EAA Chapter 732
Newsletter May 2005
From
the President’s Workbench – Doug Stone
How did your last check-ride go? Can you remember how you felt just before you
fielded the first question? Were your
palms sweating just a little as you started the engine? For some people, taking tests of any kind can
be a very scary experience. If you think
about it, we take a very real test every time we get behind the controls of an
aircraft. All of our previous
experience, all of our preparation, and all our confidence in ourselves and our
machine is about to be put to be put under the microscope. If we have done our homework, paid attention
to the weather and the checklist, and made sure our skill level is where it
should be, we most likely will pass the test with “flying” colors. Cutting corners on being ready gets people
hurt. The same principles apply when we
build our own aircraft. Every rivet,
every glue joint, every weld, every cotter pin or piece of safety wire is going
to be tested every time we fly. Making
sure we are ready before we tackle each step of the building process is our personal responsibility, and there’s lots of
help available regardless of the task.
Just ask.
On a different subject, I would encourage
each of you to think about helping your chapter go and grow in the right
direction. Each year we struggle to
“con” members into serving the chapter on the board of directors. Sure it takes some time, but the rewards in
personal satisfaction are very real. How
about giving Jack Macy (479-855-0143) a call and tell him you’d like to
help. This is your EAA chapter.
Next Meeting: This will be the annual picnic, election and fun fly
at the airport in
C. Coger’s Hangar and Transient Parking
Chapter Calendar:
May
15, 2:00 pm-Meeting/Annual Picnic, Election and Fun Fly -
June 12, 2-00 pm-Meeting/Review of Barry's Pulsar Project – location to be announced - Barry West
June
25-26 - Fly-in for leisure time,
July17,
2:00 pm-Meeting/14th(and final?) Defiant Review - Drake Field – Charley
Caldwell
April Chapter Meeting Report – Bob Axsom:
This
was a terrific meeting with good weather and a great turnout. Approximately 50 people turned out for the
meeting and more than 15 airplanes were flown into the airport at
At
14:25 the business meeting started and President Doug Stone asked all of the
Chapter members to introduce themselves to the group. It was very interesting to see the people,
listen to them talk and learn of their activities in aviation.
Doug Stone talked about the requirements for
starting an EAA chapter for the benefit of the folks in the Berryville area
that are interested in doing this.
Barry West told everyone the schedule for Young
Eagles events in the coming months. This
information is listed under Young Eagles Event Schedule in this newsletter.
Following this abbreviated business the meeting was
turned over to the Mickey and Lester to present the history of their new
airplane. Mickey’s son ran the computer
projecting the accompanying slide presentation that had been put together for
sharing their building experience. It
was exceptionally well done and took all of the attendees deep inside the
CH-701 building experience that the Ward families have lived and the flying
experience that they anticipate. After
the presentation was complete more food was available and the new airplane
itself was re-examined by the chapter members and guests.
Many other photographs of the airplanes, members and
guests at the Berryville meeting are
posted in the gallery at the Chapter website Http://www.eaa732.org
The
fly-in to
Flying News:
Diana Richards – Flight to
Tom
Kendall – Pilot Getaways: Several photographs of Tom's Bonanza are featured in a very
nice article on Petit Jean,
Bob Axsom – Participated in Sun ‘n Fun: Flew the RV-6A to
Building Notes:
Charles Caldwell, Defiant – Has found and fixed the last fuel leak and should make the first flight in the not to distant future.
Jack Hollingworth, BD-5 – Has located a long wing kit for his plane.
Larry and Mickey Ward, CH-701 – The building part is complete and now they are waiting for the Air Worthiness sign-off so they can go flying in their new plane for the first time.
Barry West, Pulsar – Building up the instrument panel (looks as precise as a Swiss watch – Ed.)
Young
Eagles – Barry West
Our
next Young Eagles Rally is scheduled for Saturday, the 21st of May
at Drake Field,
The
procedure will be a little different this year.
When the kids are registered, they will receive the signed registration, an identification card to hang around their
neck and their printed certificate. They
will hold on to these through ground school and up until meeting up with their
pilot. The certificate and application
will be collected as the Young Eagle goes out to the airplane and placed in a
file folder for that pilot. When the kid
returns from the flight, the application is given to the pilot who signs it and
presents it to the Young Eagle. After
the rally shuts down all the folders will be given to one of the coordinators
for sending to
Three
things for ground workers to consider:
- The certificate will be
printed at the same time as the Young Eagles information is logged on to
the computer, and probably from the same computer.
- Please make sure the
parents signature is on the application.
- Be careful that the application
goes into the proper pilot’s folder.
It
would also be nice to cut the application in half and give the front half to
the Young Eagle to keep.
See
you on the 21st. Barry
Young Eagles Event Schedule – Barry West/Alan Smith:
Drake Field
The Neosho Young Eagles event in conjunction with the Missouri Pilot
Association is scheduled for 11 June @ KEOS Neosho, MO at 0800 hrs. Though not
a Chapter 732 event they have asked for our support with Pilots and Ground
Personnel. If you are willing to help please contact:
Shayne and Phyllis McDaniel [or] Alan and
Brenda Smith
pilotphyl@olemac.net alsmith@olemac.net
417 223
4549
417 845 3260
Volunteer pilots and ground personnel are needed for
every Chapter 732 Young Eagles event and should report to the airports for duty
at an early start time. Contact Dave
Bowman at 479-582-0485 or Barry West at 479-267-5545 for more precise details.
EAA and Space – Bob Axsom:
The
door has been opened to space within the EAA via SpaceShipOne and the EAA
interest in space is at a new high. You
are no doubt very familiar with the SpaceShipOne missions but perhaps somewhat
less familiar with the other space missions.
I have some personal notes on a NASA/JPL mission completed in February
2000 that will give you one person’s inside view of the risks and the
accomplishments in one of those “other space missions.” It was called SRTM, short for “Shuttle RADAR
Topography Mission” and as the name indicates it flew on a space shuttle, the
one called Endeavour. It is the lightest
Shuttle so it enabled the greatest angle if inclination relative to the equator
and thus the broadest RADAR coverage of the Earth’s surface. All of the Space Shuttle missions are
assigned a number beginning with the letters “STS” for Space Transportation
System. This mission was identified
STS-99.
SRTM was a BIG system weighing about 30,000 pounds and filling the entire Shuttle cargo bay. Its mission was to use two shuttle borne RADAR antennas in precise locations 60 meters apart to collect Earth surface elevation data for the construction of a high-resolution digital topographic database. In a week and a half, it precisely recorded the topography of most of the inhabited surface of Earth in a single format where in the previous history of mankind the topography of some of these areas were not recorded in any form. The Shuttle flew upside down and backwards with the Main Antenna in the cargo bay and the smaller 900-pound Outboard Antenna extended almost 200 feet out of the cargo bay on a self-erecting mast. So much data was collected that it took several years of supercomputer processing to create the final database. The magnitude of the task and the scope of the database applications are beyond comprehension. All parts of the system and the organization were impressive but the mechanical design was a special marvel. It also presented the greatest risk.
For
the mission to be a success the mast containing the outboard antenna had to
deploy properly from a collapsed stack of elements in a large canister, remain
rigidly in position during the mapping for several days and then retract &
stow safely so the cargo door could be closed for re-entry into Earth’s
atmosphere & landing of the Space Shuttle.
It was not too hard to imagine the mast, that marvelous piece of engineering
and workmanship, suffering a structural failure with dire consequences. A rigorous approach was taken to make sure
that didn’t happen but the risk of failure is always present.
At
11:35 CST on the February 11, 2000, launch operations were at T – 9 minutes and
counting with no further planned holds in the countdown. At 11:42 the cap was retracted from the top
of the large external tank. At 11:44
SRTM was on its way into space. SRB
(solid rocket booster) separation occurred at 11:46. MECO (main engine cut off) occurred at 11:53
completing a flawless launch. Then the
methodical activation and checkout of the systems began; first the shuttle,
then SRTM. As the shuttle orbited and
the systems were checked out, the anticipation built. Everything depended on the upcoming
deployment of the mast containing the outboard antenna.
At
17:25 the latches were open and the “milk stool” (the three legged motorized
structure used for precise alignment of the Outboard Antenna after mast
deployment) was clear of the end of its large stowage canister. The defining moment was at hand. At 17:28 the mid-deck video was trained on
the end of the canister where the mast was supposed to emerge from its
collapsed stack of short lengths of longerons, battens, cables and latches to
form this incredibly stiff 60 meter structure extending the outboard antenna
into perfect orientation for the mission.
Out it came without hesitation, absolutely beautiful. It was an exhilarating moment for everyone
at Johnson Space Center Mission Control, JPL and NASA. At 05:00 the next morning all of the
critical systems were functioning properly and good mapping was being
accomplished.
February
21 was another big day in the life of SRTM.
The mast had performed well allowing the RADAR system to collect the
topographic (Earth surface elevation) data on hundreds of tapes but now it
would have to retract and stow so the astronauts and the precious tapes could
return safely to Earth. Everyone close
to the development of the SRTM Outboard Antenna Mast was very attentive for
good reason.
Many
months before, environmental compatibility verification tests of the mast were
conducted at AEC Able in
In
the test, the mast retracted properly to within an inch of full stow but there
it stopped in a vulnerable state; out of position, not stowed or locked. It seemed if the motor had a little more
power available it could overcome the resistance and drive the mast home to the
full stow in a condition designed for safe re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere
and landing. A call was made to the
motor manufacturer and he was asked if there was some short duration higher
power mode of operation that could be used.
He reluctantly authorized a higher power setting for a very limited time
to be followed by no power application for a long recovery period. This was applied and a very slight movement
was seen in the closure direction followed by a return toward the original
position when the power was removed. The
mast did not completely retract and stow.
It was decided to try backing it out a little and try retracting again
in the higher power mode with some momentum.
After a short extension there was a catastrophic failure of the mast
with the attendant fracture noise and the sound of many hard metal balls
striking the wall of the canister like marbles in a barrel. After a long study it was determined that
when the mast was prevented from full retraction it was impossible to assure
that all four corners of the mast at a given frame were properly latched. When the direction was reversed one corner
was latched and the adjacent one was not.
The batten in the frame between these two corners was placed under
tremendous tension as one corner moved out and the other was held back. The batten was pulled apart and the corner
rollers were shattered dumpling the ball bearing components in the
canister. From this knowledge came the
flight rule that the mast would not be reversed to the deploy direction unless
it was fully retracted and latched.
It
was determined by testing that there was an extreme increase in the wire
insulation’s resistance to change in shape when the temperature fell from –45
down to -60degrees C. The damaged
section of the mast was rebuilt and the special ball bearing “plastic” rollers
at the corners of the outer eight bays were replaced with solid bronze
rollers. The retraction test was
repeated at –45 degrees C and the retraction and stow were successful. At –60 degrees C it failed to stow after
getting to within one inch of complete retraction. A JPL engineer/Project Element Manager
suggested a test where the mast would be extended out just a couple of bays,
cold soaked at –60 degrees C and then
retracted. If successful, this would
prove that it was the wire insulation’s resistance to change at –60 degrees C
that was the problem and not some misalignment caused by differential thermal
expansion of the mechanical elements at this low temperature. It worked perfectly. Thus it was concluded that the problem was
caused by trying to compress wires back into the stowage space at the bottom of
the canister after they had been stretched out 200 feet and frozen to –60
degrees C. Heaters were added to the
inner walls of the canister to warm the wire insulation by radiant heat as it
retracted and the emergency mast retraction power option was also added to the
design. It was determined that the mast
would never see anything near –45 degrees C let alone -60 and if there was a
retraction problem the Shuttle could be rolled to a position where the sun
could be used to warm up the mast. With
the design and operating procedure changes driven out by the environmental test
failures the SRTM outboard antenna mast was as ready for the mission as it
could be.
Now,
after that long ago environmental testing, SRTM was nearing the end of its
mission and it was time for the real thing.
The following are my notes starting at 03:37 a.m. PST on February 21,
2000:
-
The monitor is on channel 39 and they are currently showing the
deployed mast. It is shining so bright
in the sun light that it is hard to make out detail.
-
0:3:40 they cut back on the brightness or the Shuttle is going into
night sky because you can now barely see the mast.
-
03:49 they just announced one more data take to go and they are now
over the Australian Continent. PHRR1
Removed tape C209, inserted tapeC211; PHRR2 remove tape C210, inserted tape
C212.
-
03:55 mapping complete, AODA safe.
-
Announcement - end of mapping.
-
03:57 Canister heater is on according to the announcer (Houston Mission
Control)
-
04:05 Good picture of the mast and one of the astronauts (woman)
announced, “Beginning mast stow.”
-
04:06 they just inserted a good view of the mast section near the
canister. I wouldn’t be surprised if
Howard Eisen asked for that.
-
04:08 now they are zooming in on the outboard antenna. It has to flip to its stow position before
the retract.
-
04:23 Astronaut announced, “Go for flip” [of the outboard
antenna]. Capcom said standby 5 minutes.
-
“Go for Foxtrot 1” 04:24 (Capcom).
-
04:25 Flip of the outboard antenna has begun. Looks very good.
-
04:33 the flip appears complete but I’ve heard nothing.
-
04:33 Astronaut (man) said, “Go on Gulf.”
-
Capcom said “Roger standby.” I’m
sure the flip is complete and they are verifying that everything is OK.
-
04:41 there must be some concern or I think they would have started to
retract the mast by now.
-
04:41 “Go for Gulf.” from Capcom so I guess everything is OK.
-
04:43 Go step I, hold step J.
-
04:45 Step I complete, requested hi-definition TV of retraction. Capcom said, “Copy step I complete and we’ll
let you know.”
-
05:02 Houston Mission Control said it will be 17 more minutes before
the start of mast retraction.
-
Capcom gave OK to retract at the scheduled time. That should be 2 minutes from now.
-
05:20 there it goes, looking good, steady and smooth.
-
05:20 20 bays retracted according to Houston Mission Control. It appears to be going slower to me.
-
30 bays in at 05:27.
-
40 bays in 05:29
-
50 bays in 05:31
-
60 bays in 05:33
-
I saw the seven striped batten about one bay from the canister at 05:34
-
05:35 picture back.
-
05:38 stopped motion.
-
05:39 Evaluating indication.
Power off called for and complied with.
-
There appears to be an anomaly.
05:44
-
05:45 HMC just said they have no indication of latch.
-
It appeared to me that the cover did not close all the way.
-
06:23 still no answer. Capcom
just told the astronauts that they are still studying the problem and will get
back to them as soon as they can.
-
06:34
1- Page 1-18 seg D step 2
through 9 (unintelligible note)
2- Page 3-9 step 5-11 seg J run
30 seconds
3- Page 3-10 step K to turn
mast power off if motion seen
4- Page 1-19 seg E steps 1-15
if no motion call MCC.
-
They hope the heat has softened the cables so the stow can be
completed.
-
Power on 06:44:45. Some small
movement seen at start-up then nothing but high currents were observed. This is exactly what we saw in the –60 degree
C retraction test at AEC Able. No good.
-
Now they are working on a new plan “B” – heaters to the limit.
-
They are going to repeat the max torque.
-
Astronauts suggested backing up slightly then go in.
-
Houston Capcom said this was discussed and they want to focus on inward
direction only for now. I’m sure this is
because of our catastrophic failure of the mast when we tried this at AEC Able
during the –60 degree C test.
-
Power on 07:08:17. Had some
movement in, then stall and back to half of the original closure distance when
power was removed.
-
Thinking again now.
-
07:43 new plan. Same as old max
torque but three times, 15 seconds each time and 5 minute wait between.
-
07:50:37 the stow was effective on the first try!
So, if you think the work of “that other space agency” is cut and dried, boring, no risk stuff, completed by automatons – think again – any space mission is extremely difficult and risky by nature.
You may not be familiar with what space exploration missions are currently underway – here are some that I am aware of:
·
There are currently two Voyager Spacecraft
launched decades ago the are out farther than any man made thing has ever been
and they are about to cross the boundary defining the limit of the influence of
the Sun;
·
the Cassini Spacecraft is currently orbiting
Saturn and it is using many instruments to study the planet and its moons;
·
Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey Spacecraft
are currently orbiting Mars studying the planet and relaying transmissions from
the two rovers Spirit and Opportunity that are traversing and studying the surface of Mars;
·
the Stardust Spacecraft has flown through the tail of a comet and will
return samples to Earth next year;
·
the Deep Impact spacecraft is on the way to a comet and will release a
probe to study the nucleus;
·
several spacecraft are in a halo orbit around the L1 point where the
gravity of the Sun and Earth are balanced and another is in a more traditional
Sun orbit studying the Sun and its radiation;
·
there are several types of telescopes
(visible light, IR, UV and more) in Earth orbit or heliocentric Earth trailing
orbits studying deep space, and
·
there are many Earth orbiting satellites monitoring the atmosphere and
the oceans for the benefit of mankind.
At any point in time there are thousands of people
out there on the outer edge of human knowledge developing new systems for
exploration of space, there are hundreds of people in mission operations
facilities controlling existing missions and tens of people manning the remote
Deep Space Network stations at Goldstone, Canberra and Madrid facilitating the
command and data communications with the many spacecraft. Their dedication is inspired by the work they
are doing. I’m sure they welcome the
public attention to space aroused by SpaceShipOne and the Scaled Composite team
and share in the excitement of another job well done in space. The NASA, JPL and contractor teams, past and
present, include EAA members.
I am looking forward to seeing the White Knight and
SpaceShipOne at
DVDs of Classic Aviation
Movies Available – Bob Axsom:
I received Critics Choice Video catalog recently that had two flying movies of particular interest to me that I decided I just had to have “Twelve O’Clock High” (staring Gregory Peck) and “Hell’s Angels” (the Howard Hughes film). The catalog said they can be ordered through WWW.ccvideo.com and 1-800-367-7765 but my attempt through the web site found that they do not have “Hell’s Angels” and “Twelve O’Clock High” was placed on back order for me. The important message here is that someone has placed these classics on DVD so interested parties should be able to get them – perhaps from Amazon.com.
U.
S. Air Race September 22-29 – Bob Axsom
The races (two 300 milers and an 1,800 miler) are
being organized as this is being written so all of the details are not known at
this time. Visit http://www.us-airrace.org for details.
Photo Collections and Power Point – Bob Axsom
In
1982 my wife Jeanine and I started participating in Fly-ins with a large group
of people and airplanes flying to
I
was able to make a title slide for each fly-in and insert the photos from the
individual files into subsequent slides of the fly-in Power Point files. Complete freedom to vary the size of the
photo images enables the composition of several with a common theme into a
single slide. It is convenient to add
text to the slides for titles, etc. using any available font, size or
color. For example on the title page of
the first presentation package I have:
Death Valley Fly-in, October 30,31 1982,
So
far I have added Power Point files for the Fly-ins to Lazy K Bar Ranch, Lake
Tahoe, Mulege, and the
New
Membership – If you are reading this and you are not a member but would like to
be, please apply through the website http://www.eaa732.org
or contact Richard Rost at the address listed below.
Dues - If you are already a
member and haven’t paid your annual $15 dues – it is time to take care of that
responsibility. In April everyone who
had not paid their dues were to be removed from the active member list. You make the checks payable to “EAA Chapter
732” and give the check to the Treasurer Richard Rost at the next Chapter
Meeting or mail them to:
Richard Rost
Chapter Website Data Maintenance - Our website Http://www.eaa732.org
is definitely one of the key features of our Chapter and can be a powerful tool
for communicating with the membership and the public. However, a lot of
the information there is out of date or incomplete. We depend on you, the
members to complete and update their own information including adding
photographs of themselves. Please do this. There are instructions
on the web site for doing this but if you have problems call me and I will try
to help you. Barry West, 479-267-5545).