WKTaylor
Well-known member
- Sep 24, 2001
- 4,155
All... Ran across a fascinating article in Popular Mechanics...
The developer of 'this concept' in the 1950s, Nate Saint [who did a lot of missionary flying over jungles in South America], wanted to soft land and pick-up cargo from remote jungle clearings [no possibility of landing].
He developed a method for soft landing a 'cargo bucket' from a general aviation aircraft using a really long tether: hence items could be delivered and/or picked-up with remarkable ease. The aircraft would start a tight turn, letting out 'the bucket' on the tether. Once the tether was extended far enough, continued tight circling brought it to a '~dead stand-still' in the air; then the pilot simply lost enough altitude to let it 'soft land'. By continuing to circle the drop point in a precise manner [turn/altitude control], folks on the ground could off-load the cargo and on-load any item. To retrieve the bucket the pilot began to climb while maintaining the tight turn; as soon as the bucket was off the ground [going relatively 'straight-up'], and at a sufficiently high-enough altitude, the pilot slowly recovered from turning flight to 'straight and level' flight. To assist lowering and raising the cargo bucket, a winch system was used... along with a really strong line [I got the impression it was heavy duty fishing line, nylon string/rope or parachute-cord].
Apparently the USAF 'rediscovered' this ingenious concept and has begun experimenting with picking-up [retrieving] free-flight drones/drone-swarms [and probably other items of interest]. The idea is to lower a retrieving component to a relative stand-still in mid-air, so the drones just had to fly into the ~stationary component and be gently trapped. Hmmmm.... In my opinion, it remains to be seen if this method would work in a high intensity combat area... but DANG what a concept to try!!!
The "bucket drop", invented by a missionary trying to airdrop gifts to natives in Ecuador, would let warplanes release a swarm of drones and lasso them back.
NOTE. The first 'live passenger retrieved' was the Saint family dog [held in a harness... poor guy].
Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true.
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible.
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion"]
o Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. [Picasso]
The developer of 'this concept' in the 1950s, Nate Saint [who did a lot of missionary flying over jungles in South America], wanted to soft land and pick-up cargo from remote jungle clearings [no possibility of landing].
He developed a method for soft landing a 'cargo bucket' from a general aviation aircraft using a really long tether: hence items could be delivered and/or picked-up with remarkable ease. The aircraft would start a tight turn, letting out 'the bucket' on the tether. Once the tether was extended far enough, continued tight circling brought it to a '~dead stand-still' in the air; then the pilot simply lost enough altitude to let it 'soft land'. By continuing to circle the drop point in a precise manner [turn/altitude control], folks on the ground could off-load the cargo and on-load any item. To retrieve the bucket the pilot began to climb while maintaining the tight turn; as soon as the bucket was off the ground [going relatively 'straight-up'], and at a sufficiently high-enough altitude, the pilot slowly recovered from turning flight to 'straight and level' flight. To assist lowering and raising the cargo bucket, a winch system was used... along with a really strong line [I got the impression it was heavy duty fishing line, nylon string/rope or parachute-cord].
Apparently the USAF 'rediscovered' this ingenious concept and has begun experimenting with picking-up [retrieving] free-flight drones/drone-swarms [and probably other items of interest]. The idea is to lower a retrieving component to a relative stand-still in mid-air, so the drones just had to fly into the ~stationary component and be gently trapped. Hmmmm.... In my opinion, it remains to be seen if this method would work in a high intensity combat area... but DANG what a concept to try!!!
The "bucket drop", invented by a missionary trying to airdrop gifts to natives in Ecuador, would let warplanes release a swarm of drones and lasso them back.
NOTE. The first 'live passenger retrieved' was the Saint family dog [held in a harness... poor guy].
Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o We believe to be true what we prefer to be true.
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible.
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion"]
o Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist. [Picasso]
