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Circular runways?

I don’t understand how they will achieve the claimed headwind for all three planes landing at the same time. Much of what that bloke (in the BBC video) is saying is self evident nonsense.

Also the centrifugal force is speed dependent, so they will have to choose the camber for some value of Vs and then as the plane slows down, it will drift towards the centre of the circle. That one is probably doable with fast exits.

As regards EU funding, this is one of 10,000 examples of the EU grants machine having penetrated into every imaginable orifice of human endeavour, hence many people end up out of work if/when this ends (e.g. Brexit, for Brits, with much of academic “research” demolished) or when the bogus project comes to nothing and they haven’t been able to get funding for a successor so as to keep themselves in the money.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

How would you fund research, Peter?

And this can happen elsewhere, just look across the pond where scientists will take a hard hit if the current budget proposal was implemented.

It’s politics, but you started it.

I would like to see a system where the assessment is done by smart people, so far fewer bogus applications. And the grants are much more accessible.

The current system creates massive machines employing large numbers of people whose job is to apply for the grants, which creates dependency. And the low assessment competence creates more dependency among the “researchers”.

Only academia can run the complicated processes. Some large companies can get it but the criteria are cynical.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Damn, why didn’t I think of that? It would have made our main runway at Glenswinton much less boring.

But seriously, is this really such a crackpot idea?

I guess that most light GA pilots have landed on runways with significant horizontal and vertical curvature, and Brian Lansgurgh (whose splendid Tailwheeler’s Journal website seems to have gone t-u) has been teaching the technique of landing on an irrigation circle for years.

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

Would such a circular runway take less or the same room as a large international airport? [who cares, it will never happen – it’s not a space station]

Taking Alternative Aviation a step further, why not rig steam catapults and (very large) tailhooks to large jets and we could reduce the size of airports massively. Sudden acceleration/deceleration would be unpleasant for passengers but think of all the land that would be freed up. [apologies – I am being flippant and rather stupid in this remark so don’t flame me please – I am simply appalled that meaningful funds have apparently been invested in this idea].

@Jacko – you’re right re TJ website – it was working over Christmas I think…?

CKN
EGLM (White Waltham)

Clearly, there are some fine smoking materials available in Holland, but I don’t at all like the idea of a circle; much too “Roman”. And the current prejudice towards straight/parallel/rectangular strips of blacktop is just as austere and unimaginative.

Aesthetically, and to facilitate multiple simultaneous landings, I favour a sinusoidal runway – preferably with variable wavelenth and amplitude to suit different aircraft categories.

Would also be nice for those of us who haven’t altogether mastered conventional undercarriage.

There, that’s my Friday afternoon contribution for this week. And (since they’re kind enough to send shoe and handbag money to Mrs J for being a poor farmer’s wife), I’ll not even send a bill for my idea to Brussels.

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

@CKN – I asked Brian about it, and he said that several people in the UK have the same trouble – probably some weird DNS issue, rather than the CAA or GCHQ censoring subversive colonial flying anecdotes.

The solution, for the time being, is to access https://tailwheelersjournal.com via a US proxy server such as https://www.proxysite.com/

That seems to route around the roadblock.

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

How exactly would an ILS or even Cat II or III approach work in this case ? How many approaches and glideslopes will be constructed here ? Which minima will apply ? What is the limitation for overshooting or landing a bit longer – would they put the 747 or 320 into the bushes when it takes a bit more flare ? How to cope with the changing wind direction during takeoff roll ? Will there be a new word like “whirly crosswind” ?

How would they organise the SID’s and arrival routes ? And how would they link the starting and landing aircraft to the airspace and airways which I assume will stay as they are ?

The circular grass fields of the 1920ies were just large patches where one at least could takeoff and landing a straight line.

This idea here – well, I agree with Peter. And maybe the smoking stuff was a bit overdue in this case.

Last Edited by EuroFlyer at 18 Mar 10:27
Safe landings !
EDLN, Germany

Whenever I see things like this, I always think of Adam Savage famous quote:

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

Oh, now I know: It’s an effort to give the DME arc new glory. I knew there was a solution LOL

Safe landings !
EDLN, Germany
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