Aerocart cargo gliders

Post by rkomorn » Sat, Oct 11, 2025, 6:22 PM UTC

sysguest wrote: post #66

gervwyk wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a masters on design a autopilot to optimize fuel consumption in formation flight. What is interesting about the aerodynamics is that if placed in the upwash wake of the leader, you are essentially increasing the wing aspect ratio of the system, resulting in gains for both the leader and the follower aircraft. Feels very unintuitive but basically the donut spool is larger and the combined wing is bigger in the s…

could you provide a link for this? I'm interested but I'm not sure what to google for