100" Kinetic Sailplane 357mph Dynamic Soaring World Record

found it muck :)

thats almost as fast as my piper cub goes.

Actually, altitude plays almost no role in building the speeds here. This is not a simple trade off from kinetic energy to potential energy (speed or altitude). Dynamic soaring relies only the velocity difference between the air on the front of the slope (40-50mph wind) and the air on the back of the slope(+/- 0mph).

Outstanding work. Even for the videographer. And radar man.

For the disbelievers, this sailplane is "powered" by the sun. Really. Sun causes wind, wind hits mountains and is curved up. The vertical component of this wind provides the energy to lift the plane, counteracting gravity. Flying orbits, it COULD climb until the wind no longer curves up from the mountains. Instead, the pilot keeps it in an orbit, varying the altitude to maintain the energy. Speed or altitude.

Crazy!

Ahh, good. A speed demond can go slow :)

How fast do the flaps slow it down?

Wow that
is amazing.

wow, just noticed you beat the land speed record by 5mph

wow the wings can really take some force.

The plane is equiped with flaps to slow it down for landing. It can 'hover' in about 35mph of headwind...