Welcome to Nighthawk Gliders!

8/14/2018

Welcome to Nighthawk Gliders!

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Hello, Friends! Welcome to Nighthawk Gliders!

We are very excited to announce our new website! Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting us. If you are interested in "enjoying flight and enjoying life," then this is the place to be!

I suppose an introduction is in order... yes?

In this picture we have the Williamson brothers. I am the scruffy guy on the right, Brad. The other scruffy guy on the left is my brother Bruce. On September 15th, 2016 we decided to enjoy flight and enjoy life by starting a YouTube channel and website called "Nighthawk Gliders."

Why did we start Nighthawk Gliders?
Well, we did so initially to have some fun and show off our fun-flying balsa gliders... But, we quickly realized our channel can serve a better and even bigger purpose. Instead of just "showing off" our creations, we want to inspire others in building their own aircraft. Therefore, not only do we want our channel to be fun and entertaining, but we want it to be informational, resourceful, and educational.

Are we experts?
No, we are NOT "experts," not by any stretch of the word. We do NOT have a Ph.D. in Physics, we are NOT engineers, and we've never contributed before to the field of aeronautical engineering. For the most part, we're just a couple of guys who strongly believe that learning NEVER stops after high school or college and we enjoy a hands-on approach to solving problems. At a minimum, we hope to acquire some knowledge in this field, we want to share and teach you something new!

What will you find here and on our YouTube Channel?
1) First and foremost-- you'll find family-friendly content. Our channel appeals to folks of all ages. We inspire the younger kids to watch us and learn something new about flight. We also encourage the "older kids" to share and watch our channel with their children and/or grandchildren!

2) You'll see a showcase of our creations and watch us flying them. We're always learning and experimenting with new designs, improving flight endurance, and tinkering with performance. That's just fun for us! All in all, I know we're all just standing upon the shoulders of giants. But, we are starting on the ground floor here and learning the basics-- and we hope to work our way up to becoming experts in this field. (And boy, do we have a long way to go!)

3) You'll find some detailed tutorials on how to build some of our gliders. Yeah, we're spilling the beans on our techniques. We encourage everyone to join us, learn something new, and try building something fun today. We hope our video tutorials can be useful for everyone, including schools, clubs, and/or educators.

4) You'll enjoy some silly-fun entertainment. Part of the fun on our channel is coming up with new and exciting ways to enjoy flight and enjoy life. Bruce and I are competitive-- we like to challenge each other with newly inventive and exciting games. Have you ever lost a glider in a thermal? Can your glider hit a target? What is your craziest design that flies? It's all about being inventive, having some fun!

5) And finally, you'll see us doing collaborations and making new friends with those who share a common interest in this hobby/sport of flight. There are a lot of people out there who are enjoying flight and enjoying life-- and that is awesome!

Please subscribe to our YouTube channel, join our community, and feel free to participate in our discussions.
As we live and learn all that is joyous about flight, we are looking forward to providing you with helpful videos, information, resources, blogs, etc. We also encourage you to join us and share your learning experiences with us. Will you participate in our discussions and share with us what you have learned too? Are you willing to show us your successes and failures? Let's all fly together and solve some challenging problems. We think this is going to be fun and exciting time for everyone!

Well, thanks again, for joining us here at Nighthawk Gliders!

Until next time, my friends... Enjoy flight and enjoy life.
Brad & Bruce Williamson

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Brad Williamson, co-creator of Nighthawk Gliders, enjoys learning about the many aspects of flight and aeromodelling-- especially when it involves free-flight gliders made from balsa wood. From 2012-2016 he helped coach Science Olympiad teams for a local middle school. In the state of Indiana, his students placed 1st in rotor egg drop, 3rd in Balsa Gliders, and 3rd in Helicopters. Since then, Brad was hooked on building and flying things made from balsa. His contributions here stem from his love around the hobby of flight and his desire to be creative and share information. Along with his brother, Bruce, their goal is to inspire a new audience (be them young or old) to simply "enjoy flight and enjoy life!"

Herbert Kuttner

11/4/2018 09:34:28 am

I love tie videos but they go so fast that I do not have time to record the supply list of balsa / glue etc
Could you publish it on your web sight for reference also do you seal your balsa etc
Thank you
Herb Kuttner

Brad

12/3/2018 08:59:02 am

Hi Herb,

Yeah, that's a good idea... that's something I should talk about in a future video. Thanks!

I'll go ahead and list some things here...

All wood I use is Balsa (not Bass). Selection of wood is key. For the wings, I use C-Grain 3/32. C-Grain is the type of wood you find that has a "marble" look. You'll want the wood to be flat (not warped). Get a sheet that is fairly light-- say a sheet of 3/32x3x36" weighing between 17-22 grams... give or take. Inspect the sheet thru light and look for any dense ribbons. Pick balsa where ribbons are straight across the sheet for good balance.
If you are making a Sandpiper 12 from my tutorial, cut the fuse from the more denser side of the sheet (if there is one). Or you can use A-Grain 1/8" thick balsa for fuse. A 1/8x3x36" sheet weighing around 40g should be ok. For the tail, in my Sandpiper 12 tutorial video, I mentioned 1/16" balsa (sanded down), but, 1/32" is actually better (flat with no airfoil). If you get 1/32x3x36" sheets around 20g or less, that should work. Again, finding wood with no warping is key.

Regarding glue, I use CA (cyanoacrylate), often called "super glue." I prefer the Gorilla brand Super Glue which is bottle with blue label. I believe it is a medium to thick glue. I don't use the gel, but you could if you like it. The gel foams up with CA Accelerant, so I don't use that glue. Gorilla is not a sponsor (lol), but I love it! You can also find it in most stores. Balsa and/or CA glue can be found in most hobby stores.

Hope that helps! Enjoy flight and enjoy life, my friend!
Brad

Dr. Michael Cubbin link

12/1/2018 08:11:04 pm

Hey Brad and Bruce!
Great stuff here and on the YouTube channel! I have been the lead coach for our school over the past 4 years and we are crushing it (or so we think!) https://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/Bay_Academy
We did Elastic Launched Gliders for two years and never had much success. We are determined this year to turn that around. I recently had all of our builders throw away their designs and start building Sandpiper 12"s. I think the only way we are going to win is if we build our own - and a lot of them - fly them every day and tweak! Our gliders are flying well so far, but are coming down way too fast. We are flying in a gym with a ceiling height of about 31 meters. I remember a few years back, the best gliders were shot almost vertically and then assumed a nice circular glide pattern. Can you give me any tips on taking the Sandpiper 12" inside and giving it a longer hang time? Thanks for all the info!
Mike

12/3/2018 09:49:28 am

Hi Mike,

Yeah, looks like you guys at Bay Academy are gaining success! Well done in the past few years, and we wish you luck this year. Glad to hear your gliders are flying well, but you do ask a very tough question... one that is common for everyone who wishes to be super-competitive. "How do I get my glider to fly longer?"
I ask myself this question all the time and still struggle to find the ultimate solution... but, here's my 2 cents worth.

First off, I'll admit that the Sandpiper 12 (may not) be the best glider for an indoor competition. I believe the main reason is with it's small wing area and a root chord of 2". A glider with root chord of 3" might be better. However, the Sandpiper 12 can still do very well if you have the space to fly it and/or apply some mods to accommodate for limited space.

You keys to success: Maximize launch height, minimize transition time (time rolling from launch to glide), maximize glide ratio, and finally-- build lots of gliders!

If you have a ceiling height of 31 meters, that is INCREDIBLE! Wow! I would imagine most places students would compete in would be a much smaller gym with much, much lower ceiling height.

Your first goal is to (ignore weight) and build a sturdy glider that can handle launch speeds and reach as high as possible. Then, once you have a working design, build more gliders of same design that are lighter and lighter that still reach same altitude.

Second goal is to improve transition. Each glider may launch differently and you need to discover best method. Launching pitch, roll, and speed matters. Label each glider and document how it is to be launched. You may apply design changes to see if you can get better transitions. For example, the Sandpiper 12 has a dihedral wing... you may want to change that to a polyhedral wing by adding joints 1 1/2" from wing tips and lessening the main center joint dihedral angle.

Lastly is improving glide ratio. This can be tough. Again, tinkering with overall weight matters, but so does wing area. For instance, a glider with a 3" wing root chord might work really well if the trailing edge is sanded pretty thin. Although glide ratio may be better, these designs might not reach great heights and can be more finicky when launching at speeds.

I'd say weight management is important, but not the final word. For example, if you build a 6g glider that flies higher and longer than a 4g glider, then, obviously the 6g glider wins!

Anyway, in the end, I strongly suggest that you build and build and build... because just by sheer tenacity and numbers, you'll get one or two good gliders that will be super-strong competitors! And also, have your students document as much as possible. Wing weight, fuse weight, tail weight, overall weight, dihedral angles, wing placement, tail placement, nose weight, CG, etc... Because if they get some successful gliders, they will have records of what made them work so well. They should also have a log on how to launch each glider because each glider may be different. I have a technique I'll have to make a video about (probably sooner than later!)

Enjoy flight, enjoy life, and Good Luck!
Brad

Welcome to Nighthawk Gliders!

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