for us to comment on.
Cheers!
If we're not even allowed to ask why the 'plane' had no flight tests, no trimming, in fact nothing that a real 'plane' would have except a shape, then asking about camera angles will probably get you banned...
Seriously, what happened to the 'science depends on being allowed to ask questions' theme that usually pervades The Register? All I've ever said is that the 'aeroplane' part of the 'Paper Aeroplane Released Into Space' could have been so much more than it was, for not much extra effort.
And I just get slapped down every time...
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Why stand the heli bottle vertical? there is no liquid in it ... it would have worked just as well lying down, without the risk of it falling over. its never a good idea to stand gas cylinders upright unless they are chained to somethign solid ... otherwise, when they fall over, they either break someones leg, ig you are lucky .. or snap their valve assembly off and leave the scene like a large gas powered torpedo.
Lie it down next time chaps, paris prefers it lying down, so should you.
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