safety ideas for "flip overs"
 

Some of the best ideas seem really crazy to begin with. How about an airbag that would deploy either automatically, manually, or from a transmitter (like the remote control shut down on monster trucks)? Of course I have not done the engineering to figure anything out (nor am I smart enough to), but it is a thought anyway.

You might not be able to flip a cat back over, but if you had 10 "bags" spaced to lift the weight equally (more bags in back, fewer in front), maybe it would work to at least lift it high enough to protect the occupants. It would still be upside down, but at least they would be breathing air.

Maybe the math is done to allow for the engines to go under water (at that point, who cares, but the bow/cockpit could be lifted high enough to be breathing air. It would take fewer bags, and fewer cannisters of air.

With a "V" I would imagine that bags aligned on one side could be enough to flip it bak over.

These airbags could be hidden under covers that would blend into the top of the hull and "pop off" when the bags are called into duty. These would work for either a roll over, or a blow over.

Like I say, it is probably a really goofy thought, and it probably would not work, but some of the best innovation has come from these goofy little thoughts. Kind of like Cirrus Aircraft putting a parachute on thier general aviation aircraft to save lifes if something catastrophic happens in flight. Before they did it, folks thought that it could not be done, or that it would be too expensive. As of August of 2010, 44 lives had been saved with this "goofy" idea.

Any other crazy thoughts?

funny you should say that. Hanvt you seen the ones that came on the first Batboats? Ocke use to have a section on his site for the sefl righting system he put under the rear hatch. Worked good and there was even a vid clip or animation as i remember. Odd thing was those boats dont go over very much so it never really took off with the series. I have some pics and screen captures from his old site but there on a harddrive i cant access at the moment. I will see what i can find.

I had heard something about that. Of course there would be alot more to engineer, just with the sheer size of the big race boats, but it could possibly be done.

If you have any info on the one for the bat, I'd be interested in seeing it.

Before it can be righted, the structure HAS to survive the “Event” that left it inverted.

You are exactly right. In most blowovers or flips, the boat stays intact. Would it work 100% of the time if perfected? Nope, but I would think that, along with full time scuba air, it would increase the chances of surviving.

How about dash and side airbags in the cockpit? Instead of impact, though, it would be connected to a gyro. If you got past 90 degrees vericle on any axis, they would pop open to protection the occupants.

I am just spitballing ideas here.

I got a "spitball" idea. :)
I will discuss it with a few in Miami then I will post it for review here.
While my thingie can’t guaranty “no flip”, 100% it can reduce the chances drastically and the cost would be around 7K- 8K per boat.

36TANGO,i think the airbag for rapidly lifting the crashed boat out of the water is a good idea and could work in the event of a upside down raceboat.

You are going to need a "Bigger Bag" LOL for the large cats.

Another thought with airbags. Would if airbags were set up around the perimeter of the canopy. If the boats attitude managed to get outside of some set parameters, these airbags would deploy on the OUTSIDE of the canopy in the front, sides, and the back. Maybe these bags could help deflect water and absorb some of the energy so that the water did not hit the canopy so hard.

Maybe part of the design flaw with canopies is that there is no "crumple zone" to consume the energy of a crash, like in a car. Maybe a cockpit that rides on a suspension of some kind like what Statement does with thier boats? A little give may make a bunch of difference. Heavier is not always the answer.

This all said, I know next to nothing about the science and engineering behind any of this, it just seems like somebody ought to have a nugget of an idea that could be built upon to help save some lives.

The Lavin Guidelines, published many years ago contain some excellent concepts for improved cockpits. Too bad so few of the sanctioning bodies have bothered to read/enforce them.

I've said for years that the cats need a front wing between the "toons" controlled by an "angle of attack" meter from aircraft tech.

This tech has been around for a long time. If the nose gets too high, the wing deploys to push it back down. In the old fighter jets in the early 80's they took readings like 60 times per second and made corrections pilots couldn't respond to quick enuff.

Does anybody have a link to these guidelines?

The current boat speeds make it VERY hard to keep everything in one piece,in the event of accident.

I don't find anything through Google, which is a shame. I made the effort to reach out to George Linder (one of the authors) for a copy, and had the pleasure of meeting him a few years later. It's unforgiveable that, 25 years later, these guidelines are virtually unknown.

Plane s dont have all the weight in the back of it.

The problem with blow overs and capsizing is the forces that are imparted on the structures that were not designed to be subjected to 10+ g hits such as decks and hatches. There are certainly ways to use the wing in ground effect that these boats use to help counteract the likelihood of a blow over or capsize.

Could an active computerized wing in the back designed to give "lift", in conjunction with a front wing be the answer? When the attitude gets too steep, maybe the back of the boat needs to actually come up to flatten the angle of attack.

Look at CSprays boat. Maybe a passive set of wings would allow the boat to always run at a flatter attitude in relationship to the water. It could be that Ocke Mannerfelt may have something here, but I don't think that the design has been run hard on anything larger than a 28. Vector has the 40, but I don't know how hard it has been run. It seems that at speed, wings would at least keep the heavy stern from trying to pass the lighter front like in the BT accident, or it would keep the stern from landing so hard and cause the bow to submarine.

You're certainly on the right track as far as buildable solutions.