TRIZ Puzzles and Examples: Part 1 - Plane Wing Walking
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PLANE WING WALKING
Key Words: flight, lifting, plane, resource.
When solving real technological problems, it’s important to find
the field resources of the given situation. Now we’ll have a piece of training in
looking for those resources. We’ll try to find out which resource assists the gymnast
to perform a headstand on the plane wing.
THE SITUATION. The "Show Cat" (the converted crop-duster
450-horsepower biplane) climbs to altitude and then swoops back over the crowd. (The
picture is almost right – add the second lower wing.)
Teresa Stokes stands on the lower wing, supporting herself on the wires
– actually metal strips – that brace the wings to the fuselage. She wears no
parachute. The Show Cat flies about 50 mph, so Teresa spices up the act by climbing onto
the top wing. There, with the aid of a metal stand that’s fastened to structural
points on the wing – and a stout safety belt – she performs a series of
gymnastics, including a headstand and hanging upside down by one knee.
THE PROBLEM. The paradox is that up to Teresa -- working out new
gymnastic routines on the wing with the plane parked in the hangar is actually more
difficult than in flight performing, because there is no assist from the certain field.
By the way, she doesn’t wear NASA magnetic boots. She wears
thin-soled sneakers.
We are not speaking of centrifugal force. Surely, in roll maneuvers
(the plane rolling) where she is not strapped in, centrifugal force keeps her glued to the
wing. But we are speaking now of another force assisting her, lifting her body up against
the steel platform for her headstand. And this force she doesn’t have on earth!
That’s our question!
Jacob Skir
E-mail: yakov_kad@hotmail.com
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