Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: The joy of FORTRAN
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:29:48 +0000
Organization: A little, after lunch
Lines: 63
Message-ID: <vqruns$2jeer$9@dont-email.me>
References: <pan$96411$d204da43$cc34bb91$1fe98651@linux.rocks>
 <mddfrk08b0z.fsf@panix5.panix.com> <20250227080310.0000604d@gmail.com>
 <vqdtf3$3cfel$1@dont-email.me> <vqer0u$4v4$2@reader1.panix.com>
 <m30ve0FnaglU2@mid.individual.net>
 <arOcneLO8IpNTlb6nZ2dnZfqnPadnZ2d@giganews.com>
 <m32bvhFttl7U1@mid.individual.net> <CHYyP.193515$zz8b.191713@fx09.iad>
 <m33o3uF5o99U1@mid.individual.net> <vqifen$bd1g$3@dont-email.me>
 <k6WcnceGQYGFuFD6nZ2dnZfqnPSdnZ2d@giganews.com>
 <m34t11Fau7tU1@mid.individual.net>
 <A8idnQ0GwtcNylD6nZ2dnZfqn_ednZ2d@giganews.com>
 <mdda59tveb2.fsf@panix5.panix.com> <875xkgdgts.fsf@comcast.net.invalid>
 <--OcnbqJkLeg00z6nZ2dnZfqn_oAAAAA@giganews.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2025 13:29:49 +0100 (CET)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="3478bc673219af77b1736ea27ae0a60d";
	logging-data="2734555"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19JaIfhXpEMXWDKg25jOjleCCAue1Bfpt8="
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Cancel-Lock: sha1:FGec/+AUnD0Syym6A1aZ0BtGcqI=
Content-Language: en-GB
In-Reply-To: <--OcnbqJkLeg00z6nZ2dnZfqn_oAAAAA@giganews.com>

On 12/03/2025 09:04, c186282 wrote:
> On 3/10/25 11:51 AM, Don_from_AZ wrote:
>> Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> writes:
>>
>>> c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> writes:
>>>
>>>> On 3/9/25 3:07 AM, rbowman wrote:
>>>
>>>    [ snip ]
>>>
>>>>> It uses wing warping rather than ailerons. I asked him how he 
>>>>> learned to
>>>>> fly it and he said you keep taxing a little faster and getting a 
>>>>> few feet
>>>>> higher off the ground until you decide to go for it.
>>>
>>>> Wing-warping decidedly WORKS. The downside is that it only works at 
>>>> very LOW
>>>> speeds. Beyond that the necessary flexibility works against you - 
>>>> flapping/
>>>> oscillation sets in. Seeing this, Curtiss came to the idea of the 
>>>> aileron.
>>>
>>> The original Tom Swift books date to before Curtiss, so that Tom Swift's
>>> airplane (or was it still aeroplane?) used wing warping.
>>
>> The Wright brothers and others were trying to fly like the birds could,
>> right? It doesn't seem surprising to me that they would hit upon wing
>> warping before thinking of ailerons.
> 
>    And so they did.
> 
>    But it was not the future-looking solution.
> 
>    As I said, nobody can think of *everything* ...

In the end the key to powered flight turns out to be simple
Enough power to weight ratio.

Almost any shit will fly with enough power.

The Wright brothers built their  own, and as far as I am concerned that 
is what they get my salute for. The airframe was horrible, barely stable 
  and barely flew, but the engine pushed it into the air just fast 
enough to take off.

Once they showed it was possible, the sky (sic!) was the limit, and 
people started looking at engines that were more powerful, and light, 
and at control and stability issues, so that 10 years later by the 
outbreak of WWI there were 100bhp or more planes in the air with 
ailerons, that could climb to the limits of human endurance, and top it 
at over 100mph.

What made powered flight possible was the gasoline engine, and the 
aluminium block
If the Wright bros hadn't done it someone else would. There is argument 
to this day as to whether Santos Dumont beat them to it...

-- 
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.
-- Yogi Berra