Air Plot Display

Votes: 3
Views: 1794

I want to reduce airplane loss of control accidents. Some of these accidents happen because the flyer's imagination does not match reality. Since the air is invisible, our imaginations could be wrong or confused.

I have seen air made visible by very sparse, oversize and buoyant snowflakes. In a near lifetime of flying I have seen this only once. I have reminded myself by driving a car through heavy snowfall.

A statistical sample of true airspeeds ahead could be displayed on a heads-up-display. LIDAR does the sampling, a microprocessor, the statistics then a graphic device puts up synthesized snowflakes spreading out from the direction through the air. The earth is irrevelant to this display. The displayed snowflakes only show the motion between the airplane and nearby air ahead. Physics suggests I can choose a useful frame of reference for airplane motion. Nearby air, undisturbed by the airplane is the frame of reference.

Although an approximation, some marks on the display show:

Angle for max coefficient of lift

Angle for max square root of coefficient of lift divided by coefficient of drag

Angle of max coefficient of lift divided by coefficient of drag

No lift angle

Airplane longitudinal axis to fly straight into the relative wind

Concentrating on the fake snowflakes is not required. The eye perceives the snowflake motion without effort. Peripheral vision allows the sharp central vision to watch elsewhere.

I believe this is novel and original. Patented displays of angle of attack and yaw display as gauges or lights except for wool yarn yaw strings.

The target market is kit-built experimental airplanes.

A LIDAR sensor for this device would be created specifically. However I first saw a LIDAR true airspeed sensor in the mid 1980s. I realized then that my observation of snowflake divergence could be synthesized.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    David Jones
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Profession:
    retired
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    1
  • David is inspired by:
    A chance observation of nature. From the back seat in a military airplane I observed snowflakes
    diverging.
  • Software used for this entry:
    windows paint
  • Patent status:
    none