Presentation: May 2014

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 12-May-2014
Subject: Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne
Description: In February, David talked about the career an accomplishments of aviation pioneer Burt Rutan. May's presentation was a in-depth look at his crowning achievement, SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne is the first privately funded manned spacecraft. Tech mogul Paul Alan funded the project, the objective wast to compete for the Ansari X-prize. The spacecraft successfully crossed the recognized threshold of space, 100km, two times in two weeks carrying a pilot and sandbags to simulate two passengers. Innovative technology was used including wings and engine. The wings folded upwards to 65deg to allow for a slow, controlled re-entry. This negated the need for extensive heat shielding. The engine was a hybrid, with liquid oxygen as the oxidizer flowing over a core of solid rubber as the propellent. This combined solid rocket motor stability and safety with the ability to stop and restart normally associated with liquid fuel motors. SpaceShipOne made three flights, and now hangs in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

No Presentation for April 2014

Due to other activities at Squadron 80 during the month of April 2014, there was no Aerospace Education presentation given at the squadron during that month.  This is not to say that AE as a general area of discussion was neglected, but no specific presentation was given.

Aerospace Bulletin Board

On 14-Apr-2014, David set up an AE bulletin board with a display on Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne. The display highlights the record breaking flights and emphasizes the spacecraft's innovative technology.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 31 March, David talked about the Air Force's efforts to save fuel through formation flying. Birds fly in formation to save energy, same concepts can be applied to aircraft. The Air Force found that C-17s can save about 10% on fuel consumption by flying level with the lead aircraft, 140 feet to either side, and 7000 ft spacing. Two test flights from Hawaii to the mainland resulted in the saving of 7000 lbs of fuel. Use of this technique requires relaxing delivery schedules so multiple aircraft can be flown at once. Also, additional avionics will be helpful. Aircraft considered for this program include the C-17,KC-135, KC-10, C-130, C-5, and F-16. Of special interest is flying fighters in close formation with their tankers on long ferry missions.

Presentation: March 2014

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 24-Mar-2014
Subject: Aerospace Education Quiz Night
Description: Jeff put together a short, 12-question quiz of items (trivia) related to Aerospace Education.  Each question preceded a brief discussion of the item concerned.  Following the rather lively quiz, he also showed a short comedy video of how NOT to run a helicopter ride operation (hint: don't show up drunk!).

Click here to view quiz online.

Presentation: February 2014

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 24-Feb-2014
Subject: Burt Rutan
Description: David's presentation for February was a discussion of the life and achievements of legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan.  He began with biographical information about how Mr. Rutan got started in the design field, then discussed a number of his most significant aircraft designs.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 27 January, David talked about the SR-72, a new spy plane proposed by Lockheed Martin. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology (AW & ST), the SR-72 will be a high altitude, high speed UAV similar in concept to the SR-71. The article pointed out that the trend in combat aircraft is back to "high and fast". McNamara had changed strategy from high and fast to low altitude and stealth when Gary Powers was shot down. This was based on fear of the SA-200 and Mig-25. This resulted in chines added to the SR-71, canted vertical stabilizers, and radar absorbing paint. The fears were unfounded due to ineffectiveness of the USSR's defenses. Primary focus of the F-22 is speed, altitude, and air combat with stealth a secondary objective. In the same spirit, the SR-72 will focus on altitude and speed, with stealth a secondary objective.  Note that this article in AW & ST was an editorial, so opinions here may have been highly subjective!

Contacted Local School to Promote AEX Program

On 26 January, David contacted the science teacher at a local grade school, CAS, about participation in CAP's AEX program. The teacher was enthusiastic about participation, indicating that it might be a good fit for the physics curriculum. He would include this in the lesson plans for next year. David also discussed the fly-a-teacher program, but he was not interested in that activity. Next Steps: Collect links describing the AEX program and email to the teacher.

Presentation: January 2014

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 13-Jan-2014
Subject: Ten Billion Miles From Home: The Voyager Probes
Description: Jeff talked about the status of the Voyager missions 1 and 2, 35 years after their launch date.  He discussed a number of aspects to the missions, including: their location with respect to the solar system; where in the sky they could be found if one had a powerful enough telescope; Voyager 1's status as the most distant man-made object in existence; the 1970s technology used to build and monitor the probes; the trillions of bits of data they have sent back to Earth over their lifetimes; the faintness of their signals; their present condition; and finally, the imminent end to their transmissions (and therefore their missions) due to weakening of their nuclear power sources.

Download PDF (144kb)

Presentation: December 2013

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 9-Dec-2013
Subject: Video Night at Squadron 80
Description: Jeff took the easy way out on this occasion by showing a series of AE-related videos and images he had found through various sources on the Internet.  The items shown were:

• A picture of a Piper Cub (J-3) with a single-bladed propeller.  Yes, that's right - a single-bladed propeller.  The idea is that the single blade will always be passing through undisturbed air, rather than passing through the vortex caused by the previous blade's passage, and would therefore be more efficient.
• A video of aerial saw trimming.  This refers to a series of large saw blades connected in a long line through some sort of hollow bar, dangling from the underside of a helicopter, and used to trim trees along a high-voltage electrical line running through a very remote and very dense forest.  This method allowed trimming those trees that encroached on the electrical line far more quickly than sending work crews to trim them by hand.
• A video of some impressive aerobatic flying.  I'm not sure who the pilot is, although the file as I got it was named "Kirby".  Some of the procedures flown were absolutely jaw-dropping, such as flipping the plane over mid-flight, ending up with the tail ahead of the rest of the fuselage for a brief moment before recovering.
• Finally, a video taken of an airshow... in 1945!  The squadron had a lot of fun trying to identify the various aircraft on display, including a large number of captured German and other enemy planes.

Presentation: November 2013

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 25-Nov-2013
Subject: Electric and Hybrid Aircraft
Description: Environmental concerns and associated legislation are forcing people to rethink aircraft propulsion systems. Last month, Jeff discussed alternatives to avgas. This month, David discussed alternatives to conventional internal combustion (reciprocating and gas turbine) engines. We are starting to see electric motors used for lightweight general aviation aircraft. Aircraft offered by Pipstrel and Greenwing for recreational flying are starting to approach the performance of some LSA. Gas-Eletric hybrid aircraft offer better performance since the internal combustion engine provide good power vs. weight for takeoff and climb.  Hybrids can be designed with motors in series or in parallel. Current limitations in battery technology and the weight associated with wiring prevents building heavier hybrid commercial airliners. Using electric and hybrid propulsion for larger transport aircraft is at least 20 years away.

Download PDF (3.4 MB)

Aerospace Minute by David

On 28 October, David talked about an electric airplane that EADS demonstrated at the Paris Airshow. EADs is the parent company of Airbus. The aircraft as dual ducted fans, 31ft wingspan, and weighs 1212 lbs. It can fly 1 hour at 110 mph, and carries two people in a tandem seating configuration. The interesting thing about the airplane is that it is fully aerobatic. It can fly for approximately 30 minutes when flying aerobatics. Although not yet a practical form of transportation, electric aircraft such as this are becoming more capable.

Presentation: October 2013

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 21-Oct-2013
Subject: Unleaded avgas - Ramifications for General Aviation
Description: This presentation was about the proposed elimination of lead compounds from avgas (aviation fuel), and what the ramifications of that would be for all of General Aviation (GA).  Jeff talked about proposed changes that would require unleaded fuel to become available, who would be affected by these changes and how, and what companies are working on "drop-in" replacements for 100LL and where their products stand in the development cycle.  A spirited discussion ensued and it seems that everyone learned something, which is of course the goal.

Download PDF (78KB)

Reid-Hillview Airport Day

David Hartman participated in the Reid-Hillview Airport Day on 19-October-2013.  Squadron 80 put N9483E on display and set up a booth. David assisted with giving people tours of the aircraft and letting kids sit in the left seat. This provided an opportunity to discuss the three missions of CAP with the parents. It gave a chance to show both kids and adults how the controls work and explain what makes an airplane fly. The show was a success, there was always a line, and many people went away with a new appreciation for aviation. Not only was this a chance to promote the mission of CAP, but allowed us to teach the general public about general aviation.

Bonus Aerospace Minute by Jeff

Also on 30-September, Jeff brought up the recent findings made by the Mars rover Curiosity and its mission regarding the discovery of significant quantities of water in the Martian soil.  These findings indicate that the soil consists of up to 2% water, which works out to roughly a quart of water in each cubic foot of soil.  This would make the extraction of enough water to meet the needs of future Martian explorers possible, providing a huge advantage over shipping enough water from Earth to meet those needs.

Interestingly, the water contained in the Martian soil is rich in deuterium, a so-called "heavy" hydrogen isotope with an extra neutron in its nucleus as compared to protium, the predominant isotope.  The percentage of deuterium in the soil is roughly the same as the percentage of deuterium in the Martian atmosphere, implying that the soil is absorbing the water directly from the air.

One source among many: a space.com article.