Jump to content

Telltail on a Tomcat


KiraTheCat

Recommended Posts

In sailing, a telltail is a piece of string or yarn hung from the boom to give you an indication of where very light winds are coming from. Some sailboats also have these built into the sails to show you how the air is acting at different points on the sail, greatly facilitating proper trimming of the sails. The same is used in wind tunnels to test wing designs, showing how the air is behaving on the wing's surface. Old WWI aircraft had them as well.

 

But modern aircraft? I would think that at any considerable speed, boundary layer air would negate the usefulness. Case in point, a commercial pilot acquaintance of mine once told of a fly on the nose of his light twin who stayed fixed there throughout the flight, only flying off when they slowed to taxi speed at their destination. It was boundary layer air that held him there.

 

At 2:52, this is shown on the nose, just forward of the windscreen on the F-14. Movie BS, or reality?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68LWuahFmmw&feature=emb_rel_pause

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...