Blog Post #6

This is a very short video, but it features a machine that actually creates and launches new paper airplanes from old paper. Although entertaining, you have to wonder: who actually puts money into making a machine like this?

Blog Post #5

Hubble satellite allows NASA to discover the oldest, most distant galaxy found yet. While distant, this proves to be the galaxy closest to the Big Bang, although it technically would have still formed several millions of years after the event :

Blog Post #4

Two elderly ladies experience their first ride in an airplane, in order to visit Barcelona. Loved this video: the ladies are adorable, and their expectations and doubts for the trip are very entertaining. An interesting look into flight from the eyes of an older generation (although I must admit I had some of the same doubts when taking my first flight). Especially loved one lady’s description of the feeling of ascending “It’s like you’re in love. It’s so unpleasant.”

Blog Post #3

NASA puts a camera on a rocket booster, allowing a unique view of a rocket takeoff, flight into space, and re-entrance into the atmosphere. Especially cool to see the initial takeoff, and the included miles-per-hour tracker. Not to mention the frosting-over once the craft actually gets into space. Warning: if you tend to get dizzy easily, this video might prove difficult to watch :

Blog Post #2

Found a cool video that gives a visual representation of exactly how a jet engine works, including the pros and cons of the invention, and more modern improvements. Maybe I just haven’t learned a lot about jet engines in the past, but I have to say I learned quite a bit from this video: never realized how this technology is so complex and simple at the same time. I know have a new appreciation for jet planes Here's the video: http://www.wimp.com/jetengine/

Aviation Story #6 - Brittany Robinson

My final aviation story is on the bizarre event that has graced the news recently- the story of a 15-year old boy who hid in a plane's wheel well, and survived a 5 1/2 hour long flight. He had runaway from home at least 36 hours previously, and hopped an old airport fence in San Jose, California during the night to get to a Boeing 767. He spent most of the flight unconscious due to low oxygen and freezing temperatures, but awoke when the plane landed. Authorities say he is lucky to be alive. Although this sort of scheme is not unheard of, most people who attempt it do not survive. Since 1947, worldwide, it is thought that around 105 people have tried to stow themselves away in flights- with a 76% survival rate (Federal Aviation Administration). 

Needless to say, the boy (whose name has not been released) was extremely lucky to survive the flight from San Jose to Maui, Hawaii. Because he was unconscious, it was said that he could not tell tales of his journey afterwards. Officials have said that his family was notified, and they assured the family members that they would get him home safely. No legal action is being planned against the boy.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/us/boy-who-hid-in-planes-wheel-well-beat-long-odds-in-surviving-5-hour-flight.html

Blog Post #3 Aircraft Nuclear Accidents Jonathan Smithers

This weekend on 60 minutes they were talking about the state of land based nuclear weapons in the United States. The topic of the show was mainly about the land based nuclear arsenal, but they briefly mentioned a couple of nuclear accidents that have occurred. This got me interesting in know what other nuclear accidents have occurred, specifically involving aircraft. One that caught my attention was an incident involving a B-36. The B-36 was simulating an attack on American cities; it was also being used to test if the aircraft could make it to Russia during the arctic winter. The plane was carrying a mark 4 nuclear bomb, the successor to fat man, one of the bombs dropped on Japan. Several hours into the exercise, three of the engines needed to be shutdown because ice caused them to catch on fire. The crew bailed out of the plane and the nuclear bomb was released and destroyed in midair. Another nuclear accident the occurred a little closer to home was when a B-50 flew straight into the ground while carrying a nuclear bomb. This incident occurred in Lebanon, Ohio. The explosive in the bomb went off, but there was no nuclear explosion. There are numerous other nuclear accidents that have occurred that are known. It’s kind of scary to think about the number of accidents that we still don’t know about. 

Blog Post #6 - Air Force Academy

The Air Force Academy is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Cadets attend the Academy to earn a Bachelor of Science degree while also receiving athletic training, military training. The program lasts four years and, by the end, the cadets will at an officer level position in the United States Air Force. The education at the Academy is valued at $416,000, but it is paid with a signed commitment. Once a student has been accepted to the Academy, they have essentially signed a contract with the Air Force. The commitment is that the person must complete the education program at the Academy unless they are expelled. After completing the education, the person must accept a commissioned position and serve as an officer for at least eight years after graduation. Five of those years have to be active duty and the rest can be served as inactive reserve status.

Once you are accepted to the program and you arrive to the Air Force Academy, you take the Oath of Allegiance. You must take the Oath or else your travel expenses to and from your home are taken away. If you complete the pilot training program, you must commit at least 10 years because they put so much money and effort to train you for that position.   

The Academy is a competitive program to get involved in. Every year, over 12,000 people apply and only a little over 1,000 cadets are admitted.

To be eligible to apply to the Academy:

• At least 17 but not past your 23^rd birthday by July 1 of the year you enter the Academy
• A United States Citizen
• Unmarried with no dependents
• Good moral character

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Hey Everyone!

Since there was a demand for Katherine Wright's Drop Sugar Cookie Recipe, here it is! :)

Ingredients:
     3 3/4 c Flour
     1 1/2 c Sugar
     1 c Butter (2 sticks)
     1 c Buttermilk or Sour Cream
     2 t Baking Powder
     1 t Baking Soda
     1 t Vanilla Extract
     2 Eggs

Directions:
     Cream sugar and butter.  Add eggs, beat well.  Beat in milk or sour cream.* Slowly add dry ingredients (flour and baking powder and soda). Mix in vanilla.  Drop by teaspoon onto a greased cookie sheet (Using sour cream, it was rather sticky cookie dough - not sure if it'd be easier to work with if made with buttermilk.)  Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.  Enjoy! :)

*I used sour cream because it comes in an 8 oz which is equivalent to 1 c.  Plus, for me, the chances of using sour cream in other things is more likely than buttermilk!  Although, I bet the buttermilk gives it a more richer flavor.


Also, after hearing all of the rave reviews on these cookies, I decided to re-amp this recipe into a cookie that we may enjoy today!  Being a baker, where I sell gourmet cupcakes on the side in the hopes to eventually launch my own bakery from home, I am going to offer the "Wright Cookie" as one of my desserts!  The Wright Cookie will use this old-fashion sugar cookie recipe, but I will top it with my homemade maple buttercream and baked bacon bits since we know they preferred their foods baked rather than fried! ;)

Lastly, here are a few my most demanded cupcake flavors:

 

 
    Take 5 Cupcake:  A rich milk chocolate cupcake filled with a sweet peanut butter, peanut, and pretzel mixture topped with a peanut butter buttercream, chocolate ganache, caramel sauce, chopped peanutes, and a pretzel!
 

    Mtn Dew Cupcake:  A Mtn Dew Cupcake filled and topped with a Mtn Dew Buttercream.

    Banana Split Cupcake:  A homemade cake filled with bananas, pineapple, walnuts, strawberries, chocolate chips, and a banana buttercream center.  Topped with a vanilla buttercream, hot fudge, more buttercream, sprinkles, and a cherry!

       Funnel Cake Cupcakes:  Cinnamon Vanilla Cupcake and buttercream topped with funnel cake pieces and powdered sugar.

      Pumpkin Pie Surprise Cupcakes:  A yellow cupcake stuffed with a mini pumpkin pie and topped with a pumpkin pie buttercream, whipped cream frosting, pie pieces, and pumpkin pie spice.

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Cupcake with a Vanilla Buttercream, French Vanilla Marshmallow, and sprinkles.

Carrot Cake Cupcake filled and topped with a cream cheese frosting.

Key Lime Pie Cupcake a top a graham cracker crust, filled with a key lime custard, and topped with a vanilla whipped cream frosting, crushed graham crackers, and a dollop of custard.

Reese Cupcakes:  A devil's food cake cupcake stuffed with a Reese's Cup and topped with a peanut buttercream, reese pieces, chocolate ganache, and a mini reese cup.




I also do cakes! :)

                                             
                                                          Reese's Peanut Butter Cake

         
Overload Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake:  Who doesn't love the combo of a giant cookie with chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallow, caramel, and frosting?!

Wings #6 Reading Assignment

Chapters 15 and Conclusion

Darian Black

Assignment #6 Wings

April 22, 2014

1.)  In my own opinion I think that one of the most significant impact aviation throughout the first one hundred years of flight was the creation of the engine. According to the book, “Wings” the Wright brothers did not believe that there would be an aircraft that could fly from New York to Paris, they believed that there was no engine that could fly that far of a distance without the engine giving out and failing. During this time aviation was still in its underdeveloped years and getting an aircraft machine to float was the greatest accomplishment back then. But, with the creation of the engine aircraft machines were able to reach new and farther heights when the motor engine was created. Made by the Wright brothers, Alessandro and many other aviation pioneers were able to jumpstart the further development of the engine. For example, the motor engine has developed from being air-cooled, liquid-cooled to be electrically powered and with these many various types of engines aircraft machines have been able to reach new levels of sky showing that anything is possible. Furthermore, I think that the engine was one of the most innovative ideas that has drastically helped advance the development of the aviation throughout time.

2.) I think that the future of aviation from now on is going to advance more and more with each new day that comes. I think that the way in which aviation has developed up until now has inspired more and more other aviation ideas to flourish and become more advanced. I think that the twenty first century aviation is continuing to reach new levels of height. I look forward to seeing cars being able to hover over the ground and airplanes being able to easily reach new planets that are outer space. The way that aviation has developed from the early 1900’s up until now has drastically reached new heights setting the stage for more advanced aircraft machines. For example from the early 1900’s into the twenty first century aviation has developed from blimps, gliders, motorized aircraft, jets, spaceships and the like are just some of the many aircrafts that symbolize how advanced aviation has developed into with a decade. I think that the ideas from some of the all-time aviation pioneers have bounced off of from one another like Otto Lilenthal inspired the Wright brothers to further advance the development of the aircraft. With time there are more advancements that still wait to be made with aircraft and I look forward to seeing them.

Do cosmonauts and astronauts risk aging prematurely during space travel? A new study by NASA looks into this, using twins to study the effects that space has on the body. They are theorizing that cosmic rays in space affect our cells in a way that causes us to age faster. This is in contrast with Einstein's Thoery of Relativity, which would mean that someone in space would actually age at a slower rate than someone on Earth. Here's a video covering the new study:

Blog Post 6: Alexander Schlater

The Gods Must Be Crazy

We all know of the great impact that aviation has had on humanity. It has broken down so many natural borders and opened even the most secluded parts of the world. This was the inspiration for the South African comedy The Gods Must Be Crazy. What begins with a careless pilot throwing his empty coke bottle out his plane while flying over Botswana leads to a world changing discovery by a local bushman. The local tribe, being completely cut-off from the modern world knew nothing of airplanes or glass bottles. So the natural assumption when something fell from the sky; it was a gift from the gods. This gift, however, proved only to evoke envy among the tribe. The leader decided this bottle must be evil and journeyed to the end of the world to dispose of it. Along the way the unassuming bushman encounters the modern world for the first time and hilarity ensues.While this is nothing more than a story, it demonstrates just how aviation can open the world, even if it is not always for the better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GorHLQ-jLRQ
(Trailer)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080801/

Blog Post 5: Alexander Schlater

The Indestructible Empire State Building

Granted a half century had passed, I was still surprised I had never heard of this crash. On Saturday July 28, 1945 an American B-25 Mitchel bomber was flying through thick fog in New York while attempting a landing at a Newark Airport. The plane, misdirected in the low visibility weather, struck the empire state building between the 78th and 80th floors. One engine shot through the building and landed a block away.14 were killed: the pilot, two passengers, and 11 people in the building. Despite the lives lost and an estimate $1,000,000 in damages (in 1945), most offices were open the following Monday.



http://history1900s.about.com/od/1940s/a/empirecrash.htm

Blog Post 4: Alexander Schlater

Airplane Graveyard

The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base of Tucson, Arizona is home to a graveyard, so to speak, of airplanes, the largest in the world in terms of number of planes. The graveyard is run by the 309 Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. Retired planes are sent here to be scraped for parts or stored indefinitely, the desert climate being ideal for airplane storage. The arid weather allows the planes to be stored for long periods while sustaining minimal structural damage, thus allowing them to be utilized at a later point should they be sold or needed for parts. The graveyard currently hosts more than 4,000 aircraft.

As a side note, the graveyard can be explored in decent resolution via Google Earth (Location: Davis-Monthan AFB).



http://www.dm.af.mil/units/amarc.asp

Blog Post 3: Alexander Schlater

You Thought You Had a Bad Day!

On June 21st 1963, F-8 Crusader Pilot Captain Cliff Judkins experienced what was perhaps the longest string of malfunctions to ever befall a pilot. During a routine refueling 20,000 feet above the Pacific on a flight to Hawaii, Judkins was watching his gauges to find nothing out of the ordinary when suddenly, the engine rpm gauge began dropping and the plane flamed out. Judkins put the plane into a slight dive with the hope of inducing a restart of the engine. Unfortunately, as will soon be very apparent, this was not Judkin's lucky day. The engine never restarted, and the fuel that was now leaking out of his plane was igniting the plane from the tail. Judkins attempted to eject his seat only to find the mechanism was broken. The apparatus had an alternative ejector for just such an emergency. However, this too, failed to function. Judkins would have to bail out of his plane manually. While seemingly simple enough for a World War II pilot, jet planes had the added obstacle of a 20 foot high tail fin waiting to cut the pilot in half should their jump not be perfectly placed. Judkins managed to avoid this dreadful fate only to be met with more nightmares. One free of the plane Judkins would find that the malfunctions were not yet finished. Plummeting from what was now 15,000 feet, his parachute did not fully deploy. The main chute was tangled up in the chords. Judkins crashed into the Pacific and miraculously survived. Nightmare over right? Of course not. Judkins failed shoot finally fully opened... underwater. The shoot began filling with water, sinking, and pulling the severely injured and surely traumatized pilot to the depths of the ocean. Judkins, luckily, had  a knife in his chest pocket and managed to cut the lines and swim to the surface. Now the pilot was faced with the realization that he was floating in the middle of the Pacific with none of his survival gear, as this had been ripped from his suit on impact with the water. A plane flew by and dropped some dye markers to denote Judkins position, as well as a raft. Unfortunately for Judkins, his injuries made swimming over to the raft impossible. About an hour later a coast guard amphibian arrived but was unable to land due to the high waves. The plane circled overhead and dropped another raft, this time with a 200 foot line attached. The line landed close enough that Judkins was able to grab it and pull the raft to him. He was unable to board the raft due to his injuries, but he was able to stay afloat by holding on to it. This would prove quite helpful, as the ship that the coast guard managed to alert did not reach Judkins for two and a half hours. Once Judkins was finally lifted out of the water he was transferred to another ship which had a doctor on board to look after him until a helicopter arrived to fly him to a hospital in California. Judkins had sustained multiple fractures, a partially collapsed lung, and kidney and intestinal failure. He made a full recovery despite all of the worlds attempts at his life.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/05/09/survival-f-8-crusader-pilot-falls-15000-with-failed-chute-and-lives/

Blog Post #2 Supersonic Bombers Jonathan Smithers

For several decades in the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s the United States tried to develop a supersonic bomber. A large amount of the Air Force’s research money went to the development and testing of supersonic bombers. This is evidenced by three main programs; the B-58, the XB-70, and the B-1. I am only listing and talking about the aircraft that were specifically designed to be bombers, not Fighter-Bomber, like the FB-111. Each program laid the foundation for the next supersonic research project. The B-58 and the B-1 were the only two to make it into production; the XB-70 was canceled before it could make it out of the development stage.

The first and most produced supersonic bomber is the B-58 Hustler; this aircraft could fly at a maximum speed of Mach 2. It was designed to be so fast that by the time the Russians realized that it was there and had time to shoot a missile at it, it was already gone. The B-58 looks like a fighter, just a whole lot bigger. The entire program cost was approximately $2 billion, including the purchase of 116 of the aircraft.

The only supersonic bomber on this list to not make it out of development is the XB-70. The air force hoped that this would also fill in the same hole as the B-58. This aircraft again was designed to be gone before the Russians knew what was happening. The XB-70 reminds me of the BAC Concorde, which was a supersonic commercial airliner. The XB-70 also looks like the B-58 with a more stretched out neck.  XB-70 was powered by six jet engines that allowed it to fly at a maximum speed of Mach 3.1. The only surviving XB-70 is currently at the National Air Force Museum’s Research and Development hanger. The total program cost of the XB-70 was $1.5 billion and that was for only two planes. Out of the three aircraft on this list, it is by far the most expensive per plane.

The last and only one to currently still be in use, is the B-1 Lancer. The B-1A was originally developed in the 1970’s but was canceled but was canceled in 1977, because of the cost. The B-1A had a number of mechanical problems, including the wings cracking because of the force being exerted on them at supersonic speeds. The wings of the B-1 were designed to fold backwards in order to reduce the drag of the aircraft, thus increasing the speed of the aircraft. There were some weak links in this design and the wings had problems with cracking. The B-1 program was restarted in 1983 as the B-1B program. Under this program 100 B-1B’s were built for a total program cost of approximately $30 billion.

Each of these bombers has paved the way for future supersonic aircraft. They are each beautiful examples of the ingenuity of America. By the way, some of the development and flight testing of the XB-70 and B-1 was done at Wright-Patterson Air Force base.

Blog Post #5

Space Food

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-368/p454a.jpg

The first astronauts NASA sent to space started off eating semi liquids from tubes and freeze-dried foods. The problems with the freeze-dried food is that it was difficult to rehydrate, the food would break off into crumbs and the astronauts had to make sure the crumbs did not get into the instruments. The astronauts complained to NASA about the food and they, somewhat, made the food better. On the Gemini mission, the bite-sized cubes were covered with gelatin so they would not crumble as easily. The freeze-dried food was kept in plastic containers that helped rehydrate the food. With these developments, NASA was able to add items to the space food menu like chicken and vegetables, shrimp cocktail, and apple sauce. During the Apollo program, food developed even more and they were also able to have hot water. In Skylab, NASA designed a table where the astronauts could strap themselves in to sit and eat the food. The astronauts were even able to eat with a fork, knife, and spoon. However, one eating unique eating utensil necessary for space food consumption is a pair of scissors to open up the sealed bags of food. Skylab had ample storage space and a refrigerator and freezer, therefore 72 food items were added to the menu. Each astronaut has a specific diet based on the amount of vitamins and minerals needed for their age, weight, and size.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/174368main_jamestown-needs-4-516.jpg

When eating in space, a food tray is either attached to the wall or strapped to the astronaut’s lap. The food tray holds all of the food containers.  If there was no food tray, the astronaut would have to eat the food one container at a time because multiple containers would float away. After they are finished eating, the tray and containers are cleaned with pre-moistened towelettes and put away. It takes about 20 to 30 extra minutes than it would normally take on earth to fix a snack because of the rehydration and heating process.  

 

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Food_for_Space_Flight.html

Blog Post #4

http://fly.historicwings.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HighFlight-Flight19-4.jpg

The Bermuda Triangle is a mysterious location where there have been several encounters of missing planes or ships who have entered the vicinity. The triangle is off of the southeast coast of the United States and the vertices are located at Miami, Florida, Bermuda, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Navy does not recognize the area as the Bermuda Triangle. However, several Naval ships and planes have disappeared when making a trip through the Bermuda Triangle. In particular, five TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers, named Flight 19, were lost at flight on December 5, 1945 at 2:10 p.m. They started from U.S. Naval Air Station in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and were going to end at the same place. Their task was to do some overwater navigational training with certain commands. The leading plane was the senior qualified flight instructor. The track they were taking took them over the Bermuda Triangle with weather conditions consisting of scattered showers with only 6-8 miles of visibility and a moderate to rough sea. These conditions were typical for the naval training flights.


The instructor sent a radio message to one of the training pilots around 4 p.m. saying he was unaware of his location. The airplanes compasses were not working and the radio signals were not coming through because of interference of Cuban stations, weather conditions, and static. It was assumed they were lost east of the Florida coastline. The planes were never seen again. It was calculated that they would have been out of gas by 8 p.m. and the conditions were not favorable for a water landing. There was an effort to find this flight until the evening of December 10, 1945, but no evidence of the missing planes were found. On December 5, 1945, a plane was sent out to search for the missing TBMs, but was never heard from after it was launched. That plane or crew was never found either.

source: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-1.htm

Aviation Blog #6

The tragedy of 9/11 is still fresh in the minds for most of us. We can all remember where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news. For me, I was in Mr. Hayden's 4th grade class at Sauder Elementary of Jackson Local Schools in Massillon, Ohio. As a nine year old, it was difficult to comprehend the magnitude of what unfolded that fateful morning. The story that many of us tend to forget is the story of the plane that crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

 This flight was United Airlines Flight 93. This plane, among the others that day, was intended to be crash landed into a landmark or populous area of some sort. Its intended target is still not known to this day, but it is speculated that Washington D.C., Camp David, or possibly the Capitol Building were the intended target. Flight 93 was a regularly scheduled flight from Neward, New Jersey to San Francisco, California. Unbeknownst to those on board, four terrorists concealing knives and box cutters were on board.

When the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 realized at around 40 minutes into the flight that they were under attack, they huddled into the back of the plane calling family members and people on the ground informing them of the hijacking. The terrorists had taken over the cockpit of the plane and told everyone over the speaker system that there was a bomb on board. Through the series of phone calls, the passengers learned that their plane was a part of a much bigger terror plot and took a vote to fight back against the terrorists. One of the passengers, Thomas Burnett Jr., told his wife, "I know we're all going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you honey."

As the passengers began their counterattack, the terrorist pilot began to pitch and roll the plane to try and throw the passengers off-balance in the cabin. The terrorists began to get worried that the passengers would break through to the cockpit before reaching the destination, so they made the decision to crash land it in a field. The plane was travelling at 580 mph and immediately shredded apart upon impact. The crash site was scorched due to the massive amount of fuel that the plane had on board. Trees surrounding the area burned for hours. Minimal human remains were found, but examiners were able to positively identify all 33 passengers on board that day. Currently there is a memorial located in the field as tribute to the heroes that sacrificed themselves for our country that day.

Aviation Blog Post #6- Flight Attendants

I've always thought that being a flight attendant would be an interesting job-- always on the go, meeting so many different people, and going so many different places.  However, I think it would be very hard to be on a plane all day, not getting much fresh air and being enclosed in a small space with a bunch of people.  Plus, it would be hard to have a family while being a flight attendant with the crazy hours and unconventional amounts of travel.  I decided to look at some of the benefits to being a flight attendant since sometimes, it feels like the job would be like a never-ending plane ride-- not at all enjoyable when there are screaming babies, a tiny bathroom, and sneezing people that you can't escape.
1. You get free flights. - I guess when you aren't working, flying is fun? It would be great to be able to travel to places that I actually wanted to go to, like for vacations, for free.
2. Meeting people. - Ignoring that there are some weird people out there, meeting all kinds of different people would be very fun to do.  You would definitely be able to feel like you're getting a lot out of life, meeting the different people on Earth instead of staying in your own little bubble. Plus, I bet they meet a lot of famous people!
3. Travelling the world. - It is safe to say that most American flight attendants have probably been to all fifty states.  In addition, they probably get to go to different countries too.  It would be difficult to only be in that country for landing, boarding, and takeoff, but if the schedule works out to where you could get out and explore, this benefit seems invaluable to me.

If I were ever in a place where I did not have a family or obligations to keep me in one place, I would definitely be willing to pursue a career as a flight attendant.  I think that these benefits outweigh the disadvantages because I would love to be able to travel a lot one day.  I'd love to feel like I was able to explore the world, and I think that this career is something that greatly allows that.  Thanks to the invention of flight, this job is available, and a great opportunity for a lot of people to take advantage of.

Aviation Blog Post #5- Malaysian Flight Mystery

In this recent news story, two types of aviation are talked about: the Malaysian plane itself, a 9M-MRO, and a new American-made undersea drone.   Search vessels have detected "pings" that seem to have been pretty promising, so the search is going underwater.  The underwater drone is called the Bluefin-21, of the US Navy.  As of today, it has been 38 days since the search started.  The "pings" have gone silent because investigators think that the batteries from the plane's flight recorders have finally gone dead.  The new technology using drones will hopefully, finally, make a difference in this search.

I think that this is interesting because when most people think about drones, they think about the government using them for the war overseas, using them for defensive purposes to find and kill terrorists and threats to the United States.  This is why drones are so controversial.  This article, however, proves that drones can be used for so much more.  Aviation technology has advanced greatly just in these last few years and this story is proof to how the bounds of aviation are almost endless.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2014/0414/Malaysia-Airlines-Flight-MH370-US-underwater-drone-takes-over-search-video

Wings Assignment #6- Taylor McKinley

 1. In your opinion, what was the most significant impact aviation had on our world in the first one hundred years of flight?

The most significant impact that aviation has had on our world in the first one hundred years of flight, in my opinion, is travel.  Travel has both positive and negative impacts on our world.  First, think of a world where the only form of travel was by land—cars, trains, and boats, if you are travelling overseas.  Not only would this take so much longer, but the effects on the economy would be huge.  Not as many people could travel and be in different places so quickly, so the economy wouldn’t move as fast as it does today.  If I wanted, I could be in Vegas in five hours, spending money on obviously the plane ticket, but also at the casino, the bars, the tourist attractions, and whatever else I could get myself into.  If airplanes did not exist, I would be in a car for three to four days, maybe spending a few dollars at a gas station for some snacks.  Air travel has allowed great advantages on the economy and has made a lot of opportunities for people to spend money to stimulate the economy.  Even the world of music and performing would be different—it would take your favorite artist twice as long to come to town for a concert if air travel did not exist!  On the negative side, disease can travel faster with air travel.  Diseases could travel overseas before with travel by boats, and it did, but now, just as I could be in Vegas in 5 hours, a major flu could travel in the matter of hours as well.  Obviously, whether good or bad, air travel has made a huge impact on our world.

2.   What do you think the future holds for aviation in the twenty first century?

I believe that the future holds a lot for aviation in the twenty-first century.  Just as aviation has grown so much within the first one hundred years, I believe it will continue to grow just as much.  Specifically, I think that space aviation will expand greatly.  There has been so much advancement lately, such as the Felix Baumgartner jump, photos of light on Mars, and much more.  Hopefully we will be able to explore a lot more of space in the near future, as we have been able to explore a lot, but the bounds of space are endless.  In addition, I think that military aircraft, specifically drones, will be developed a lot more also.  Though controversial, I believe that drones have a lot of potential to be grown and tested in the next few years. This form of aviation specifically is very fascinating because of the technology that comes with operating unmanned aircraft.  With the way technology is headed now, I believe that anything is possible with the future of aviation.

Aviation Blog #5

The United States military is the most powerful in the world. The Army branch of the military makes use of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter as its front-line service aircraft. It is used for a wide variety of operations. Air assault, medical evacuation, and providing aerial cover for larger transport vessels.
Its capabilities include transport for 11 combat-ready air assault troops and a 105 mm howitzer with 30 rounds of ammunition.

It was first flown in October 1974 and was developed in part by the Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) program. Sikorsky and Boeing were the two competing companies selected to produce an aircraft to satisfy the requirements of the Army. Sikorsky ultimately won out in December of 1976.

Due to the high level of technology involved in producing a Black Hawk helicopter, when they are shot down or lost in combat, explosive charges that are found in the aircraft are detonated. This incinerates the helicopter to prevent the classified technology from falling into the hands of enemies.

The specifications of the Black Hawk helicopter are listed below:

Specifications:

Manufacturer	Sikorsky Aircraft
Performance	Max Cruise Speed
	4,000 ft; 95°F  152 knots
	2,000 ft; 70°F  159 knots
	SLS 155 knots
	VNE 193 knots
Vertical rate of Climb	95% MRP
	4,000 ft; 95°F  1,550 ft per minute
	2,000 ft; 70°F  2,750 ft per minute
	SLS > 3,000 ft per minute
Service Ceiling	(ISA day) 19,1510 ft
	Hover Ceiling MRP-OGE
	95°F  7,650 ft
	70°F  9,375 ft
	Standard Day 11,125 ft
Weight	Empty 11,516 Lbs
	Mission gross weight - 17,432 Lbs
	Maximum gross weight - 22,000 Lbs
	Maximum gross weight (ferry) - 24,500 Lbs
Length	64 ft 10 in
Height	16 ft 10 in
Rotor	Diameter 53 ft 8 in
	Four titanium and fiberglass blades Source: https://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/uh-60.htm