wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 May 2004 03:38:29 GMT, "Michael Daly"
wrote:

On 10-May-2004, ospam (MBOSCHERT) wrote:

Not true! Canards are not rudders they are wings providing lift.
They prodive
stability holding the nose up. They are set to loose lift at an
angle slightly
less then the main wing. That way when the nose comes up lift is
lost and the
nose comes back down. This helps keep the plane more stable not
less. Also
the plane is less likely to stall. No computers in those little one
and two
seaters from Rutan.

What happens when the canard loses lift first in level flight? Then
the nose
dives and keeps diving.

No, the nose dives, airspeed increases, the canard starts lifting
(flying) again and the cycle repeats until you contact
the ground.

There is nothing upstable about the canard configuration at all. Bert
Rutan's highly successful canard designs have set new standards for
efficiency. The first non stop global flight was made by "Voyageur", another
canard design from Bert Rutan
See:
http://www.dickrutan.com/page2.html

The canard configuration was chosen for the first really successful man
powered aircraft designs the Gossamer Condor and Albatross, designed by Paul
Mcready's team
See:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Pho.../ECN-12604.jpg

With the canard configuration both wings generate lift as opposed to the
conventional configuration where normally the tailplane acts downwards.

Regards,

Roy