Who Will The Newsmakers Be And What News Will They Make?
By ANN Correspondent Aleta Vinas
Aside from the usual suspects, like the gang at Scaled
Composites, who or what will ANN be keeping an eye on in the coming
year?
A Flying Mountain Goat?
According to the Seattle Times, a love of hunting and fishing in
the wilderness set Bill Montagne to the drawing board. Montagne's
Mountain Goat looks like a Piper Super Cub but cruises faster,
stalls slower and is more maneuverable. Montagne is a self taught
aerodynamics engineer and test pilot. Some of the Mountain Goat's
design innovations were inspired by the motorcycles and sprint cars
Montagne raced.
So, where can you buy one? The plane is short about $6M
necessary to get certification and production going. Montagne and
his company Montagne Aircraft, LLC are looking for investors.
James Wanliss
Must be his magnetic
personality. As reported her in ANN, James Wanliss (right), an
assistant professor of physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University, has received the National Science Foundation's most
prestigious award for new faculty members, The Faculty Early Career
Development award. Wanliss will receive $410,606 over the next five
years to develop local predictions of the effects on Earth of the
magnetic storms that originate from explosions on the sun. Wanliss'
team will use data accumulated from ground and satellite based
instruments that measure fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic
field. Using mathematical and statistical modeling techniques
they'll create a system for predicting local behavior of magnetic
storms and allowing for plans to limit damage. Wanliss also plans
to develop workshops and lab experiments about space science for
K—12 teachers of science and math around the country. Wanliss
has received other awards including grants from the National
Science Foundation's Collaborations in Mathematical Geosciences
Program and the Florida Space Grant Consortium.
Lt. Col. Martha McSally, USAF
You've tried A, you've
tried B, now it's time for plan sue. ANN followed Lt. Col. Martha
McSally's story. McSally was one of the first seven women trained
by the US Air Force as a fighter pilot. She received promotions to
major and Lt. Col. years ahead of her peers. She was the first
woman in US military history to fly a fighter jet in combat.
McSally (right) and her A-10 flew 100 hours over 1995 and 1996 over
southern Iraq enforcing the "no—fly" zone. For six years this
top notch flyer tried to change an arcane rule. Women, when
off-base in Saudi Arabia were required by the US Central Command to
wear the traditional Muslim abaya, a black head—to—toe
robe and head covering and sit in the back seat of cars.
If that wasn't enough, a woman could only leave if accompanied
by a man. Saudi Arabia itself does not insist on these
restrictions. Finally, in December 2001 McSally sued the US
government. The rule was changed from mandatory to "strongly
suggested" but the civil part of the suit is still pending. Now
McSally is in the news again. In July she became commanding officer
of the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in
Arizona. McSally is the first female Commanding Officer of an Air
Force Combat Unit.
The Facetmobile: A Diamond In The Rough
Barnaby Wainfan, is an aerodynamicist at Northrop Grumman.
Wainfan along with Rick Dean and Lynne Wainfan are working on an
inexpensive, home built two seat aircraft. The aircraft, the
Facetmobile is currently undergoing repairs after an engine
failure. The Facetmobile had previously made the 2250 mile
roundtrip flight from Chino (CA) to Oshkosh (WI).
It had logged 130 hours of total flight time. Once the
Facetmobile is completed, the next project is the FMX-5. The FMX-5
will be designed to fit the new light sport aircraft category. It
will be based upon engineering work and design refining of the
Facetmobile. Any investors who can help make the FMX-5 a reality,
e-mail slicklynne@aol.com.
Wainfan also showed up as the resident expert in the Glider episode
of Junkyard Wars. Wainfan and the Hicks Family came out number two
that day. Wainfan also has a CD out with Steve Desmond called Love,
Death and the Laws of Physics.
But He's Just A Kid!
Jamail Larkin, 20, never stops trying to spread the aviation
word and educate folks about aviation. School kids, adults, the
country, next the world. Larkins, currently pursuing a B.S. in
Aviation Management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is
flying the Fall DreamLaunch Tour on his days off from classes.
He flies to different cities and addresses mostly middle and
high school students about aviation opportunities. In addition
Larkins is spokesperson for EAA Young Eagles Program and Careers in
Aviation. He recently joined forces with the FAA to become
Ambassador of the Aviation and Space Education Program.
Next For NASA?
Sean O'Keefe has
resigned as Administrator of NASA after three years to pursue the
chancellorship at Louisiana State University. O'Keefe will stay on
until his successor is named. One of the top contenders seems to be
USAF Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish. Kadish retired three months ago as
head of the US effort to develop a credible defense against
ballistic missiles. Close behind Kadish is Ron Sega former
astronaut and now an R & D director at the Pentagon. Sega has
helped draft the president's Moon, Mars and Beyond policy. Another
former astronaut, Robert Crippen is also in the running. Crippen
was the pilot on STS-1, the very first Shuttle mission. Crippen is
now retired and living in Florida. Charles Bolden is the third
former astronaut on the list. Bolden was a member of the panel
established by the National Academy of Sciences to assess the
possibility of a mission to rescue the
soon—to—be—ailing Hubble Space telescope.
Rounding out the list is Congressman Robert Walker. Walker spent 20
years as a congressman from Pennsylvania and is now a member of the
new presidential commission on Implementation of US Space
Exploration policy.
Speaking Of NASA...
The STS-114 team of Commander Eileen Collins Col. USAF, Pilot
Jim Kelly Lt. Col. USAF, and Mission Specialists Charlie Carmarda,
Ph.D., Wendy Lawrence Capt. USN, Steve Robinson, Ph.D., Soichi
Noguchi Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Andy Thomas, Ph.D.
have been in a new phase of their training since October. The full
scale rehearsals they are engaged in will continue until days
before the launch. Some aspects of the training, such as launch and
landing will be rehearsed many times.
The major objective of the flight shifted from International
Space Station Logistics and crew rotation to testing and evaluating
new procedures for flight safety. One new maneuver, a rendezvous
pitch maneuver will be performed as the Shuttle approaches the
Space Station to allow the station crew to photograph the Shuttle's
heat shielding tiles to check their condition.
Symmetry In Motion
The Symmetry is an original design by Cory Bird and his wife
Patti. They are both longtime employees of Scaled Composites (where
do we know that name from?). The beautiful Symmetry caught the eye
of ANN contributor Christopher Armstrong at EAA AirVenture this
year who wrote a two part article on it. Symmetry won two awards at
AirVenture. First, the gold "Lindy" (after Charles Lindbergh) grand
champion trophy in the plans—built category for best
aircraft.
Second, the Stan Dzik Memorial Award for one of the airplane's
features, a plastic cover over the starter solenoid. The Dzik is
given for innovations that advance the art of aviation. The
aircraft took about 15,000 hours to design and build over a total
of 14 years. Over $40,000 was spent on materials with another
$20,000 on the overhauled 200 HP Lycoming IO-360. More than that
$60,000 was spent on combined hangar rent and utility bills over
the years. If you toss in labor at current aerospace rates the
total for Symmetry would be over $1 million. For that you get some
impressive stats, a top speed over 241 kts, a cruise of 210 kts
with a 7 GPH fuel burn in a 28.5 gallon tank.
America's Space Prize
Hotel magnate Robert
Bigelow is dangling another carrot to the space entrepreneurs out
there. Fifty million carrots ok, dollars actually to whoever can
fly a pair of two-orbit missions to a minimum of 400km with a five
passenger payload inside of 60 days. The first of the two flights
can carry a weight equivalent, but the second flight must carry
five passengers. The aircraft must be built in the USA. The
attempts must be made before January 10, 2010. The ship will be no
more than 20% expendable parts.
The X-Games
The X-Prize Cup will
pick up where the X-Prize left off to encourage the competitors to
continue their vehicle development. The X-Prize Cup is billed as a
"cross between Champ Grand Prix Racing, the America's Cup and the
Olympics... an event where the average person can come and watch
the next generations of space vehicles fly, where they can talk to
the astronauts, see the vehicles up close, learn about the
technology and begin to dissolve the myth that they will never
travel to space in their lifetime." The ten day event will be held
in Las Cruces (NM).
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.15.24)
See All