Post AzV3BUO1fReKziyBlo by FortyTwo@noauthority.social
(DIR) More posts by FortyTwo@noauthority.social
(DIR) Post #AzV1ga1Aa2sLWpybSK by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T11:35:53Z
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Hey why are all the fixed wing drones symmetrical? Most of those things are meant to stay in the air over a specific spot and survey whatever's sitting there, so they mostly just circle something, which would make having one wing longer than the other wing more efficient, no? 🤔🤔🤔🤔
(DIR) Post #AzV2eXyvHQFUaXWJ8q by wy7usa@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T11:46:43Z
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@ThatCrazyDude Shape them like a boomerang so they always return to base too.
(DIR) Post #AzV3BUO1fReKziyBlo by FortyTwo@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T11:52:40Z
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@wy7usa @ThatCrazyDude I would think taking off with an asymmetrical wing setup would be a nightmare...
(DIR) Post #AzV3sZJREE2ciyMjwm by Alvin@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T12:00:27Z
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@ThatCrazyDude 👎
(DIR) Post #AzV4SJnsMt6535eL32 by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T12:06:55Z
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@FortyTwo @wy7usa yeah, and flying in a straight line would suck as well. But then, you could probably compensate for that by adding drag on the longer side. That's how B2 bombers manage to stay in the air without vertical stabilizer, kinda.Besides, I'd imagine you could take off with symmetrical airframe and then change your wing geometry when you start orbiting whatever you want to orbit
(DIR) Post #AzV4vl2ACluPttN1Bw by wy7usa@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T12:12:14Z
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@ThatCrazyDude @FortyTwo A single-engine plane’s propeller creates torque that makes it roll the other way. In theory you could fix that with uneven wings, but nobody does. It would mess up handling and stalls. Instead they just angle the engine a bit, use trim tabs, or tweak the tail and wing setup to keep it flying straight.
(DIR) Post #AzV5Vi6qYV5VFthjSC by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T12:18:45Z
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@wy7usa @FortyTwo yes, but that's because your average plane is meant to fly from a to b, not to circle one spot on the ground for hors or days on end.When your goal is to circle something and your wings are symmetrical, you will either fly in a bank all the time, which will decrease your lift or you'll be using your rudder all the time which will increase your drag
(DIR) Post #AzV7AzZcd3ejFLPclU by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T12:37:24Z
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@wy7usa @FortyTwo basically what I'm saying is that since every time you're course correcting you're losing energy and you're correcting all the time when you fly in circles, wouldn't it kinda make sense to have an airframe that naturally wants to fly in circles for surveillance drones and such? 🤔
(DIR) Post #AzVAkvaREGGBAXcZP6 by Fox@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T13:17:30Z
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@ThatCrazyDude @wy7usa @FortyTwo Hmmm....Well riddle me this. Birds do both of these activities, fly straight and in circles, (eagles, vultures etc). They're symmetrical and use angles, yet can use thermals, wind and anything else to keep a loft.I don't think the problem is symmetry. I think it's a design of how air flows over the surfaces and how to deflect and move a body to navigate instead of using drag on a rigid surface. 🧐
(DIR) Post #AzVAwaTLYdBJ9urcEC by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T13:19:37Z
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@Fox @wy7usa @FortyTwo you're not wrong, but consider this: birds can and do change their wing geometry depending on what they want to do in the air. It's not like they have x inches of wing on each side and that's it ;)
(DIR) Post #AzVBDNegSrnIKXArvU by Fox@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T13:22:39Z
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@ThatCrazyDude @wy7usa @FortyTwo That's exactly what I said. 🤣 You can look at our official attempts like the Concord and F-14 Tomcat. They change the positions of wings. Birds are just orders of magnitude more efficient at it.
(DIR) Post #AzVBNAvgdL3zl2nWCW by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T13:24:25Z
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@Fox @wy7usa @FortyTwo yeah, but tomcat doesn't change it's wing geometry independently for each wing. It's always symmetrical. Birds can move their wings independently of one another.
(DIR) Post #AzVBXfqCYmUMWYEpX6 by Fox@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T13:26:19Z
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@ThatCrazyDude @wy7usa @FortyTwo
(DIR) Post #AzVBx3m2iOPBzSOjZo by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T13:30:54Z
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@Fox @wy7usa @FortyTwo yeah.... I think I'll go listen some human music on the earth radio 🤣
(DIR) Post #AzVCNkHRIeIVLnoA9A by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T13:35:44Z
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@Fox @wy7usa @FortyTwo but jokes aside, to kinda illustrate my point, consider a hand glider. Those things are far more efficient than anything with an engine, and the only way they're steered is by shifting the center of gravity, which effectively makes the wing longer on one side than on the other side
(DIR) Post #AzVGimkDjUHetJYflw by Fox@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T14:24:21Z
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@ThatCrazyDude @wy7usa @FortyTwo 😉 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithopter
(DIR) Post #AzVHVF0Nxm8eRME01o by ThatCrazyDude@noauthority.social
2025-10-23T14:33:07Z
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@Fox @wy7usa @FortyTwo well, kinda. Those things are more about using the flapping wings as the means of propulsion, rather than having the wing geometry actually optimized for a specific purpose.And frankly, the concept was kinda being explored back in the day.Just look up asymmetrical aircraft on Google.It's just that it was never mass produced, because those things naturally fly in circles, and apparently covering straight line distance was always the priority, for whatever reason.