Original Posted By: "Kent Hallsten"
C'mon guys, there is no such thing as being "sucked up" from the top ofanything. If something is being "sucked up", it is being pushed up from thebottom. You do not suck a drink through a straw, you lower the pressureabove and the ambient pressure pushes it up into your mouth. A wing is thesame thing, the pressure is lower on top, so the pressure below pushes it up(in combination with some other forces). The reason the fabric bows up onthe top is that the wing is not airtight and some of the higher pressure airgets into the wing and pushes the fabric up between the ribs. The bowing upof the bottom fabric is not as exaggerated because the pressure differentialabove and below the lower fabric is not as great as the top.As for leaving off the rib stitching, I'd like to build an airplane withouthaving to put in all those pesky bolts and nuts, too, but you gotta. Youare building a fabric airplane, fabric has to be stitched, you knew thatwhen you started, get on with it. You want to avoid rib stitching, build anRV. Rib stitching is actually very easy once you get the hang of it, whichtakes about ten minutes (I gotta re-learn it every time I do it).Gene R________________________________________________________________________________Subject: Pietenpol-List: Cockpit mockup / "Wonders of a wood airplane" articleDate: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 07:54:22 -0500