US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

Next Thermal entered by Dr. Peter Lissaman on March 11, 2012
Dr Peter B. S. Lissaman

He was at some of our early movement-formation meetings. Bee-flight, HPA airfoils, and a friend to many in the hang gliding world. Southern California connections. Close to Paul MacCready. Advised many early hang glider designers.
News of the death of Dr Lissaman, the designer of the L7669 wing section on 11th March 2012 and Vice President of Aerovironment Inc.
Obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sgvtribune/obituary.aspx?n=lissamanpeter&pid=156494146

See great classic photo: http://www.airportjournals.com/Photos/0 ... 0012_3.jpg
Left: Dr. Paul MacCready
Next to Paul is Bryan Allen who muscle-powered flew across the English Channel.
At the right is Dr. Peter Lissaman
Dr. Peter Lissaman was an Otto member in Self-Soar Association and early subscriber/contributor to Low & Slow.
He worked closely with Paul MacCready on the Gossamer Condor.
"In the early 1970s, Dr Paul B. MacCready and Dr Peter B. S. Lissaman took a fresh look and came up with the Gossamer Condor."
Some of his works can be followed: http://tinyurl.com/LIFTtoDrPeterLissaman

Peter,
Thank you for you and your works. You were and yet are an important spirit in the renaissance of personal free flight… vol libre … self-soaring.

Excerpt from the book Gossamer Odyssey by Morton Grosser:

In 1972 Kiceniuk entered Cal Tech and asked MacCready's help with a design for a swept-wing monoplane that no one could dismiss as a mere ground-skimmer. MacCready encouraged him and introduced him to Peter Lissaman, who was generous with aerodynamic advice and calculations. The result of this interaction was Icarus V, a world landmark in ultralight gliders

I informally was reading the USHGA archive CD last winter, with the specific intention of understanding how Taras could have evolved his designs from Batso to Icarus so quickly. It became clear from the archive and the above quoted Grosser book that he had access to some pretty amazing minds along the way.

JoeF...as an aside...It seems you had a real participatory role in the life cycle of the first Icarus, in particular testing its ultimate stress levels. An reflections on this would be of great interest to me.

Merlin,
The Lissaman flow touched many to flower the hang gliding renaissance. Thanks for pulling up the interface with Taras Kiceniuk, Jr. on the Icarus V.

You asked about the Icarus I:
1972? The Icarus I followed the Dunne tailless biplane or a Biplane Tailless Glider, (possibly Lippisch) c.1920, but with smaller wings. And in this case with an alloy that was not up to my editorial testing at Torrance Beach cliffs. Taras let me have a flight. After being airborne and diving to get airspeed while still about 2 m away from the sloping cliff ... abut 3 seconds from launch, a slight push back for a slight rounding out of the higher speed, the two wing halves folded on the cockpit and me; by butt hit the hard sandstone and I obtained a memento for life that is fully managed and does not block me from running and jumping and flying. The Icarus I is in the backroom at the Smithsonian Institute waiting for someone to resurrect it. An Icarus II was quickly built by Taras with higher-grade alloy. He had a strong flight run with the Icarus II. Both wings had firm soaring flights by Taras. My body weight was then at 188 lb and today at 205 lb while Taras was ...I am guessing 155 lb.
See page: http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/air ... gWing.html that holds image of the Icarus I
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiceniuk_Icarus_II

I have been wondering what might be done with the Icarus II direction with carbon-fiber. Carbon Icarus Tailless Biplane Hang Glider?


Dunne biplane 1910 art: http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost ... e_1910.jpg
Site on John William Dunne:
http://www.earlyaviators.com/edunne.htm

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/lippisch_biplane_glider_350.jpg

a slight push back for a slight rounding out of the higher speed, the two wing halves folded on the cockpit and me

Watching Taras soaring the Icarus in Big Blue Sky, he seems to yaw it around gently ... of course, just as you might in light lift. But I can't help but think a fairly coordinated steep turn would have just exploded that wing even with his weight on it. Seems the Icarus came very close to its namesake. And I think if we had lost you or Taras at that early point it would have had a significant effect on the evolution of the sport.