In 1933 a young designer named Kelly Johnson solved instability problems in the Lockheed Electra by swapping its conventional tail for a striking H-shaped one. With the flick of a switch, the craft also converts to a seaplane with hydrofoil blades. We, ahem, borrowed the landing gear from the Akoya luxury LSA, which has skis for backcountry snow. So it's not perfect-but it's fun! Try flying it yourself at /xplane. "This means that the nose will pull to the side during takeoff." "As a result, the vertical stabilizers are of very limited effectiveness at low speeds," Meyer says. He also notes that the aircraft's twin vertical stabilizers are not in the wash of the propeller. "You must add power gently, pulling the stick aft, to avoid nosing over." ![]() "Stability and control are good, but the prop is well above the center of gravity," Meyer says. The Flyer is airworthy but has its drawbacks. ![]() These figures form the basis of the simulation. ![]() He does this by breaking the plane into about 100 sections and analyzing the aerodynamics of each part. That accomplished, we sent the new configuration to Meyer so that he could model the notional aircraft in flight. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play
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