"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 12:17:56 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:


"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
. ..
On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 11:01:04 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
m...
On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 07:28:17 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:
...
This is the sort of accomplishment that has real significance:
http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/

In what sense?

"Could any more striking contrast be imagined than the weariness
and
exhaustion of Scott and Black and the pleasant excitement of
Parmentier's passengers, who flew in the world's most notable
race
as
tourists?"

First place went to a custom British racer, second to a standard
US
airliner which stopped for passengers. The DC-2 was an early
version
of the classic DC-3, the 247D its similar Boeing competitor. The
British winner was made of wood.


--
Ed Huntress

Are you really unable to see the significance of an American
commercial airliner nearly beating a purpose-built British racing
plane?

-jsw

So what was the "significance"? That a commercially oriented
airplane
could fly that route?

The "significance" in the case you're talking about isn't a matter
of
ground-breaking achievement. It's a matter of the state of
commercial
aircraft at that time. From a business perspective, I'm sure it
was
significant. From the perspective of human achievement, not much.

I know the DC-2 and I've flown several times in DC-3s, including a
wild ride in the Canadian subarctic. They were advanced aircraft
for
their time. Very nice.

--
Ed Huntress

Solar aircraft show that we can build an airframe too light and
fragile to carry more than its own propulsion. But we've known how
since the human powered aircraft flew.

http://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-d...se-plane-work/
"Amazingly, the 8hp produced by the Solar Impulse's engines is the
same amount of power the Wright brothers had available to them in
their historic 1903 flight."

I really doubt if anyone cares, Jim. It isn't about the airframe or
the horsepower. It's about doing it on solar energy.

Except for the most phlegmatic of engineers g, it caught the
attention of a lot of people -- in a positive way.

--
Ed Huntress

The only people who might care about the energy parameters are the
very few who can contribute to this technology.